The Bluff by Bonnie Traymore

Kate Breslow moved to a beautiful house on Crest Lake with her husband Ryan. It was against her wishes as she had a thriving job and really loved living in the city but she loved Ryan and didn’t want to go against his choice. Now Ryan is dead, having died in a car accident that is still under investigation. And the house she poured all her money into is sitting on a crumbling bluff.

 

Kate is on a committee to decide on a course of action to correct this but there are a number of different opinions and a group of extreme environmentalists who don’t seem to play by the rules. As things start happening to those on the committee, old secrets are brought up and indiscretions exposed. It seems someone is out for revenge, but the reason for the revenge might not be what they think it is.

 

This definitely had another edge coming into it than your usual thriller as there were so many characters keeping secrets that landed up intersecting with each other. It is a quick read but some arcs are slow in coming as the characters keep mentioning past secrets that are horrific or things they are hiding and yet they turned out not to be.

 

I found the technical aspects very interesting when it came to what could be done to stop the bluff from crumbling. It must be a nightmare to have land so close to the edge when Mother Nature decides to take some back. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to “pick your house up” and move it backwards.

 

I can well imagine that in such a small place people’s lives are going to interfere with one another and relationships will be tested but it also showed what a lack of communication and friendship can cause. The different POVs that drove the story made for an interesting look at different sides and the psychological explanations of narcissists/psychopaths/sociopaths were illuminating.

 

The story was easy to read if a little slow in places and there were some unanswered questions. No cliffhanger as such but when the end arrived, I did turn the page to look for more. The twist is also not that surprising as there are clues in the inactivity.

 

Overall a good read that brought an interesting perspective into a domestic thriller and made people question the severity of punishment based on what led to the crime.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to review the book.