I remember back when Allie Reynolds’ The Swell was first released. It made its way into People magazine, which I think is a pretty big deal, and the premise sounded intriguing, but for whatever reason it made it onto my reading list, but I never got around to actually reading it until I saw it in the bargain section at my local book store.
For the price of a hardcover, I couldn’t not pick it up! The book is told mainly from the perspective of Kenna, a Scottish girl who moved to Cornwall when she was little and made best friends with Mikki. It’s Mikki who she’s going to see now down in Sydney. Kenna is picking up some red flags and decides that she needs to get her back to her home in London. Things take a turn almost as soon as she gets there, though. Mikki’s got a confidence to her now, but other things in her life seem out of place. Firstly, her home is a bit of a mess, she’s got a tattoo of her biggest fear, a moth, and her boyfriend is almost too hot to be real. The two of them basically turn Kenna right around and into their car to take her to a very secluded beach spot.
It’s secluded and possibly dangerous to be at, but it turns out that Mikki and Jack are part of some “tribe.” Only the tribe knows about this surfing spot and they get pretty upset that they’ve brought Kenna along. She earns her stripes relatively quickly though, as it doesn’t take much convincing to get her back on a board. Kenna loved surfing growing up, but two years ago her serious boyfriend had drowned in some pretty rough waters that she had convinced him to tag along to. That’s why she moved to London, and she vowed she would never surf again. As someone who has recently been to Australia, I can imagine the lure of the waves to be pretty easy to fall back in on. The water down there is truly magnificent.
The tribe is weird. Though I imagine if you met any group of adults referring to themselves as a tribe, you would also think that. There’s Victor, Ryan, Clemente, and Sky, all of whom definitely have suspicious pasts that Kenna slowly is able to break out of them. Ryan is in the country illegally, after fleeing the US from a tax evasion scandal. Victor almost died in some big waves, and Clemente’s got several brushes with death that make him seem pretty untrustworthy despite Kenna’s draw to him. Sky is the unofficial leader and she’s one scary lady. She’s all about pushing people to the edge of their fears and works them out until they’re totally drained. She intimidates Kenna, no doubt, but there are other secrets she’s hiding, too.
When Kenna learns of previous deaths and missing persons among the tribe, she starts to get a little fearful for her own life, let alone how she’s supposed to get Mikki to come back home with her. She seems to be all in on this place. Towards the last chunk of the book, things start rolling in pretty quick succession with more bloodshed and lies. The truth of what actually went down was kind of bonkers, but something about it just felt a little too hokey to me. It wasn’t my favorite read, and Kenna’s inner dialogue kept repeating some silly points throughout much of the book. Still, it’s unlike anything I’ve picked up before, so I appreciate its originality. Can’t say that it’s one I will revisit, though.