Stories Within Stories
Given the title Beach Thriller by Jamie Day, this couldn’t have been a more fitting summer read. It follows Holly Sinclair, a published author who loses her NYC apartment after her publisher rejects her latest manuscript. Short on cash, she retreats to her small, gossip-fueled hometown of Beauport, Massachusetts, moving into the house she inherited from her mother.
This felt like two books in one, brilliantly shifting between Holly, Jade, a mysterious figure called “The Watcher,” and chapters from a manuscript
Holly wrote twenty years ago. If my review feels a bit vague, that is entirely by design—this is absolutely one of those twisty thrillers you need to go into completely blind to get the full experience.
I am so glad I stayed the course with this one. The pacing kicks into overdrive at the 70% mark, turns spectacular by 90%, and delivers a stellar ending. Over half the characters are wearing masks, constantly flipping my expectations of who was good or bad. Literally every single guess I made was completely wrong!
As a bonus, the behind-the-scenes look at the chaotic reality of the publishing industry added a fantastic extra layer. I give this a solid 4 stars—and honestly, if I were an actual writer and my publisher rejected my work, I’d probably write a twisty psychological thriller about everyone in my hometown, too.
