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The Swimming Pool

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The Swimming Pool

By: Louise Candlish
Narrated by: Gabrielle Baker
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About this listen

It's summer when Elm Hill lido opens, having stood empty for years. For Natalie Steele, it offers freedom and leads her to Lara Channing, a charismatic former actress who seems all too happy to invite Natalie into her elite circle.

Soon Natalie is spending long days at the pool, basking in popularity. But is it too good to be true? Why are dark memories of a summer long ago now threatening to surface? Could Natalie have been swept dangerously out of her depth?

©2016 Louise Candlish (P)2016 Recorded Books Inc Genre Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Fiction

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Critic reviews

"Exquisitely written and addictively dark, The Swimming Pool is sheer perfection." (Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go)
"Gripping from start to finish, it wrapped itself around me and swept me along in its wake. I loved it and simply did not want it to end." (Rosanna Ley)
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Read it in two days. Absolutely loved it. A great holiday read. Would highly recomend.

Brilliant

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This was a good enough story to keep me entertained on my holiday. At first I was irritated because it read like some kind of cautionary tale for wives and mothers on the perils of daring to occasionally put yourself first or disobey your husband. I found Ed to be a joyless twit and a passive aggressive bully. Natalie is a wet blanket constantly questioning herself and feeling guilty and this is all very frustrating. Also the story was a bit slow sometimes. However I'm glad I kept going because the final chapter was a joy.

The narrator was lovely. She has a lisp which I quite enjoyed. Sometimes her emphasis was a bit wrong but it didn't bother me much.

Good enough

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excellent from page one. totally refreshing storyline & plot. narration was first class. loved it.

you won't sit beside a pool & feel the same again

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I am fast becoming a devotee of Candlish this is my third of her books and I seem to enjoy each one more. There is a similar premise behind all I have read and that is portrayed in the characters Glimpsing some alternative existence that is both seductive and toxic. I love the way candlish uses buildings and neighbourhoods to create this and the way she populates her books with such exotic and ordinary characters juxtaposed together to play off each other. This book was very clever and the end twist totally unexpected. I also enjoyed the narration which was perfect in tone and intensity. I would easily recommend this book.

Throughly entertaining and beautifully written

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What did you like most about The Swimming Pool?

I enjoyed this as a holiday listen but I found the ending was a bit longwinded. The rest was good though and well narrated.

Holiday listen

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I had high hopes for this book, after reading many of LC's other work. However, although the story started of good, the mysteries and the conclusions never really developed. Left me dissatisfied and disappointed with the ending.

The story never quite took off

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I Just loved it! A nicely Different take on the genre, the characters were very compelling :) it kept me guessing till the very end.

Loved it

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The narrator has a very pronounced lisp and it’s very distracting. Ruins the book for me.

A very obvious lisp from the narrator

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I wasn't impressed with the narrator, that annoying posh voice. I'd rather hear an authentic regional accent. All the main characters were very unlikeable except for Natalie's longtime friend Gail who is level headed and honest. All the others were obnoxious. The story could have been improved if I hadn't had to listen to Natalie's constant thought processes which tended towards flamboyance and really grated on me. Because of this the story was overlong and became tedious.

disappointing

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I bought this book having just read, "Those People", by Louise Candlish which I thought was so almost possible to be frightening, and very well written.

I have not quite finshed the Audible version of "The Swimming Pool, but up to chapter 28 now. It has been an unhill struggle so far but I hate to not finish a book, so will persevere to the end. However, I am very disappinted with the narration and therefore also with the direction. The innotation and emphasis and, at sometimes the actual mispronunciation of occasional words, is so very distracting, that I have nearly given up several times. The narration does not flow, the reader stops and starts at inappropriate places, emphasises the wrong part of the sentence or word....... All extremely distracting.

Interesting story let down by narration

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