Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Forgotten Sea

I had high expectations for this book. I read it as part of the Australian Women Writers challenge ... otherwise I wouldn't have finished it. Beverley Harper is Australian, though she spent a significant amount of her life in Africa.
   On the back of this edition, she is said to be Australia's answer to Wilbur Smith. Now, I love Wilbur Smith, and have read a lot of his sagas over the last few years. However, The Forgotten Sea by Beverley Harper is nothing like a Wilbur Smith novel. It's more like a murder mystery in a Mills & Boon novel.



Having said that, I did actually have a lot of guilty pleasure reading this novel. About half way through, when the Mills & Boon style romance got hot, I couldn't put it down. Her fans have posted online that it is one of her best novels.
   It was full of cliches, it's predictable and a bit ridiculous, but the reader does become invested in the characters.
   So if you like a murder mystery, and you like suggestive paragraphs about hot sex (but never actually have the sex described), then you should give this novel a try.

2 comments:

  1. I haven't heard of this author, I like a murder mystery and hot sex though so I might be willing to give it a try. Thanks for sharing your review!

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think I've read this one, but I have read others by Beverley Harper and did enjoy them. I was sold the first one by a bookseller who told me she was the Australian equivalent of Wilbur Smith. I did think they were quite similar to some of his earlier books like Hungry as the Sea and the ones set in modern day gold and diamond mines (the names escape me and I'm not home to check my bookshelves). Shelleyrae, I think you would enjoy her stories.

    Sadly, Beverley passed away several years ago so there won't be anymore...

    ReplyDelete