Friday Reads – The Island by Catherine Cooper

It’s time for another Friday Reads post and this week my featured book is the gripping psychological thriller, The Island by Sunday Times bestselling author Catherine Cooper. Isn’t the cover gorgeous? Grab yourself a cuppa and get cosy then we’ll find out a bit more about the book and get chatting to Catherine. 😊

Blurb

The perfect escape or the perfect trap?

When a select group of influencers and journalists receive an exclusive invitation to a luxury resort in the Maldives, it seems like the ultimate press trip.

But when the island is cut off during a storm and people start dying, it looks like someone has murder in mind.

Are the guests really who they seem to be, or does each one of them have a secret to hide?

Something they would kill for?

Lose yourself in the latest twisty page-turner from the queen of glamorous crime, Catherine Cooper.

Buy Link: Amazon

Welcome back to my blog, Catherine. You tend to set your book in luxury resorts. Can you tell us why you think they are the ideal setting for a thriller

The Island is my fourth destination thriller – the previous three being set in a luxurious ski chalet, a French chateau and an enormous cruise ship. For this one, I wanted somewhere as luxurious as possible and could think of no better place than the Maldives.

The recent success of the two White Lotus series with a third in the pipeline aptly shows not only the public appetite for stories set in high end holiday settings, but also how horrifying happenings can somehow seem even more awful against a beautiful backdrop.

On holiday, people tend to let their guard down. You don’t know who the people around you are and without context, people can make up their own back stories should they choose to. It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security especially if you are in a resort, where you are being waited on hand and foot and nothing is ever too much trouble. And if you are staying on an island or somewhere remote, there’s always the possibility that you might become cut off.

While my resorts are always fictional, I like to visit the places they are loosely set in where possible. While I had already written about the Maldives many times in round ups over the years in my role as a travel journalist, and was very aware of the beauty and incredible facilities of the islands with their clear blue seas, underwater restaurants and overwater villas, I had never actually been.

So I was delighted to secure a press trip to Huvafen Fushi while I was writing the book. While in many ways it was exactly what I had expected, it was somehow also even more so. The scenery was more beautiful, the service utterly faultless, the privacy and quiet incredible. It was also hugely useful to be able to talk to the staff about their roles and the island. While my villa with its own pool, day bed, water access and bathroom to die for was one of the most luxurious places I’ve ever stayed, butler Yoonus took time to show me around the small resort, which included the largest villa on which I based Claire’s in The Island. A brilliant snorkelling trip with resident marine biologist Hamid gave me the chance both to swim with sharks and to ask questions about poisonous sea creatures, and after a kayaking trip I had an enlightening conversation with dive master Antonina about the most effective ways to cause accidents on a dive trip. Over dinner with marketing manager Ankita, we discussed how communication to the islands worked and whether speedboats or seaplanes could operate during storms.

In many of the early reviews of the book, readers have kindly said that they felt transported to the Maldives which I’m truly delighted by. However if you do ever get the chance to visit for real, I’d definitely jump at it.

What a brilliant research trip, Catherine! Thanks so much for dropping by to talk to us today. Your book sounds fantastic, I hope it flies off the shelves.

Meet Catherine

Catherine Cooper is a journalist specializing in luxury travel, hotels and skiing who writes regularly for national newspapers and magazines. She lives near the Pyrenees in the South of France with her family, cats and chickens. Her debut, The Chalet, was a top 5 Sunday Times bestseller.

Her latest book The Island is published by Harper Collins, RRP £8.99.  

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If you want to read Catherine’s guest blog about her earlier novel, The Cruise, click here: https://karenkingauthor.com/2022/10/21/friday-reads-the-cruise-by-catherine-cooper/

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