Saturday 5 May 2018

BLOG BLITZ: Pressure - Betsy Reavley


When the submarine departed, none of the ten people on board knew it would turn into a nightmare.

Trapped on the sunken vessel on the bottom of the ocean and unable to escape, one of them is discovered dead. The tension escalates as the survivors realise there is a murderer among them, who is preparing to strike again and again…

With mounting desperation, people begin to turn on each other. While they struggle to identify who is responsible, each must contend with their own past, the claustrophobia and the secrets they are hiding.

But who is who?  And which of them will be next to die?

Below the surface, the pressure is building and time is running out…

'Betsy Reavley is back with a novel of such impact and power; nothing is clear, the tension so strong it holds you from the first page to the last. Pressure delivers on every level, leaving breathless readers in its wake.'  Bestselling author of Captor and 34 Days Anita Waller


What did I think?

Crikey!  I didn't think claustrophobia could be written so effectively into a book but my goodness, Betsy Reavley managed it in Pressure.  A super-fast paced thriller that I felt I had to read just as fast, as if my own reading-oxygen was in short supply.

I think it was a very novel idea to not just set the book on a submarine, but for the characters to be actors and film crew rather than sailors.  It added to the tension when things went wrong and the sub became trapped at the bottom of the sea because nobody knows how to fix it.  Add to the already tense mix that there's a killer on board and I could barely breathe with an equal mix of excitement and terror.  As characters begin to be killed off, I was both looking for the killer and wondering who would be next.  

With so many characters, books tend to get confusing and although I couldn't remember exactly who everybody was at times, some of the characters stuck in my mind due to the amazing back-stories that Betsy Reavley has created.  Everyone is on the submarine for a different reason, some to make a name for themselves and some to get revenge.  With so many reasons for a person to become unhinged, it makes Pressure totally unpredictable as even down to the last few chapters, I didn't know who to suspect.

Unusual and thrilling, Pressure kept me guessing right to the very end.  It certainly showed how appearances can be deceptive and the danger lurking beneath the masks that so many people wear.  Beneath the surface certainly has a double meaning in Pressure; beware what lies beneath...

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:




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About the author:

Author of The Quiet Ones, The Optician's Wife, Frailty, Carrion, Beneath the Watery Moon and the poetry collection The Worm in the Bottle. Betsy was born in Hammersmith, London.

As a child she moved around frequently with her family, spending time in London, Provence, Tuscany, Gloucestershire and Cambridgeshire.

She showed a flair for literature and writing from a young age and had a particular interest in poetry, of which she was a prolific consumer and producer.

In her early twenties she moved to Oxford, where she would eventually meet her husband. During her time in Oxford her interests turned from poetry to novels and she began to develop her own unique style of psychological thriller.

Betsy says "I believe people are at their most fascinating when they are faced by the dark side of life. This is what I like to write about."

Betsy Reavley currently lives in London, with her husband, 2 children, dog, cat and chickens.

You can follow her on Twitter @BetsyReavley


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