Another winner from Ms Durrant. A well written twisted thriller set under the fierce heat of a French summer, it's a great book to relax into and enjoy the web of deceit unravel before your eyes. Plus it's great fun trying to work out who is conning who and how! thank you to netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an advance copy of this book

Sun Damage by Sabine Durrant is a superb psychological thriller, it has a very slick storyline which moves swiftly on, showing even more secrets and lies as the storyline progresses. The characters are all superbly portrayed as either devious secretive characters or innocents with secrets and lies to hide. There are many twists and turns and unexpected detours to keep the reader invested in reading. Highly recommended.

This is a perfect holiday read set in a Villa in the South of France! Sabine Durrant’s characters always have something to hide and those in “Sun Damage”are no exception to this. First person narrator, Ali, is a con artist working with the controlling, Sean. When she identifies a young woman on the beach of a small French seaside town as a possible mark for a scam, Sean agrees to go along with it. However things don’t run entirely to plan and Ali soon finds herself on the run from Sean, having adopted another woman’s identity as a chef employed by a group friends holidaying in a beautiful secluded villa. I don’t want to reveal too much about the story as it will spoil the enjoyment of this cleverly crafted book. You can feel the sun and the heat of the beautiful location which add to the tension as the plot moves along. How much the reader can trust Ali’s narration is open to debate but as you learn her back story and you realise her dilemma you do feel sorry for her. However it becomes obvious that the psychological tricks she has learnt as a con artist are still with her and she it’s not beyond using them to keep ahead of the game. Is she trustworthy? Well that is not clear even at the end of the book after several twists have been revealed. I must add that I found it quite fascinating learning how con artists use psychological observations to read and then trick their victims. I really enjoyed this book and the character of Ali-she was sympathetic à and vulnerable as well as incredibly quit witted. I raced through the book in a couple of days in the middle of an English heat wave which probably engulfed me in the sunny theme even more! I’ve read other books by this author and found them all compelling reads and Sun Damage is definitely up there. Recommended as a five star read! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc

Sun Damage is a novel that crackles with suspense. Initially shocking, set in Sainte-Cécile-sur-Mer, South of France, Sabine Durrant serves up a thriller that I couldn't tear my eyes from, even though other activities competed for attention. The tale focuses on Ali, a young woman from a difficult background, who is with conman Sean, travelling around tourist spots, preying on strangers with money. With wonderfully complex characters, the author's writing is stylish and the plot is deliciously dark. A perfect read for the summer, I can't wait to see what comes from Sabine Durrant's pen going forward. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley at my request and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

The novel opens in Sainte-Cécile, a fictional seaside town on the western fringes of the French Riviera. It then moves inland to a luxurious holiday home, with pool and staff accommodation. Ali and Sean are grifters, getting through life by conning their marks. They happen to be on the beach in Sainte-Cécile and espy a young woman, who is clearly called Lulu because she is wearing a necklace with her name. Her luggage tag on her bag adds further vital information for this conniving duo. They work on the young woman and then she accompanies them on a boat trip and it all goes horribly wrong. Ali flees and finds herself working as a cook for a British family, on holiday in the lush French countryside. How she gets there is well worked and credible but she spends her time fearing that Sean will come looking for her. She has absconded with several thousand Euros that belong to him. Will he really let her go? Or will he act true to form and start baiting her. She spends much of her time on edge, observing the group of people for whom she is working with a very acute eye. She can spot errant behaviour a mile off and learns all kinds of things about the host family and starts to fall for one of the guests. However, she is not who she says she is and she waits to be unmasked… There is a lot going on in this novel and the author handles the construct well. It bowls along, tautly tense, as the narrative moves forward to the conclusion. The sense of France is very good, it’s hot and sultry, which makes a perfect backdrop for the story. There are lots of food descriptions and lazing by a pool and that is probably, as a reader, the perfect place to enjoy this novel. I have always wondered about people with their names suspended on a piece of jewellery around their neck and similarly people who have Don or Bob or Sue as part of their personalised car number plate…. aren’t they giving just a bit too much personalised information away? As soon as a ne’er do well has a name, they also have a proverbial foot in the door.