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A review by chrisvill
The Swell by Allie Reynolds
2.0
2.5 / 5
Allie Reynolds sure seems to have a formula. The main character was or is addicted to **insert extreme sport**. The group of people are all "hardcore" and they won't stop until they've done something bigger and faster. And they all have secrets! Dun dun duuunnnnn. In this go around, Kenna the main character, is an ex-surfer who gets pulled back into the surfing world, where her friend is part of a group driven to control this secret surf spot in Australia. If it sounds familiar enough, its because its basically a spin on her first book, Shiver, mixed with Alex Garland's The Beach. Overall, The Swell is not terrible. I've read worse books. I was turning pages easy enough, which means I was into it, but I was also shaking my head the whole time.
Kenna is just written so poorly in this book. She's trying to make her best friend come home, but also trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of missing backpackers which she just found out about that day. Her idea of a good plan is to constantly ask her best friend, "are you okay?". Friend makes a face, "are you okay?" Friend smells something, "are you okay?". Friend eats dinner, "are you okay?". Like, damn. She acts like the overprotective parent all the time and is super anxious, constantly worrying about cell reception and being far from a hospital. She has no tact and just moves from friend to friend bluntly asking questions. And then you add the fact that she monitors people's passports and visas and immigration status. She calls people "overstayers" and aggressively asks about peoples' accents. Girl, back up, that is not your problem. You live in London, you do not work for Australian Immigration.
And then there's the group. Why do they all follow this one character who is kind of the alpha and who makes them all do crazy exercises and challenges? Red flag after red flag for most of the book and everybody just stays there and accepts it.
Just so many weird choices that lead up to a frenetic ending.
Allie Reynolds sure seems to have a formula. The main character was or is addicted to **insert extreme sport**. The group of people are all "hardcore" and they won't stop until they've done something bigger and faster. And they all have secrets! Dun dun duuunnnnn. In this go around, Kenna the main character, is an ex-surfer who gets pulled back into the surfing world, where her friend is part of a group driven to control this secret surf spot in Australia. If it sounds familiar enough, its because its basically a spin on her first book, Shiver, mixed with Alex Garland's The Beach. Overall, The Swell is not terrible. I've read worse books. I was turning pages easy enough, which means I was into it, but I was also shaking my head the whole time.
Kenna is just written so poorly in this book. She's trying to make her best friend come home, but also trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of missing backpackers which she just found out about that day. Her idea of a good plan is to constantly ask her best friend, "are you okay?". Friend makes a face, "are you okay?" Friend smells something, "are you okay?". Friend eats dinner, "are you okay?". Like, damn. She acts like the overprotective parent all the time and is super anxious, constantly worrying about cell reception and being far from a hospital. She has no tact and just moves from friend to friend bluntly asking questions. And then you add the fact that she monitors people's passports and visas and immigration status. She calls people "overstayers" and aggressively asks about peoples' accents. Girl, back up, that is not your problem. You live in London, you do not work for Australian Immigration.
And then there's the group. Why do they all follow this one character who is kind of the alpha and who makes them all do crazy exercises and challenges? Red flag after red flag for most of the book and everybody just stays there and accepts it.
Just so many weird choices that lead up to a frenetic ending.