Stranded by Emily Barr

3 stars

On picking this book up in a book shop, the cover read that Emily Barr is a great write of psychological thriller. However, I did not really feel the psychological thriller part of this book. The premise follows Esther, whom has just broke up with her husband. She also has a daughter, Daisy. On meeting a friend of a friend, she is encouraged to take a holiday to a paradise bay in Malaysia. So this is just what Esther does. A large proportion of the book then follows Esther's journey to Malaysia and the beach, with Esther telling us parts of her life such as how her and Chris met, how their marriage was and about her daughter. There is also much description about her journey to the beach and how she becomes stranded on an island with a few other people. The book also does back and forth chapters about a girl called Cathy who lives in a village in 1988 who follow some type of religious cult and are expecting the apocalypse. This part of the story made no sense to me until towards the end. It is obvious however that this Cathy is one of the individuals on the island, but who? 

The way Barr describes Esther and the others being stranded on the island is generally quite believable and well written. There are a few parts which seem thrown into the story but overall, I wanted to know whether they were ever going to be rescued and what the second plot line had to do with the rest of the story. Once that part comes to light, the book makes for a good thriller. I also enjoyed some of the stories about the individuals that are stranded on the island with Esther and trying to guess which one of them is this Cathy girl. However, apart from these parts, I'm not sure if I would call this book a thriller, let alone a psychological one. Yes, it probably was quite an ordeal being stranded on the island, but maybe I didn't enjoy the book enough to get so engrossed into what feelings could have arose from being stranded.

Overall, the book was a generally easy going read, a flicked through the pages quite quickly as I did want to what was next. However, if you are looking for a real thriller, I wouldn't really recommend it in that sense. The book did make me want to read it though with its interesting plot. Worth a read to find out what happens. 

Happy reading :)