Beneath the Surface
Ratings1
Average rating5
15
Ratings1
Average rating5
On a weekend voyage, the power-hungry children of an aging billionaire are unprepared for a storm of deceptions in a novel about ruthless family ambition by USA Today bestselling author Kaira Rouda.
You are cordially invited to an overnight voyage on the Splendid Seas.
An invitation to Catalina Island from billionaire CEO Richard Kingsley. For his sons, Ted and John, and their wives, it’s an opportunity to curry favor, gain control of a real estate empire, and secure their family’s futures. For the controlling patriarch, succession is a contest. He and his newest wife won’t make it an easy win.
Then Richard’s estranged live-wire daughter, Sibley, crashes the party. She’s the least of the night’s surprises. As the stakes for the inheritance of the Kingsley legacy are raised, the beautiful waters of the Pacific look more like a menacing illusion.
Let the games begin for a family who has everything money can buy, and has used lies, deception, and more to keep it. This weekend one of them will be crowned heir. One is in line to lose everything. That’s the plan. But in the coming storm, so much can go dangerously wrong.
Reviews with the most likes.
Dark Family/ Business Drama. This is one of those books with a wildly atmospheric setting - a short sail on dad's megayacht over to Catalina Island and back, during which storms both literal and personal envelop the entire family. If you need likeable characters or levity... there isn't any modicum of that to be found here. This is dark, gets darker, and right when you think it can't possibly get any darker... goes nearly as dark as it can without involving kids or genocide or some such. It is a story where yet again Tony Stark's like about Nick Fury in The Avengers comes to bear: "his secrets have secrets"... and this is true of pretty well every single person on the boat, as we'll find out by the end of this tale. This is absolutely one where your own feelings about dialog and situations may vary, but I for one didn't see anything "objective-ish" wrong with them, so I'm not going to fault the tale or the author here. I'm simply noting I've seen that complaint in other reviews, and I could see where that argument could potentially be made, but I personally didn't feel they were. Ultimately an interesting tale, one near perfect for a dark stormy night where you don't want an actual horror-type tale, but you do what to have a minor sense of suspense and foreboding, perhaps with a nice wine or beer. Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
Featured Series
2 primary booksThe Kingsleys is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2023 with contributions by Kaira Rouda.
