Skip to content
Untamed Shore (Hardback)
  • Untamed Shore (Hardback)
zoom

Untamed Shore (Hardback)

(author)
6 Reviews Sign in to write a review
£16.99
Hardback 288 Pages
Published: 16/02/2023
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • In stock

Usually dispatched within 1-2 days

Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
  • This item has been added to your basket
Waterstones Says

Intoxicating, vibrant and soaked in dark secrets, this evocative novel from the bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic sees a credulous young woman become enmeshed in the deceitful lives of fascinating strangers in 1970s California.

Baja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel and of a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children.

When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she's soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners' lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her humdrum life. When one of them dies, eager to protect her new friends, Viridiana lies - but soon enough, someone's asking questions. It's not long before Viridiana has some of her own questions about the identities of her new acquaintances.

Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naive young woman unwittingly entangled in a web of deceit.

Publisher: Quercus Publishing
ISBN: 9781529426328
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 500 g
Dimensions: 242 x 162 x 28 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

The descriptions of Baja are uncommonly evocative of gritty reality, with poverty and desperation made plain on the page, as well as the lengths people are willing to go to in order to escape . . . (an) insightful look at criminal life from the viewpoint of a sardonic yet lonely soul seems destined for more plaudits - BOOKLIST (Starred Review)

A sense of inevitable dread builds from seemingly innocuous events in this masterful crime debut from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The period detail is fantastic, the Mexican setting vibrant and fresh, and the noir is as murky as seawater after a shark-feeding frenzy. I loved it! - LAVIE TIDHAR, multiple award-winning author of A Man Lies Dreaming and Osama

This thriller sets a quiet tone before building slowly and evenly, showing how a meek teenager trapped by circumstance grows into a strong woman who takes control of her future, though in the end it might change who she is - LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred Review)

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a wonderfully evocative writer, and she uses her skills to their best advantage in her first book of crime fiction. Atmospheric, compelling and very suspenseful, Untamed Shore is a welcome addition to the genre - ALISON GAYLIN, Edgar Award-winning author

Untamed Shore is both transporting and transfixing. Set in a small Baja town in the seedy 1970s, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest takes us into a world soaked in sunshine and secrets, where everyone is working an angle and the looming sense of menace builds with nearly each page-turn. A shrewd, exciting thriller by a writer with a fresh vision and a powerful voice - JULIA DAHL author of the award-winning Rebekah Roberts series

Untamed Shore is a masterpiece. I loved this book, and can't get Viridiana out of my head. Silvia Moreno-Garcia's characters are unforgettable and no one and nothing is quite what they seem. I devoured this like one of Viridiana's sharks. Truly a stunning work - AMINA AKHTAR, author of #FashionVictim

The Great Gatsby meets Night of the Iguana in this elegantly spare and darkly twisted story of undercurrents, deception and colliding cultures. Rich in atmosphere and sinister in tone . . . a haunting lesson in the dangers of desire and the illusion of glamour and how dreams can be devoured by deceit - HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN, author of The Murder List

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Untamed Shore is a treat: the first thriller from a seasoned writer. This is a superb hybrid that's part classic whodunit, part sad love story, and part smart, pulpy noir packed with smiling snakes, a touch of mythology, and a strong female lead who's caught between her immediate reality and her dreams of escape, all inside the hermetic, oppressive hell of small-town gossip and old-fangled morality. This is a novel about greed, murder, and snowballing peccadilloes that moves forward with the power and grace of a shark. Don't miss it - GABINO IGLESIAS, author of Coyote Songs and Zero Saints

An engaging sojourn illuminated by prose as bright and clear as the Baja sun. A plot driven by characters whose motives are as murky and treacherous as stormy gulf waters - MARIO ACEVEDO, author of the Felix Gomez vampire-detective series

Moreno-Garcia is brilliant at conjuring up the hot, dead-end world that Viridiana occupies . . . recommended - British Science Fiction Association

You may also be interested in...

How To Solve Your Own Murder
Added to basket
The List of Suspicious Things
Added to basket
Close to Death
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
The Crash
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
Strange Pictures
Added to basket
Paperback
£14.99
Murder at Holly House
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
The Kellerby Code
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
The Housemaid Is Watching
Added to basket
The Dark Wives
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
Murder at the Monastery
Added to basket
Butter
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £8.49
The Last Devil To Die
Added to basket
Ward D
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
The Wrong Sister
Added to basket
Paperback
£9.99 £7.99
Death at the Sign of the Rook
Added to basket
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe
Added to basket

“Coming of age and catching sharks”

Viridiana is an 18 year old woman living in a small fishing village in the Mexican state of Baja California. She lives a very sedate life with the main source of excitement watching the catching and killing of sharks... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 38
Blue Book Balloon

“Blisteringly good”

I listened to Untamed Shore as an audiobook.

Silvia Morena-Garcia is an impressively versatile author, ranging between genres (SFF, romance, thriller) and themes and, in my experience, she never disappoints.

In... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 23
Laura at Harrogate

“Great atmosphere, slightly lacklustre plot”

This just didn't quite hit the mark for me as a thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith. It tells the story of Viridiana, a young woman living in a small town in Baja. She is offered the chance to become the... More

Hardback edition
Helpful? Upvote 20

Please sign in to write a review

Your review has been submitted successfully.