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A review by lisa_setepenre
Bay of Fires by Poppy Gee
2.0
Reluctantly visiting her family for the summer holidays, Sarah finds herself stuck in a remote bay in Tasmania. But when a body washes up on a shore, belonging to a Swedish tourist Sarah spoke to the other day, her curiosity is roused and she seeks answers, aided by journalist Hall Flynn.
I was looking forward to reading this. This was fourth book in a row I read that was set in Tasmania. The first three novels – Danielle Woods' [b:The Alphabet of Light and Dark|1123635|The Alphabet of Light and Dark|Danielle Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328850539s/1123635.jpg|1110729], Favel Parrett's [b:Past the Shallows|10762662|Past the Shallows|Favel Parrett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1299760715s/10762662.jpg|15674030] and Robyn Mundy's [b:Wildlight|27993790|Wildlight|Robyn Mundy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454620881s/27993790.jpg|47995975] – were stunning, beautiful novels and I fully expected Poppy Gees's Bay of Fires to be just the same. Sure, the plot promised a good mystery (which is a genre I love anyway), but judging from reviews, I expected more of a literary fiction style focus than straight forward mystery. Which was fine – I read a book along the same lines a few years ago and had loved it and the idea behind it.
But Poppy Gees' Bay of Fires was a more straightforward mystery, with a decent dollop of character development for the leads. Although it was a (relatively) quick and engrossing read, with a mystery that gripped me and complex characters, I still found myself a little disappointed that this was the book that finished my little Tasmanian-set reading spree.
It's not just that it wasn't what I expected.
Parts of it felt tedious. I did read it quickly, but I found it very difficult to keep track of the masses of characters, their relationships and personalities. There are just so many minor characters with little quirks and mysteries entwined into the narrative that it felt impossible to keep them all straight or understood how they were all connected to each other. I got the feeling that Gees wanted to create a small town populated with eccentrics that all could be suspects, but the result overwhelmed me.
It helped that the story really worked when it focused on Sarah and Hall and that one or two of the secondary characters really did come alive, but I found myself thinking, "if X-detail about Y-character is important, it'll be mentioned again so it doesn't matter if I remember this." It's not a good thing in a book, really.
So, all up, Bay of Fires was an engrossing read that I enjoyed well enough once I put aside my disappointment that it wasn't going to be another gloriously beautiful book set in Tasmania. It does suffer from a glut of characters that make it a bit monotonous to get through, but it does have its positive sides. 2.5 stars.
I was looking forward to reading this. This was fourth book in a row I read that was set in Tasmania. The first three novels – Danielle Woods' [b:The Alphabet of Light and Dark|1123635|The Alphabet of Light and Dark|Danielle Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328850539s/1123635.jpg|1110729], Favel Parrett's [b:Past the Shallows|10762662|Past the Shallows|Favel Parrett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1299760715s/10762662.jpg|15674030] and Robyn Mundy's [b:Wildlight|27993790|Wildlight|Robyn Mundy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454620881s/27993790.jpg|47995975] – were stunning, beautiful novels and I fully expected Poppy Gees's Bay of Fires to be just the same. Sure, the plot promised a good mystery (which is a genre I love anyway), but judging from reviews, I expected more of a literary fiction style focus than straight forward mystery. Which was fine – I read a book along the same lines a few years ago and had loved it and the idea behind it.
But Poppy Gees' Bay of Fires was a more straightforward mystery, with a decent dollop of character development for the leads. Although it was a (relatively) quick and engrossing read, with a mystery that gripped me and complex characters, I still found myself a little disappointed that this was the book that finished my little Tasmanian-set reading spree.
It's not just that it wasn't what I expected.
Parts of it felt tedious. I did read it quickly, but I found it very difficult to keep track of the masses of characters, their relationships and personalities. There are just so many minor characters with little quirks and mysteries entwined into the narrative that it felt impossible to keep them all straight or understood how they were all connected to each other. I got the feeling that Gees wanted to create a small town populated with eccentrics that all could be suspects, but the result overwhelmed me.
It helped that the story really worked when it focused on Sarah and Hall and that one or two of the secondary characters really did come alive, but I found myself thinking, "if X-detail about Y-character is important, it'll be mentioned again so it doesn't matter if I remember this." It's not a good thing in a book, really.
So, all up, Bay of Fires was an engrossing read that I enjoyed well enough once I put aside my disappointment that it wasn't going to be another gloriously beautiful book set in Tasmania. It does suffer from a glut of characters that make it a bit monotonous to get through, but it does have its positive sides. 2.5 stars.