CY@CY Says Welcome to my dreamscape. Where a Lim is also a Ling.
Three British couples befriend each other while on holiday in Florida. Their sojourn should be nothing but relaxing for veteran visitors Ed and Susan Dunning as well as for novices Angela and Barry Finnegan and Marina Green and Dave Cullen. They meet up from time to time for a drink or a meal.
On their last day of their holiday, their perfect holiday takes a tragic turn when Amber-Marie, the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker Patti Lee Wilson, goes missing. Amber-Marie has learning difficulties. Her body is later found floating in the mangroves.
The three couples have all seen and spoken to Amber-Marie and her mother during their stay. Before flying home they exchange telephone numbers and email addresses.
Transplanting a foreign-born friendship to home soil, Angela starts the ball rolling by inviting the other two couples to dinner after they have been back for a while. The other two couples reciprocate by hosting their own dinners. They get to know one another better but they don’t like the dark secrets they uncover.
In Florida, Detective Jeffrey Gardner is determined to find the killer of Amber-Marie. In England, trainee constable Jenny Quinlan starts invesigating the three couples after contacting Detective Gardner about the specifics of Amber-Marie’s case.
Then a second girl goes missing, this time near where everyone lives. The missing girl is later found dead. Jenny begins to suspect there is a link between the two murders as both victims have mental conditions. Jenny’s challenge is to cut through the suspects’ constant propensity to lie. All the suspects have their tender spots.
Steering toward an unpredictable twist that I did not see coming, the author has written an engrossing tale of unlikable characters.