This was a great book that whisks you away to an actual paradise and shows you how the 1% live…and how privilege won’t shield you from bad things happening. Nikki perfectly shares the gorgeous environment of an exclusive Maldives resort. I’ve never been anywhere like this but could see it all from the beautiful descriptions. The characters are all flawed in some way, all portraying a persona that isn’t their full self (aren’t we all!!) and this helps to hide some of the twists. Talking of twists, there are many and they get larger as people get more desperate. It was just such a fun, if at times unbelievable, story that I couldn’t put it down. It has the bonkers opulence and overreaction of Dynasty in its heyday! Using the chapter titles to count down to something was a great tool - it definitely ramped up my reading as I got closer, and it made you remember as you started each chapter that something was afoot. A brilliant summer read, best enjoyed on a beach with a cocktail.

The Maldives, a dream destination. A place where wishes and fantasies come true. Unfortunately this is not the case for the Hamilton family who are on a much needed break to distance themselves from a recent break-in and bring together their fractured relationship.. Tagging along is their teenage daughter Alexa who would rather be back at home. The resort is filled by what seems to be rather unsavoury guests out to broker business deals rather than enjoy the beauties that this island has to offer. Cindy an ex co-worker of Cara Hamilton and her sneaky, portentous husband Ryan are particularly shady and one does not warm to them at all. Similarly Skye the eco warrior and influencer manages to highlight issues surrounding the planet using dubious methods. A regular poster of sumptuous breakfasts while in reality she only drinks black coffee. Even the staff, the resort manager Marc and butler Devi lack an real moral values. It is however through their portrayal that we see the darker underbelly of the working and living conditions that many workers experience in those high end establishments.Being at the beck and call of entitled guests. The plot has deception and greed at its heart as we see Zach's betrayal of his family in his quest to build a business around sustainable projects. He however is anything but squeaky clean with his double dealings and affairs soon to be his undoing. Is everything about to turn on its head, of-course it is. Thank you NetGalley

The Maldives, a dream destination. A place where wishes and fantasies come true. Unfortunately this is not the case for the Hamilton family who are on a much needed break to distance themselves from a recent break-in and bring together their fractured relationship.. Tagging along is their teenage daughter Alexa who would rather be back at home. The resort is filled by what seems to be rather unsavoury guests out to broker business deals rather than enjoy the beauties that this island has to offer. Cindy an ex co-worker of Cara Hamilton and her sneaky, portentous husband Ryan are particularly shady and one does not warm to them at all. Similarly Skye the eco warrior and influencer manages to highlight issues surrounding the planet using dubious methods. A regular poster of sumptuous breakfasts while in reality she only drinks black coffee. Even the staff, the resort manager Marc and butler Devi lack an real moral values. It is however through their portrayal that we see the darker underbelly of the working and living conditions that many workers experience in those high end establishments.Being at the beck and call of entitled guests who have nothing better to do than to make their lives miserable. The plot has deception and greed at its heart as we see Zach's betrayal of his family in his quest to build a business around sustainable projects. He however is anything but squeaky clean with his double dealings and affairs soon to be his undoing. Is everything about to turn on its head, of-course it is. After all secrets can only remain secrets for so long. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. Definitely a book for the beach.

Don't holiday here! Another fast paced read from Nikki Smith. An idyllic island resort, but people have troubles.....( relationship, parental, environmental) and they will find you out.... This novel is like a ticking time bomb!

When we first meet them, Zach and Cara, along with their daughter Alexa, are just completing the last leg of travel to a luxury resort island in the Maldives. They really need a break as you will find out as the book goes on. As well as them, there are a couple of other guests with connection to them, but again, I am leaving you to discover them for yourself. We also have a couple of prominent resort staff who have their own agendas too. It's all a bit interconnected and convoluted plot wise and not at all easy to hint at without giving a sniff of a spoiler. Suffice to say that it turns out not to be the relaxing idyllic holiday that they were expecting as, well, even right from the off shenanigans ensue... Starting off mild but escalating exponentially as the narrative progresses. It most definitely didn't mirror my own experience of the Maldives as I personally had a cracking time when I went there! Its all a bit twisty turny all the way through, with secrets, lies and dysfunctional behaviour aplenty. Often skirting, occasionally crossing the line of credibility, it was nonetheless wholly entertaining and kept me wondering where the next over-the-top shenanigan was coming from, and who it would involve. It also got quite dark, very quickly, deliciously so. Characters... well, what can I say... probably not much positively as they were all a bit awful in various ways that I can't detail here for fear of spoilers. Overreaction was rife and acting out of character too. But, as I already said, in a very entertaining way. All a bit thrilling, all the way through, until the ending was delivered. An ending that sadly left me a bit flat and underwhelmed. And didn't quite connect back to the prologue properly. Shame really as it was racing towards a cracking five star rating all the way through.