I have only one word to say about this book – WOW!! To the Sea is Nikki’s fourth book and what a ripper. She has followed in the footsteps of JP Pomare in producing a very different book from their usual body of work. Sounds weird? Let me explain.
Nikki’s first 3 books are chillingly cosy stories that are set in fairly recognisable small New Zealand towns. While there is a threatening element to the stories, the stories have a delicious cosiness to them. I would go so far as to call them the kiwi version of Midsommer murders – threatening but comfortable. They are the perfect summer holiday/beach read, easily digestible, fast reads that leave you wanting more (just like Christmas mince pies). However, Nikki’s latest offering is next level. Watch out Gillian Flynn, you have serious competition.
What is this new book all about, then? Well, like the previous novels, it is set in a New Zealand beach town (not as easy to guess where it might be, this time). However, the town and its residents are the enemy ‘outside’ so we in fact spend most of the story at a mysterious place called Iluka. This place sounds like a commune, but is in fact the home of Hurley and his family. Hurley sets up a home here as a reaction to an accident many years before that should have claimed his life, but he was lucky to survive. Iluka is a tribute to the sea. Hurley also goes so far as to change the name of his family members, their new names referring to the ocean in some way.
The narrative flips between the past and the present. The past highlights Hurley and Anahita’s story and the present focuses on Ana’s story. The introduction of Nikau, a guest at Iluka, leads Ana on a path where she questions her life, her family and their beliefs.
What makes this story so much dark and chilling is the characters. They all carry dark and violent secrets and will do anything to protect these secrets. Hurley demands loyalty at the cost of freedom. The family come across as being very cult-like. This story is almost a zeitgeist for our current times where some people in society have become quite zealous about their values and beliefs and are prepared to defend them at all costs.
Like Gillian Flynn, Crutchley explores the very dark side of human love and loyalty. Also this book leaves as many questions and it does answers, which I found to be very unsettling and left me feeling very uneasy.
I think that Nikki Crutchley has set the bar very high with this book and I very much look forward with equal measures of anticipation and dread to her next book.
Photo Source: https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-jicrj