"On the Surface" by Rachel McGuire

 

 

"On the Surface" by Rachel McGuire is a slow-burn thriller that revolves around a YouTube cruising couple anchored in the Bahamas.

The book begins with a bang — the mysterious death of a young woman — before moving to the present. We're introduced to Sawyer Stone III and Dani Fox, a young couple immersed in the pleasures of cruising, sex, and parties. Dani diligently documents their life on their YouTube channel 'Sailing with the Foxes' as they attempt to make a living from it.

Struggling financially after Sawyer lost his money in a crypto scheme, the plot thickens when Dani vanishes following a boat party, and Sawyer has no recollection of the events after a night of heavy drinking. When Dani's pre-scheduled videos are aired, showing Sawyer's violent tendencies and the cracks in their relationship, he becomes the main suspect in her disappearance due in part to his shady past. The intervention of internet sleuths in the case doesn't make it easy to crack.

The story is told in Dani and Sawyer's first-person perspectives, switching back and forth between them, with some interlude chapters in the third perspective from a couple of other characters such as Local Inspector Veronique Knowles and Sonja, a fellow cruiser.

I enjoyed the book, mostly, but I do have a few reservations. But first, to what I liked. I loved the setting, the description of the lifestyle of the cruisers, and the exposure of the fakeness of social media. What appears as a glamorous life on social media turns out to be pretense and lies. The main characters were well-drawn, and I liked the dynamics between them, but they were unlikeable, to put it mildly. The writing was good and flowed easily from one POV to another.

On the surface, the book has all the elements for a successful story: a brilliant premise, an intriguing plot, complex characters, and good writing. Unfortunately, the execution of the story felt a little flat. The main issues I had with this book were the slow pace, the unlikable characters, and the abrupt ending.

The book was slow-paced until the middle, and I didn’t feel a sense of urgency to keep reading. Some things were predictable once the connection between the prologue and the story was revealed. I didn't like the two main characters. I could not connect with or relate to them, and that detracted from the story for me. I have read books with dislikable characters before, but not like that. I never really got to a point where I could care about them.

The ending was very abrupt; it was open-ended actually, with several loose threads left untied. I thought the book had some missing pages at first. There were a couple of unanswered questions, and I was dissatisfied with the lack of a moral resolution in the book's ending. Therefore, I decided to give the book 2.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 3 stars. I recommend the book to those who appreciate a unique setting and are open to navigating unlikable characters, a slower pace, or narratives with open-ended conclusions.

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc.  All opinions are my own.

* For more info about the book: "On the Surface" by Rachel McGuire