Deeper Still by Sarah Colliver

Absorbing, Powerful, Gripping

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Spicy/Mystery

Tate had picked up the pieces of her life after the fire at Carmino’s, enjoying a new business and a new home, brushing under the carpet how she had managed to elevate her existence so rapidly in such a short space of time. Better still, she was able to rely on the continued support of her best friend Irena. Her love life needed a little improvement, but she had that in hand and didn’t think that it would be that difficult put an end to, as fate had given her a leg up in that direction and she had all the ammunition that she needed. Plus, she was certain that he wouldn’t exactly fight for whatever it was that remained of their relationship. With Bill and Paul gone and her no longer having been on Tony’s radar for sometime, she was most definitely in the clear for a fresh start…

After reading ‘In Deep’ I couldn’t wait to catch up with Tate and Irena again and see what Sarah Colliver had in store for them this time, as the first book ended with what I perceived to be a certain degree of closure. I really enjoy Sarah’s writing, so I didn’t hesitate to even wonder whether I would be entertained by the second instalment. She put so much of her personality into her characters (the nice ones obviously!), and the conversations between Tate and Mauricio and Tate and Leo had me laughing out loud. Sarah’s knack for real and natural dialogue for her characters puts a smile on my face. She makes the scenes in the book so tangible for the reader.

I was thrilled that Tate was indeed still a character in the second book. I like her, she’s had a rough time since settling in Spain and had to overcome a lot, but she’s a tough cookie. However she often leads with her heart and her head gets left behind. She’s a very spontaneous person and a very caring one, a lot of the time both are to her detriment. She falls in love quickly and gets hurt easily but is also good at picking herself up as she’s had to be, and as you’ll see in this book, she tries to do her upmost to ensure everyone who matters to her is kept safe, although sometimes that isn’t within her control. Even though Bill has gone, when she finds out that Ellie is back in Spain, she wants to save her from the pitfalls that she knows only too well, of having any kind of association with her father, Bill. This was frustrating for me, as I really wasn’t keen on Ellie, and after the last book, I would have hoped that Tate had learnt her lesson and might listen to Irena. But Tate is impetuous and throws herself into situations without thinking of herself or how her actions may impact on others who care about her.

As I have said above, I wasn’t that keen on Bill’s daughter, Ellie. As a character we don’t get to know her much in the first book, but in this second book she is very much a central character and has gone from a typical cheeky teenager to a knee wielding ninja. With a cocky, stubborn, bolshy streak, not to mention a dangerously misguided self confidence and a penchant for violence when she feels threatened with little or no regard of whether the other person is armed or more powerful than her, she is a threat to herself and brings danger on others, with her careless tongue and unwieldy arrogance, and frankly you just want her to shut up! She just gets herself in deeper and deeper (hence the very logical title), even after she’s resolved to tone her behaviour down. Her hard exterior is clearly from years of lack of parental guidance, only mostly having her mother around, and rather show any kind of vulnerability, she has built a wall around her emotion…..and picked up a few substance abuse habits along the way. I was still saddened at the conclusion of her particular story as that certainly wasn’t how she was expecting things to turn out, her age making it all the more tragic.

Irena is certainly someone I would like to have as my best friend. She always has Tate’s back, not that its reciprocated. However, Tate realises this in the end, so I hope things evolve to make their friendship a more balanced one, and less of a mother and daughter dynamic. She is always there for Tate, and even prepared to withstand injury to protect her friend, as we saw in the first book and even though Tate rarely heeds her warnings, she supports her whatever she does. She is even tougher than her younger sidekick, and remains my favourite character.

The introduction of Leo was light hearted and full of humour making him a delightful character and hopefully a good influence on Tate, but at the same time an informed protector, knowing how hazardous it can be to get intertwined with the Spanish underworld.

Tony was someone we heard about in ‘In Deep’ but didn’t see a lot of action from, more of Paul (last seen in a fire along with Bill). He is an abhorrent character, used to getting his own way, and woe betide anyone who doesn’t conceive of that ideal. The way he treated Ellie was uncomfortable reading and clearly he clearly views women as play things or punch bags. However, with Ellie goading him and Tate deliberately putting herself in harm’s way, it was difficult to feel that much empathy for either of the young women. Particularly Tate when she was so familiar with Tony’s wicked ways.

The huge twist at the end was a corker which stunned me. Even I hadn’t expected that of Tony, but what also appalled me was Ellie’s attitude towards Tony’s ‘surprise’. I couldn’t believe how dismissive she was, determined only to get what she had come to Spain for. The fallout of Tony’s revenge is picked up some time later which I’m not always a fan of and it would have been good to have perhaps read more of how the scene, at Tony’s unfolded after the alarm sounded. However, in this case it is used to clever affect, progressing Tate’s life and re-introducing a character largely featured in the first book building, the scene and suspense for a trilogy. I’m pretty sure I heard rumour of a third book which I cannot wait to read and will be purchasing the first two in the meantime. Thank you Sarah.