A family secret has been unearthed, the threats have started to arrive through the letterbox and a Rye Harbour woman has gone missing. That is the basis for a new novel by local author Colin Bateman published this month (August).
The story is a modern thriller that captures life in the small close-knit community of Rye Harbour, and its bigger sister, Rye, but it also takes us back in time to the Second World War years in the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands.
In Beyond the Waves, a local gallery owner has fled, fearing her family’s past could ruin her. As she goes in search of answers, life in Rye Harbour becomes more sinister when a German gun is found. The police are not too concerned about a missing middle-aged woman, so the family ask out-of-work journalist Tom Kidd to help them find some answers.
This is the author’s second novel involving Kidd, who featured in A Dreadful Trade, another thriller set on the south coast.
The author, who lives in Cranbrook, is a former sports journalist who worked as cricket correspondent and Olympic correspondent for the Daily Express before deciding to delve into the world of novel writing.
Once again, he uses his local knowledge and sense of place to bring his story-telling to life. Beyond the Waves is a tale inspired by actual events and switches between 2019 and 1943 to tell two parallel stories that come together in an intriguing climax.
Beyond the Waves is published by Edgehill Books and is available in bookshops for £9.95. It can also be purchased directly from the author at colinjbateman@hotmail.com. The Kindle version is due out in early September.
Image Credits: Colin Bateman .