Amanda Ortlepp

Although set in a fictitious town Amanda Ortlepp’s RUNNING AGAINST THE TIDE takes place in a very recognisable rural South Australia. The small Eyre Peninsula town of Mallee Bay is dominated by the oyster farming industry, local tourism and a sense of community (or the horror of everyone knowing everyone else’s business if you’re reading the book with my a city person’s eyes). Remembering the place fondly from her childhood holidays Erin Travers relocates there with her sons Mike and show more Ryan when her Sydney life collapses. Mike soon has a job with a neighbour’s oyster farming business and Erin starts to set down new roots with a win in the local art competition and a love interest but youngest son Ryan struggles to fit in at all. When increasingly worrying things start to go wrong for the Travers’ and others in the town suspicions fall easily. But not everybody is what they seem to be.

I am a city girl through and through and would need motivation along the lines of an impending annihilation of all large metropolises to force a move to somewhere as remote as Mallee Bay so could easily have found this book a struggle. Instead though I was quite intrigued by Erin’s story and the way Ortlepp tells it. What went wrong with her marriage? Why take the boys so far from their father? How much does everyone in her life know about all this? Does the town’s resident Lothario have sinister intent with respect to Erin? Is she seeing dead people? And what about the boys? Is each as he appears is one or other of them hiding secrets? Ortlepp does a great job of making the reader question or suspect everything and everyone in the tradition of the best suspense novels.

The setting is an evocative and authentic one. I spent my share of childhood holidays in a town called Coffin Bay which is on the same peninsula as Ortlepp’s fictional creation and I recognised many of the qualities she depicts. We get a sense of the town’s geography, including its heavy reliance on the sea for what it contributes to the local economy, and the people who make up the community. There are several nicely drawn characters who collectively remind us all that we should not rush to judgement based on first impressions. Of course this is in part to keep readers guessing about who to trust but there’s some natural and engaging character development too.

Strictly speaking RUNNING AGAINST THE TIDE is a suspense novel rather than pure crime fiction but it is very readable and does set the heart beating quickly when things get dangerous for multiple characters. I always know I am completely hooked when I have an internal struggle between wanting to read to the end yet wanting to put the book down in case something horrid happens to someone I have come to care about. I suppose it’s the literary equivalent of watching a thrilling movie with your hands partly covering your eyes and it’s a great feeling. show less

Claiming Noah/Amanda Ortlepp This riveting debut novel of psychological suspense explores the dilemmas that arise when motherhood and science collide.
Catriona Sinclair has always had a well-developed sense of independence--in fact the one sore point in her otherwise happy marriage is her husband James's desire to take care of her. As she's often tried to explain to him, she took care of herself before she met him, and did a good job of it. But James has been especially attentive lately as show more they struggle to have a baby. They succeed at last through in vitro fertilization, but unwilling to risk the heartbreak of another miscarriage, they decide to make their "spare" frozen embryo available to another family.
Diana and Liam Simmons are desperate for a child. Unable to conceive, they are overjoyed to learn that as the closest genetic match to the Sinclairs they are the recipients of the embryo donation. Diana's only concern is her mother's disapproval of IVF, but any doubts raised are quickly eclipsed by Diana's joy of being pregnant.
As Diana is finding delight in every aspect of motherhood, Catriona keeps waiting for the rush of adoration she knows she is supposed to feel, but instead slips into a deep depression. Just as Catriona begins to find her way back to normalcy, one of the babies is kidnapped. Suddenly, all of their lives begin to unravel and intertwine, and none of them will ever be the same.
What an emotional rollercoaster this was, my goodness.
 
If you've ever thought about what it means to be a mother and how the bond between a child and its mother forms, this will delve deeper into those thoughts. I really enjoyed the discussion about legality and confidentiality in embryonic donation.
 
Diana kind of irritated me throughout most of the book, but I grew to like her after the decisions she made at the end. Catriona, on the other hand, I found to be a complete spitfire, and I really admired how she handled all the really awful situations that life threw at her. The other characters didn't stand out too much to me, and simply felt like placeholders. (Having a gay couple named Tom and Jerry--too perfect. They were also pretty much the only guys in this book who didn't act like complete...selfish meanies.)
 
Postpartum depression is something that should come up more often, and I really appreciated how this book showed that though a woman can be in such a severe state that should consider suicide or infanticide, she could still recover and become a fantastic mother. (Although I was convinced for a while that infanticide had been committed and was unsure how that character would react once she found out.)
 
The plot was pretty believable the whole way through, and I loved hearing about Diana's methods of hunting for Noah and about the police and court proceedings. The epilogue made me tear up, but was quite satisfying.
 
This was well written with a unique and intriguing plot that had me turning the pages (and by turning the pages I mean swiping the kindle app) very quickly. I do recommend, especially for mothers or those who'd like to be a mother. Or maybe not; this might scare would-be-mothers away from motherhood.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley
Having lived in a small country town in Australia I can attest to the atmosphere of a slower pace of life that Amanda Ortlepp has created in Running Against the Tide. She has also accurately described the way that there are no secrets in a small town and once a reputation is gained (whether fairly or not), it tends to stick.
This book starts slowly, setting the scene, introducing the characters and gently sucking you into the pace of living in show more rural Australia. Crusty old neighbour, emo troubled son, new possibilites for Erin, the book moved along at a laconic drawl that was somehow like wrapping a comfortable blanket around you on a winters night. I didn't mind the slow pace because it gave me time to absorb the characters and picture myself in Mallee Bay. Just when I was beginning to wonder if anything was going to happen, Ortlepp let loose with a dramatic and unexpected conclusion that somehow didn't feel rushed or forced or out of place. Unlike my conclusion to the review!
I really enjoyed this book. show less

What makes a parent? Is it blood? Or something else? Can an adopted parent be as much a parent as a blood parent?
This book touches on so many issues; betrayal, crime, adoption, custody, forgiveness and the terrible effects of postpartum depression.
James and Catriona are desperate to have children as are Diana and Liam. And finally, through modern science, it happens for both couples. But then tragedy strikes one of the couples and what follows is devastating. An impossible situation. Two show more couples. One little boy.
How far would you go to get what you want? How far would you go to protect the ones you love? How much should you be expected to forgive?
I could not stop reading. It was so heart wrenching but so engrossing. While my normal favourite genre to read in the last while has been psychological thrillers, I forgot how much I love to read dramatic fiction like this. It kept me spellbound until the very end. It is gut wrenching but such a fantastic read. While I didn’t agree with everything the characters did and a few characters I disliked intently, it didn’t take anything away from the enjoyment of the story.
This was the author’s debut from several years ago, I will be hunting down other works by her.
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for allowing me the privilege of reading and reviewing this book by sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review. show less