A Madness of Sunshine

by Nalini Singh

'Compelling' Guardian

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh welcomes you to a remote town where even the blinding sun can't mask the darkness that lies deep within a killer...

Golden Cove was a peaceful town.

Then one fateful summer a tragedy shattered the trust holding the community together. All that's left are whispers behind closed doors, broken friendships and a silent agreement to never look back. But you can't run from the past forever.

Eight years later, a young woman disappears without a trace, and the residents of Golden Cove wonder if their home shelters something far more dangerous than an unforgiving landscape.

The town's dark past and haunted present are about to collide . . . in a murder mystery that's been years in the making.

'Exceptional' Publishers Weekly

'Accomplished' Sunday Times

• ISBN10: 1473229545
• ISBN13: 9781473229549
• Publish Date: 25 August 2020 (first published 3 December 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

I was excited to find out that Nalini Singh came out with a Mystery/Thriller in 2019. I’m trying to read more genres this year, and thanks to the #Romanceopoly2020 Challenge, I’m fulfilling that goal. I know I was going to enjoy A Madness of Sunshine since Nalini is a fantastic writer. Be prepared though there are no paranormal elements in this book. I know a lot of readers enjoy her PNR and Contemporary novels.

A Madness of Sunshine did still have some romance in it, but it was not the center of the story. The main female protagonist, who is introduced in the story, is Anahera. She has moved back to her hometown in New Zealand after her husband passes away. No one expected her to move back because they believed she was living a good life in London with her husband. Unfortunately, she’s forced back to get away from her life in London. She ends up back in her hometown, which is remote in New Zealand, and a young woman has gone missing. The only police officer named Will in Golden Cove is determined to find the missing woman. Will starts realizing though that there is darkness in the town of Golden Cove, and there’s a killer in the small town, and everyone could be a suspect.

Nalini Singh wrote a book that kept me guessing on who could be behind the missing woman in the book. If she was alive or dead or if she left the small town, like Anahera did, especially after finding out about the young woman’s life. It may be a small town, but some of the people there can keep their lives hidden. I enjoyed following the characters Anahera and Will to determine the hidden secrets about the town and its inhabitants. I was not expecting the ending, though when Nalini finally revealed the killer. I also was not expecting the twists and turns in the book. There’s not only the missing woman that Will is determined to find but other women that were killed several years ago in that town that he’s determined to find out what happened to them. Remind me, though, to be very cautious if I ever visit New Zealand with the cliffs and scenery there. Nalini made it seem very scary in this book, but I know from seeing pictures that New Zealand is beautiful. It’s on my goal list to visit New Zealand one day.

I’ve been reading through Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter, and Psy/Changeling series and glad I made time to read A Madness of Sunshine. I give it four stars and recommend it to readers that enjoy Mystery/Thriller stories.

[EBookObsessed]

I was disappointed with Nalini Singh’s first official foray into suspense. The pacing started out so slow and never picked up.

I love anything written by Nalini Singh. I would read her grocery list if I could. When she first announced that she was writing a non-romance, non-paranormal suspense novel, I though I will finally be able to introduce my non-paranormal reading friends to the brilliance of Nalini Singh. I couldn’t decide who I was going to share the book with first, but in the end I didn’t share it with anyone since it really a great example of what I know is a wonderful author.

My biggest problem with the story is that the pacing was so slow and never really built up even as the investigation continued. At first, I thought the slow pacing really gave a feeling of the desolation of this tiny, tiny town on the edge of the world. It was four hours to the nearest city. It was on the edge of a cliff over the ocean with dangerous waves. People lived in houses that were no better than shacks. I am certain there are many small town people in the U.S. who can’t even grasp how small and desolate this town really is. And I did take the time to try to set the scene in my mind. Whenever Nalini mentioned a specific tree or the call of a bird, I stopped to look it up because I was unfamiliar with these New Zealand natives and at first, I thought this was the reason I felt it was slow paced. I really could barely grasp how anyone could still be living so far out of the way with on about 100 other people that they have known all their lives.

The problem is that once the scene was set and the beginning introductions were made to the two main characters of the story: Will, the City Police officer sent to the middle of no where as punishment and Anahera, who has returned to this isolated part of the world after living in London; and then we got a look at town and most of the major players that have ties to the missing girl, the story never got past cruising along.

Now let me backtrack a little, I never said it was a bad story. I like a good suspense/crime novel just as much as I like a romance or a paranormal story. But for a suspense, it never got really suspenseful. The inference in the book description is there is a serial killer amongst the very few citizens of this town but the majority of the story focuses on one missing girl and we then learn that many, many years ago several tourist/hikers went missing. No one really wondered if there was any connection between those missing hikers until someone notices they are all young pretty women who look very similar. And does those hikers have anything to do with today’s missing girl since that was so long ago? Usually in a serial killer story, we get the occasional POV from the killer as he stalks his victims which add to the suspense, and we didn’t get it here.

And while Nalini stated several times that it wasn’t a romance, we did have the standard two person POV what we would get in a romance and Will and Anahera did build a working rapport which lead to sex and a growing connection between them.

I guess my biggest problem with the story is simply that really enjoy Nalini Singh’s books. Some of them are at the top of my Must Read list and are simply books that I pick up and re-read over and over again. Nalini Singh is a talented writer so I was absolute disappointed that A Madness of Sunshine wasn’t as exciting as I anticipated.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

See more at EBookObsessed.com

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 stars

It’s time for beloved author Nalini Singh to dive into the world of thrillers. Here she’s introducing us to a new world, one that is soaked with sunshine and mystery. A Madness of Sunshine is a thrilling tale of murder, mystery, and full of small town charm.
Set on the West Coast of New Zealand, this novel takes a deep dive into the culture and history of one very small town. This is the town that Anahera grew up in. It’s the town she left. And now, it’s the town she’s returning to.
But things are not as calm and quiet as they appear. Women have gone missing before. But it wasn’t until one of their own went missing that the alarm bells started ringing. There’s a murderer in the midst of this quiet and sun-soaked town.

“Anahera had stood stone-faced, staring down at the gleaming mahogany coffin she’d chosen because that was what Edward would’ve wanted.”

Warnings: As with any thriller, A Madness of Sunshine touches upon the darker sides of humanity. As such, there are examples of murder and adultery mentioned in this book, as well as rape (mentioned, never shown).

A Madness of Sunshine was an intense and colorful read. It had a surprising amount of small town charm, all while showcasing that darkness can be found anywhere. Even in the sunniest of locations.
I’ll confess to you now; I haven’t yet read any of Nalini Singh’s novels. I’ve been meaning to for quite some time, but haven’t yet gotten around to it. So when I saw that she was starting a new series/novel, and that it was a thriller, I knew that I had to jump on it!
Anahera was the leading perspective in this novel. Her backstory was surprisingly complex, but it did give her a good reason to both leave and return from her town. Likewise, the town itself was so much more complicated than I expected. It seemed like everywhere we turned there was another growing concern. It was brilliantly written, as Singh made it very difficult to pick up which threads were the relevant ones.
I’ll confess that I did find some of the plot twists a little forced or obvious at times. That goes more so towards the end of the book than the earlier bits. I actually adored the first half of this novel, all of the details and character development. I just wish more of those tones and elements carried the whole way through, if that makes sense.
On the whole, I really did enjoy A Madness of Sunshine. I think I’m just a bit particular with my thriller novels – especially in regards to how they end. So please do take my opinion with a grain of salt. And don’t hesitate to give this one a try, if you’ve been tempted to do so.
I think that this is Nalini Singh’s first foray into thrillers. I honestly would be extremely curious to see if she continues writing in this vein, and if so, I have no doubt that I’ll pick up whatever she comes up with next. I’m seeing a lot of potential here, and that makes her worth keeping an eye on.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[kimbacaffeinate]

Singh weaved small town politics, interesting characters and small-town characteristics into the seaside town of Golden Cove. Where not much happens, unless you count those missing folks eight years back. They never solved the case(s). Many townsfolk have ideas about it though. Was it a hiking accident, were they swept out to sea or did something more nefarious happen?

Golden Cove is a close-knit community where people have ties to one another. It’s one where the young move away but somehow find there way back. Such is the case with Anahera. She is returning to the cove after eight years and crushed dreams. A bit of car trouble has her meeting the town’s police officer Will. A decorated officer with a promising career he was transferred from the force in Christ Church after an incident. Locals still consider him an outsider but a tolerable one.

When a popular, young girl goes missing on her nightly run the past collides with the present and the mystery that unfolds soon has Will and Anahera crossing paths and working together. It isn’t long before the attraction they feel for one another leads to more. I would not call this a romantic suspense, but would classify this as a suspense thriller with romantic elements.

I admit I approached this with both excitement and trepidation. I have enjoyed this authors urban fantasy and paranormal series and wondered what she would bring to the table. Nalini Singh, delivered a seasoned character driven suspense thriller that was rich, well plotted, entertaining, intriguing and addictive.

The story builds slowly as we gain knowledge, character background and the author sets the tone, for some this may drag, but I loved and appreciated the details. I felt the narration enhanced theses aspects.

From the coastal setting to the characters I slipped into this story and felt the imagery appear before me. The main characters were flawed, held depth and believability as did the murder(s).

The suspects, interviews and pieces to the puzzles kept me guessing. Just when I thought I had it narrowed down things took a turn and wham it left me to puzzle over the pieces again. It was brilliantly done and tightly woven.

Saskia Maarleveld was the perfect narrator for this tale and she captured the coastal setting, suspenseful plot and essence of the characters. She added a layer of magic to an already superb thriller. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[Linda]

*I received a free copy of A Madness of Sunshine from Berkeley via Edelweiss. This has in no way influenced my review which is honest and unbiased.*

Singh really knows how to write a mystery / thriller with lots of suspense! I tried to guess who was behind this and that, but was unable to. As always, the characters truly carried the story, and the plot was very well executed.

FRC