Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
This is a creepy and disturbing psychological thriller. Told in multiple voices, across two continents and at three points in time, readers must piece together the events leading up to the grisly murder of a wealthy international businessman. It’s a complicated, contradictory puzzle and I couldn’t put it down.

At the heart of the story is Ellie, a Canadian heiress with a troubled history who marries the victim and moves to Australia to be with him. Ellie’s voice is frustratingly inconsistent. Ellie can be vulnerable, she can be mean, and she can be calculating. But none of these things necessarily make her a murderer. With Ellie, readers have to grapple with a main character who may or may not be innocent but definitely isn’t a reliable or likeable narrator.

To complicate things further, readers know that the murder victim, Ellie’s husband Martin, isn’t what he seems from their very first encounters. If Ellie isn’t terribly likeable, it is far too easy for readers to start to hate Martin very quickly.

Interestingly, in this book, beyond Martin and one scene with Ellie’s father, this is a story about women. In Australia, the police detective Lozza, the bartender Rabz, and the neighbour Willow all become entangled in Ellie and Martin’s life. Lozza is as compromised a narrator as Ellie and readers are forced to untangle facts from bias, emotion, and personal interpretation as they start to piece together an understanding of the true nature of the relationships between the women in Jarrawarra.

It is always difficult to review psychological thrillers without spoilers. I will say that there were several times that I was properly surprised by plot twists and the suspense at the end is brilliant. The pacing is excellent and the skill with which the author weaves the layered narratives together is admirable. This is a beautifully crafted book and a thoroughly enjoyable read.


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Mystery
Triggers: Child death, Domestic violence, Drug abuse

This book didn’t grab me right away. While I normally need a mystery to really suck me in quickly, I let this one slowly draw me in.

Martin Cresswell-Smith is a handsome man who goes after what he wants. He is charismatic, wealthy, successful, and two-faced. You don’t truly see the other side of Martin until he reveals himself to Ellie.

Ellie has been looking for love her whole life. With an absentee father, a husband who wasn’t paying enough attention to her, and a life that has fallen in to shambles, Ellie self-medicates. Despite the tragedies in her life, Ellie wants to move forward, wants to be happy. When she meets Martin, she thinks that her life might just be turning around.

What follows is a back and forth of past and present. You get to see Martin and Ellie’s relationship from inside and outside, the new community they live in from different perspectives, and you get to try and puzzle out what Constable Lozza Bianchi is seeing.

Bianchi is a great character who brings another level of depth to the story. I really enjoyed watching her try and figure out the mystery. She was a strong personality, but she was also compassionate and very real.

This book gives you twists and turns throughout, and you’ll be wondering what’s going on until the end. I really enjoyed this once I got into the story. I admit that the back and forth was sometimes hard to follow, but the overall story was well developed.


Veronica – ☆☆☆
In the Deep is a psychological thriller and one where the story is told in both the present and the past. Importantly, it is always clear which time we are in and we know from the outset that the wife is on trial for the murder of her husband. Ultimately though, the majority of the story is told in the past.

Early on we spend a lot of time with our main character, Ellie. We learn about her life, her past, and how she meets her now dead husband, Martin. I have to say at this point in the story I was starting to lose interest. I didn’t find Ellie a particularly appealing character and Martin was clearly dodgy. But then, briefly, a new player entered the story and I knew things were far more complicated than they seemed, so I was curious enough to push on.

While I found the start of the story slow, when the couple moves to Australia things really take a dark turn. The tension builds and there is plenty of action that got my heart pumping, which I really enjoyed and it kept me turning the pages. There is a scene with Martin and Ellie out on his boat that is actually a bit scary and so well done.

Often reading stories in this genre you don’t know who to trust or who is telling the truth. In this story, however, I found it obvious at times who was deceiving who and who was likely involved, we just didn’t know all the details. When the big twist came, it was like a quick reveal and the story was hurriedly concluded. The ending was way too rushed and we were given an information dump at the end to wrap it up. It felt like we spent so much time in the beginning on boring parts of the story and at the end we were rushed right through some juicy bits.

In the Deep had some good parts and some not so good things, but overall I enjoyed it. Three stars from me.

WOW….WOW…..Double WOW…

It’s been really a long time that a book has left me utterly speechless and gasping for breath as if I have been underwater after the final chapter was done.

The story begins with a court scene in New South Wales and a picture is formed of a wife accused of murdering her husband. We are then introduced to the main characters to the story, Ellie Hartley, the heiress to the Hartley Empire who is recovering from a very public meltdown with her ex-husband and court mandated institutionalized after the loss of her 3 yr old daughter to drowning. As always at loggerheads with her father, craving for attention, she meets the very mysterious Martin Creswell-Smith and falls hard. A whirlwind romance, and a impetuous marriage followed by a promised grand adventure in Jarrawara Bay, Ellie’s castles comes tumbling down.

There are 3 parts to the story that details the NOW scene of the murder trail, the THEN of Lozza Bianchi as she becomes involved with the case and the THEN of Ellie whose crazy spins leaves us with a sense of foreboding. Jarrawara Bay is described beautifully, but the Australian town doesn’t spell any warmth, the humidity, the spiders, the flying bats the swamps giving it a feeling of dreaded menace.

This is my first book by Loreth Ann White and if this is how good she has been writing I am sorry that I have missed reading them. There’s level of manipulation of the reader’s minds that is completely mind-blowing that the twists and turns in the story feels like an impregnable tunnel. There are enough cues mentioned at random but we are led to believe a particular trail of crumpets before that final reveal in the court and then to shock one’s senses with another twisty morsel that felt like WHAT, WHAT in the world was that??

Believe ME, this book has to be read to understand the total mindf**k that the author has orchestrated and I can keep going ON and ON🙄🙄🙄 but without any doubt one of the best this year for me.

With In The Deep, Loreth Anne White departs from her usual settings of the chilly Pacific Northwest or the Canadian tundra and takes us to the warm, subtropical coast of Australia’s New South Wales. This isn’t her usual police procedural/murder mystery fare either, because while there is a murder to solve, the story is told by the suspects and those closest to the victim, rather than by those investigating the crime. It’s a domestic noir type of psychological thriller… and Loreth Anne White proves to be equally as adept with this type of fare, because In The Deep is quite simply brilliant.

Heiress Ellie Tyler is still deep in grief and trauma after the drowning death of her daughter when she meets Martin Cresswell-Smith, Australian real estate developer. After a whirlwind courtship, the pair marry in Vegas and Ellie travels to Australia where Martin is working on a major new marina development in the tiny beachside town of Jarrawarra Bay. On his own turf, Martin is a very different man to the fun-loving, charming one Ellie thought she’d married, though. A few locals do their best to be friendly, but Ellie quickly realises she’s in over her head.

The story is told in two timelines set a little over a year apart; Ellie’s first meeting and brief romance with Martin and her coming to Jarrawarra Bay… and the murder trial after Martin’s body is discovered.

I had my suspicions about the real villain from their introduction, but I have to admit the twist itself flabbergasted me when it came, despite the fact that I had all the information right from the beginning. White is a master storyteller who performs a brilliant piece of sleight-of-hand writing here, telling you the truth while simultaneously showing you a lie, and because of the way our brains are wired, we follow along with the lie and don’t spot the real truth until it’s pointed out. A second little twist right at the end got me as well, and I put the book down both delighted and discomfited by how cleverly I’d been misdirected.

The Australian settings are very well done; the author spent time in the area described and had Australian readers to check the writing before publication, though a very un-Australian terror of the wildlife did creep in at times. Perfectly understandable in the Canadian heroine but not so much when an Aussie character freaked out over a redback spider. That was my only tiny niggle in an entirely fantastic story, and since international audiences would probably think it entirely legitimate to freak out over a poisonous spider, it’s absolutely forgivable. I’m delighted to give this story five stars and I’m really looking forward to see what the author decides to write next.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

This is an intricate mystery-thriller-suspense and you have no idea who the baddie is or why until the very end. The plot has you looking in all different directions while it performs a slight of hand trick. I'm not going to say much about the plot, but if you liked "Gone Girl", this book is so much better.

Ellie suffered a tragic event when her daughter died and her husband left her. She spiraled into drug addition and depression. The will to climb out of that hole was weak, at best, but with each day it got a little better. One step, then another, until she was slowly moving forward. A chance meeting with a devastatingly handsome man has her wanting to live again and build a new life with him in an Australian coastal town where he is developing an new resort. After her arrival, her new life quickly spirals out of control and now she is facing murder charges in the death of her husband, Martin Cresswell-Smith. How she got here is the stuff of nightmares, or hallucinations.

IN THE DEEP by Loreth Anne White is a contemporary, adult, psychological thriller focusing on Canadian heiress and children’s book artist Ellie Hartley Cresswell-Smith, and the investigation into the murder of her husband, real estate mogul Martin Cresswell Smith.

Told from several first and third person perspectives including Ellie Hartley and Senior Constable Laurel ‘Lozza’ Bianchi, IN THE DEEP follows Canadian heiress Ellie Hartley in the months following her whirlwind romance with Australian real estate mogul Martin Cresswell Smith. Within days after meeting Martin Cresswell, Ellie Hartley reluctantly agrees to a working European vacation culminated by their marriage in Las Vegas, Nevada. Four months will pass before Ellie joins Martin in Australia where her life is about to spiral out of control. Frequent unexplained blackouts blamed on the use of alcohol and drugs finds our heroine the prime suspect in her husband’s murder, a murder predicated on secrets and lies. As the investigation, by Senior Constable Detective Lozza Bianchi, into Ellie’s husband’s murder takes on a life of it’s own, the author pulls the reader into the backstory and history of Ellie’s life including her first marriage, her controlling father, her friendship with Dana Bainbridge in Vancouver BC, and her descent into madness at the expense of her own happiness and sanity.

IN THE DEEP takes place in Agnes Basin, New South Wales, Australia where Ellie becomes suspicious within minutes upon arrival. Although welcomed into the bosom of small town life, Ellie finds herself on the outside looking in, and the unenviable target of her new husband’s anger and rage. Not all is well in Ellie’s less than well-ordered life but she never expected to find herself on the defensive with strangers who meant more to her husband than she could ever have imagined.

Loreth Ann White pulls the reader into a suspense filled, psychological thriller of murder, deception, secrets and lies, intricate games of life and death. With a colorful, energetic and eclectic cast of secondary and supporting characters, IN THE DEEP is a complex and detailed story with so many twists and turns- you won’t be able to stop reading until the very end.



THE READING CAFE: http://www.thereadingcafe.com/in-the-deep-by-loreth-anne-white-a-review/


GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3397108064


AMAZON. COM: https://www.amazon.com/review/R38PN6PFYBJUAX/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B07ZJ2VHBB


BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2071261447


CHAPTERS/INDIGO: (Sandy_At_The_Reading_Cafe) posted

A well-written, atmospheric narrative that delivers a smidge of dark romance. The characters are nicely crafted and some a bit dubious. Love all the twists and turns. A decent, middle-of-the-road suspense. 4 stars.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #InTheDeep

This book is simply fantastic!! I really enjoyed this book!! A lot of twist and turns and white knuckle suspense!! I will definitely be reading more from this Author!

[Thanks Netgalley for the ebook. This review is my honest opinion but just another opinion, you should read this book and judge it by yourself]
I'm not a thriller reader but sometimes I need the emotion that genre gives us so I search that kind of books. Since I've discovered Loreth Anne White thanks to Netgalley, she's become a must for me and one of my thriller references.
It's been days since I finished In The Deep and I'm still shaked by the reading. It's a fantastic book, so angsty I needed to stop reading to recover myself.. Loreth Anne White creates a web of secrets and deceives that keep you hooked but with an uneasy feeling, you're constantly suspicious of every character. I loved the way the book is written, although there are too much timelines for my taste. But everything has a reason and you finish the reading with you mouth open for one twist... or another (I suspected some things but other surprised me a lot!)
A fantastic reading.
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Por qué me pido yo estos libros que me tienen sufriendo mientras leo?!??!? Descubrí a esta escritora en Netgalley y aquí me quedé, pegada a ella. No es que sean libros redondos pero tiene un modo de contar la historia que me tiene enganchada por completo. Aquí me he pasado casi todo el tiempo angustiada por una suma de cosas: lo que estaba sufriendo Ellie, la asfixiante ambientación australiana y una especie de sensación de que había algo que no cuadraba (y no me equivocaba, muajajaja). Loreth Anne sabe mantener muy bien la tensión, que va aumentando según avanza el libro y se vuelve más agobiante. Me he pasado todo el libro haciendo conjeturas sobre quién sería el asesino (porque un truculento asesinato es lo que mueve todo) y, por desgracia, mi sospecha temprana era cierta, con lo que el clímax final ha sido un poco descafeinado. De todos modos, esta escritora se guarda un as en la manga que hace que sea ella la que dice la última palabra...
En fin, un thriller muy decente que me ha tenido muy viciada.

Loreth Anne White never fails to deliver an enjoyable read! I have to say that while I read it, I enjoyed but soon forgot about it when I started another book. This was not a story that stuck with me nor that I thought about after I read the last word.

Although this was not one of my favorites by her, I would still recommend it.
3.5/5

Thank you #netgalley and #montlakeromance for the eARC.

Loreth Anne White is one of my favourite authors, and I’m always ready to get stuck into a new book by her.  Her latest novel, In the Deep, is a fabulous read, a superbly constructed, clever thriller surrounding a murder that takes place in the Agnes Banks area of New South Wales, and I was pulled in straight away and hooked until the very end.

The book opens on the dramatic scene of the arrival of a murder suspect at the court where she is to be tried for the murder of her husband.  The car is greeted by angry crowds calling for justice, reporters, photographers, people waving mobile phones  - and when she and her lawyer exit the car, they’re surrounded by journalists eager for quotes.  It’s hard for her not to react to some of the horrible things being shouted at her, and as she’s swept inside, she can’t help asking herself how she’s come to be here.  When did it begin?

We then skip back to just over a year earlier, and to the discovery of a dead body in a swampy channel off the Agnes River.  Senior Constable Lauren – Lozza – Bianchi has reason to believe it to be that of property developer Martin Creswell-Smith, who was last seen heading out to sea in his boat four days earlier.  Which begs the question - if he’d gone overboard at his last known position ten klicks out to sea, how has his body come to be up tangled in a clump of illegal crab-pot lines in the Agnes Basin?  When Lozza and her fellow officer inspect the body more closely, they can see it’s been mutilated – clearly Creswell-Smith’s death was no accident.

Skipping back almost another year, we meet Ellie Hartley, a young woman whose life fell apart following the death by drowning of her three-year-old daughter Chloe.  Ellie blames herself for what happened; her marriage broke down under the weight of grief and guilt and Ellie became dependent on drugs and alcohol.  But she’s gradually emerging from that dark place of tragedy and despair and now, at the beginning of a new year, is determined to make a new beginning for herself.

That new beginning gets underway quickly after Ellie meets the handsome, charming Martin Creswell-Smith.  He’s in Vancouver seeking investors for his latest project – the development of a luxury resort in New South Wales – and over the following months, Martin drops in and out of Ellie’s life, whisking her away on exotic, romantic vacations at a moment’s notice, his attentiveness and understanding making her feel special  and wanted.  After they marry – at Ellie’s suggestion  - while they’re in Vegas on one of their whirlwind trips, Ellie packs up her old life and moves with Martin to Australia.

Which is when things start to go very, very wrong.

I really don’t want to say too much about the plot, which is diabolically clever, and will work best if you go in knowing as little as possible.   I think I can safely say that it’s fairly obvious to the reader right from the start that Martin isn’t at all what he seems, but that’s just about all you’re going to get from me!

Loreth Anne White has penned a fast-paced, gripping tale of psychological suspense that will slowly tie you up in knots, each turn of the screw ratcheting up the tension and the stakes that little bit more.  The characters are complex and three-dimensional; none of them are particularly likeable, but they’re compelling nonetheless, and at the centre is Ellie, riddled with insecurities and battling addiction, an unreliable narrator who should, given what she’s been through, elicit the reader’s sympathy, but who has an edge to her that means we’re never quite sure if she’s killer or victim.

One of the themes running through the book is that of misdirection, the ability of the trickster “to make us all look at thing one way while something is slipped past us another way.”  The author brilliantly uses such devices herself to tell the reader one thing and show them another, to imply that characters are one thing, and then another – and ultimately, to deliver a real coup de grâce towards the end which was so utterly brilliant that I put down my Kindle to give her a round of applause.

“The magician is much the same as a storyteller-a trickster who uses misdirection, sleight of hand, to manipulate a person’s beliefs about the world.”

Everything else about the book works wonderfully, too, from the structure - the split between Ellie’s story “Now” and “Then”, interspersed with scenes of the murder investigation – to the vividly described locations, which enable the reader to feel the sweltering heat and humidity, see the bizzare flying foxes, hear the screeching of the Kookaburras and smell the Eucalyptus trees.  I also appreciated those moments of insight the author offers into the perception of mental illness and those who have survived it.

In the Deep is a remarkable piece of storytelling, a riveting tale of emotional manipulation, betrayal and palpable fear that will keep you glued to its pages from first to last.

Note: This book contains one scene (not graphic) of sexual assault and the implication that others have taken place.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore
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Wow! This book sucked me in right away and kept me guessing the entire way. In the Deep is a psychological thriller involving heiress Ellie Hartley and her new husband Martin Cresswell-Smith. It's a chance meeting with a fast love affair that leads to them working together on Martin's new prospective real estate development in Australia. The beginning of the book opens with the trial for the murder of Martin and the story that unfolds had my heart racing with all its suspenseful twists and turns. White has such a way of writing that has you guessing as the reader which way is up and leaves you surprised at several points in the book. It is exactly what you want from a thriller. There is child loss and domestic violence on the page that is necessary to the story so a trigger warning for that. If you are looking for a book to have your heart racing, this is it. 5 stars!

Must Read Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⁣⁣⭐⁣⁣💫⁣⁣
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This book has been staring at me from my #bookshelf for months and I am so sad that I waited this long to read it. I fell in love with Loreth Anne's writing when I stumbled upon her Angie Pallarino series (starts with The Drowned Girls and it's one that I HIGHLY recommend that you read) and my first bookstagram review was for her novel, In The Dark, which I also adored. This review will be short, sweet and simple - the book was EXCELLENT, its a must read from me and it is my goal to get more people talking about this author and her work. This is the psychological/domestic thriller genre AT IT'S FINEST. Loreth Anne writes like no other and her plots are extremely unique and very twisty. The ending of this one absolutely floored me!!! I didn't see it coming from a mile away! Please, do me a favor and pick this one up. It publishes 10/27/20, so add to your #TBR right now! This is certainly one you don't want to miss.

This book has everything you could want in a psychological thriller. There are a lot of trigger warnings so keep that in mind but if you liked Gone Girl style books then this will be right up your alley. The narrator is unreliable and the husband is suspicious so you spend the whole book wondering who's telling the truth only to have a twist at the end that changes everything. I definitely didn't see the twist coming so that's a huge win in my book. My only complaint is that I wish the romance between the two main characters was presented as a little bit more believable at first.

Did Ellie kill her husband Martin? She's on trial for it but Detective Constable Lozza Bianchi isn't so sure. Told alternately by the two of them, as well as with trial details, this is the story of a marriage gone terribly wrong. Martin was a rebound for Ellie after her daughter died and her first marriage fell apart. Oh, and she has had some mental health issues. Was Martin the person he showed to the world? No spoilers from me but this, despite being a vaguely familiar plot, has enough twists to keep you, like me guessing. Loved the Australian setting and the characters are well crafted. I'd like to see more with Lozza. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

This was a solid 4 STARS 🌟🌟🌟🌟 for me!! I felt a connection with the characters and the story line flowed nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look forward to more from this author.

This is another thriller that you need to put on your list right now!
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I LOVED this book! This author’s writing is insanely good. I don’t know how I had never heard of her before.
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I know a lot of people have been complaining lately about books being miscategorized as thrillers. This book is an actual thriller.
It’s told through multiple points of view, one being Lozza, the constable. Her POV reads like police procedural in parts. I just love the way the story is told.
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Ellie has suffered the devastating loss of her small daughter, followed by a divorce. She was completely broken, in the depths of abject despair.
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She meets Martin and finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel. She believes she can finally heal and find happiness again.
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Martin is a real estate developer and is working on a lucrative project on the coast of Australia. Ellie decides to move to Australia with him, imagining her happily ever after.
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Shortly after the move, Ellie starts to see a dark side to Martin..... Martin ends up dead.
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This book is just so good. It’s atmospheric, suspenseful and tense.
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I’d recommend this to fans of The Golden Cage. Really any thriller fan

Oh boy did I LOVE this book! Full of twists that I did not see coming and a plot filled with great characters that kept me up reading all night as I could not stop turning those pages to see what was going to happen! This is what I look for and need in a great mystery/thriller, and this one definitely delivered. Although there were a number of great surprises throughout, the writing and overall story were really easy to follow making this an even more enjoyable read. This will be one of my favourites for 2020 and I am so excited to read more from Loreth Anne White! Huge thanks to NetGalley, Montlake Romance and Loreth Anne White for such a wonderful ARC to read and review.

In the Deep is a MUST READ! Wow! If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. This is a very well-written, fast-paced, page-turner with a shocking ending that I did not see coming. What more could you ask for in a book? A tight plot, excellent character development, and thrilling conclusion. I look forward to reading more from this author. If you are looking for a gripping thriller, I highly recommend this book

Thank you to NetGalley, Montlake Romance and Loreth Anne White for a copy of "In the Deep" in exchange of an honest review.

A brilliant disturbing story filled with a gruesome murder , smoke and mirrors , deceit , betrayal and many twists and turns ! Exquisitely written thriller that I highly recommend ! Thanks to Netgalley , Montlake Romance and Loreth Anne White for the opportunity to read and review this book ! Opinions are solely my own ! #Netgalley #MontlakeRomance #LorethAnneWhite
#InTheDeep

This is a thrill ride of a read. There are lots of twists and turns. The story is well-written and has interesting characters.