‘The Island Hideaway’ was Louise Candlish's first novel, originally published in 2004 as ‘Prickly Heat’. This is a revision, ten years later. The story takes place in the idyllic small Italian island of Panarea.

Eleanor is the main character of the book, and we see events through her eyes. We quickly learn that she is stalking her former fiancé Will, who is holidaying on the same island with his new girlfriend. It’s clear that she’s quite overwrought, and has spent more money than she can afford on this trip.

It’s an interesting storyline, well-written and very readable. My biggest problem is that Eleanor isn’t a likeable person. She drinks and smokes extensively, as do all the other rather caricatured people around her, and they appear to have almost no moral code.

Still, I kept reading, eager to find out what happened. The writing kept me going despite the negative characterisation. The climax of the book leads to a neat and tidy ending, and a positive outlook for the future.

I’m always interested to read debut novels. I'm glad to have it in my collection although I wouldn’t really recommend it as an introduction to Louise Candlish's work. However I liked it a bit better on my second read through, eight years after the first one.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-island-hideaway-by-louise-candl... ( )