The Cliff House by Amanda JenningsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Edie's life was dipped in gold. How could she ever understand?"
Amanda Jennings' The Cliff House is a tense and unsettling read of obsession, love and teenage rebellion. The titular house and wild Cornish coast are so sharply painted that they almost become characters in their own right in the book, their landscapes changing to echo moods and moments.
Amanda Jennings' writing is beautifully poetic, but without ever moving towards overwrought purple prose. It's a perfect example of sparing details being used to paint the most vivid images. Jennings' evocative description made it easy to picture the stark white house, or even taste the salt spray, from the first few pages I was instantly immersed into her world.
The story flows at a nice pace, feeding you intrigue and tension bit by bit always leaving you hungry for more, until the last few chapters. I feel they're more rushed than the rest of book, and they lose some of the edge and punch because of it. To me, the big reveal was dampened a little as it hurtled along too quickly.
However, unlike in the case of some books I've loved with weaker endings, it does nothing to detract away from my overall good feelings about this book. It was a gripping read and I could barely put it down.
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