The Dive by Sara Ochs

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Sara Ochs's The Dive!

It's supposed to be a normal work day for dive instructor Cass. And yet it's anything but. 

Cass has lived and worked on the island of Koh Sang in Thailand for two years. And in that time she's made great efforts to keep her background under wraps. And she's done well in that regard, finding friends and a family of sorts among the other expats who work on the island. 

That is until she receives an ominous message: someone knows about her past. 

Things take a significant turn for the worst when a member of her latest dive class is found dead in the water. Cass soon becomes convinced that the death is tied to the note she received. Unsure of the note writer's motive, Cass, along with another expat, Brooke, decides to find out more about the tourist's death. And when another person turns up murdered near the resort and Cass receives another note, she's more certain than ever that the two are connected. 

With the locals and the police determined to keep their island tourist friendly, Cass knows she can't turn to the authorities with her suspicions. Solving the case is her only option. 

Conspiracies and murder in paradise! If you're a fan of The Beach, this is the summer read for you! (If you haven't read The Beach, definitely pick it up—even Cass herself has a nod to the book/movie.) 

The reader is introduced to Cass the morning after she's become engaged to another expat, Logan. And we quickly learn that Cass hasn't told Logan everything about herself. Whatever she's keeping is big. Big enough that she's afraid of losing him. Big enough that someone can use it as blackmail. 

The reader is also introduced to our second narrator, Brooke, who is (surprise) also keeping secrets. Posing as a travel influencer, Brooke has been getting to know Cass and her friends for the past few weeks. But Brooke has bigger aspirations than Instagram. And when a guest at the resort is found dead, Brooke's interest is piqued. 

Though the death is ruled an accident, it is actually the second tourist death in recent weeks. A connection neither Cass or Brooke can overlook as they become involved in digging up info on the latest death. 

I loved The Dive! The setting is fabulous: a small dive resort on a less popular Thai island where business lives—or dies—by its reputation. And with so many people running from their pasts (yep, it's not just Cass and Brooke that are hiding things), the list of possible suspects and motives isn't as small as you'd think. 

Given that it does take place on a (fictional) island, there's an automatic urgency to the story. An insular community, made so by language and cultural barriers, tied together simply by way of their all speaking English. And those nasty secrets none of them wants revealed are all in danger of being spilled!

The Dive is great fun! Perfectly paced and super fun! It's out now from Bantam Press in the UK and will be out in the US early next year.