Thank you to the author, publisher Hodder and Stoughton, and online book club The Pigeonhole for the chance to read this. 

 

Ali and Sean are con artists. But, when their con on Lulu, a personal chef on holiday in France, goes tragically wrong Ali takes her place to give herself breathing room to recover. But, will Sean let her go?

 

Stories about con artists are fun. The combination of amateur psychology as the con artist quickly reads people, the looming threat of them getting caught, and the feeling - as a reader - of triumph that you see through the lies when the characters don’t. Unless of course you too are being conned.

 

Sun Damage makes the most of the freedom this plot point gives the author. From audacious and complex cons to simple misdirections, Ali and Sean fully inhabit this world. Over time we get to understand Ali’s backstory more and how she ended up in this life. She’s a fairly well-rounded character who it is easy to empathise with.

 

There are moments of sadness, of high tension and of hope throughout the book. However, the pacing is off in some places, with too much reliance on whether Ali’s cooking ability (or lack thereof) will be the thing that unmasks her identity. It makes for quite a slow middle section, which combined with an ending which felt quite rushed, does diminish an otherwise absorbing plot.