Back to the Coast by Saskia Noort

Saskia Noort's Back to the Coast is another cracking good read from Bitter Lemon Press.  Similar to Claudia Piñeiro's Thursday Night Widows with its contemporary setting and examination of social attitudes and societal ills, it's more of a classic psychological thriller type story than the Piñeiro, however.  The protagonist in Back to the Coast, Maria Vos, is a stalking victim and Noort knows how to ratchet up the tension as she unravels her story.

Maria, a single mother of two, is leading an independent and unconventional life in Amsterdam.  She scrapes by as the lead singer in soul band doing mostly covers.  It's been her dream since she was young to become famous for her singing, but she finds herself getting mixed up with the men in the band and both the men and the music are second rate.  When she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant she knows she has neither the finances nor the moral support to take care of yet another child.  The father of her older daughter left after knocking her about a bit, and her current boyfriend has issues of his own and Maria can't deal with his bouts with depression. 

She decides to terminate her pregnancy, which she does on her own without telling Geert, the father of the baby.  When it's over she's not entirely relieved and feels the loss acutely, but believes she had no other choice.  Almost immediately she begins getting vicious letters in the mail making accusations and threats, and the writer seemingly knows all about her.  Maria's first response is to blame Geert for the letters, and while he denies any involvement, she can't help but be unsure of his intentions considering his unstable behavior.  Her stalker goes so far as to send a dead rat to where she is performing with the band, victimizing her psychologically if not physically, yet she fears for herself and her children.  The police are unable to do anything without an actual crime having been committed, which angers her and makes her aloneness all the more conspicuous.  Is her stalker an unhinged fan or perhaps an anti-abortion activist?  She doesn't know who to trust or where to turn.

In the end she flees back to the coast, to her childhood home and her estranged sister Ans.  She couldn't wait to leave Bergen aan Zee, a small seaside town on the edge of the Netherlands.  Her home, Guesthouse Duinzicht, doubled as a bed and breakfast growing up.  She and her sister were relegated to sleeping under scratchy blankets during the summers while strangers slept in their rooms under comfortable duvets, their mother constantly struggling to keep the sand out and everything clean.  Although her father was raised in Bergen her mother came there only as an adult and could never quite accustom herself to the windswept dunes and loneliness.  She was always an outsider, and in the end the isolation drove her mad.  Her father loved her mother to distraction but could never adequately care for her.    

Maria's older sister welcomes her back, though she is dealing with a failed relationship herself.  While Maria has always been laid back and willing to strike out on her own and take risks, Ans was left behind to care for her parents.  She's rigid and uptight and critical of Maria's choices and actions, her own life being a perfect picture of orderliness.  What should have been a haven, returning home, only brings to the front all the secrets and bad feelings she thought she had left behind.  And rather than being a respite she finds her life spiraling out of control as she and others around her begin questioning her sanity.  Bad things continue happening and soon the finger begins pointing towards Maria herself--is she a victim or the author of this mess she's in. 

Narrated in the first person I wondered at times just how reliable Maria was and whether to believe her story.  As more and more is revealed it's not hard to figure out just who is behind the threatening letters and disturbing actions.  The ending might have been a little too pat, the solution a little too perfect, but really that didn't detract from the chilling story Noort tells of Maria's paranoia, fear and helplessness.  This is a quick read full of tension that makes you want to keep turning pages.  It reminded me a bit of fellow Dutch author, Simone van der Vlugt's The Reunion, another tense, suspenseful thriller.  Back to the Coast is Noort's first novel, which was a bestseller in Europe.  I guess now I'll have to look for her second novel The Dinner Club also available in English.  By the way Back to the Coast has been made into a film, which I would love to get my hands on (though I expect that will be unlikely). Check out the film website here (where you can see the movie trailer...looks good!).  I think I might happily make my way through Bitter Lemon's backlist and am currently reading Petra Hammesfahr's The Lie.         

Comments

[litlove]

Okay, you've got me! I can see I am going to have to check out Bitter Lemons Press!

[Ash]

I might read this one in Dutch Danielle, as it sounds really good!

[Stefanie]

Oh this sounds good and kind of creepy even.

[FleurFisher]

I've been looking at The Dinner Party in the library and wondering. Clearly I need to pick it up.

[Dorothy W.]

How fun that you've had such great luck with that press! (It's a great name they have too, I think.) This one sounds really good.

[Danielle]

Litlove--So far I've had very good luck with all the titles I've read by them and I'm looking forward to trying more. If you like crime fiction I think they're a good place to turn to.
Ash--Lucky you to be able to read the book in Dutch. She has a fairly straightforward (not to mean simple) writing style, too. I'd love to see the movie, which looks great, too (even though I didn't understand any of the Dutch when I watched the trailer--LOL). There seem to be a nice selection of Dutch writers (primarily women, too) being translated, which is cool.
Stefanie--Yes, creepy is a good word. It's the sort of story where you watch the main character flounder and know there is no one to help her...
FleurFisher--Unfortunately my library doesn't have her newer book, so I may have to splurge and get it myself.
Dorothy--Isn't the name great? I've liked all the books I've read (or am reading)--I get the feeling their books are pretty high quality. As thrillers go, I thought this one was pretty suspenseful!