Seaside

Lily Pascale #3

by Scarlett Thomas

Laura and Alex Carter are beautiful 18-year-old identical twins, too glamorous for the rundown seaside hotel where they live. Then Laura is found dead, her wrists slashed, a signed suicide note beside her. It's tragic - but straightforward. Until the twin who's alive claims she is Laura.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Contemporary, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 1999

About the author

Scarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her widely-acclaimed novels include PopCo, The End of Mr Y and The Seed Collectors. As well as writing literary fiction for adults, she has also written a literary fantasy series for children and a book about writing called Monkeys with Typewriters. Her work has been translated into more than 25 languages.

She has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, shortlisted for the South African Boeke Prize and was once the proud recipient of an Elle Style Award. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Fiction at the University of Kent in the UK. She lives in a Victorian house near the sea and spends a lot of time reading Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield.

She is currently working on a new novel and various projects for TV.

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, in my ongoing quest to read all the Scarlett Thomas books contained within the libraries of West Yorkshire, we come to Seaside. Published in 1999, this is the last of three books featuring the mystery-solving crime fiction lecturer Lily Pascale. It doesn't really feel like part of a series, though, and works fine as a self-contained story. There's something charmingly amateurish about this book - especially the first half, before everything starts coming together. Reading it gave me the same feeling I get when I read back over stories and half-finished 'books' I wrote myself as a teenager; it doesn't quite gel, doesn't quite feel real enough, as if the world it conjures up is one specifically contained inside another person's imagination, rather than something that could really be happening. Not to mention the fact that more or less every man Lily comes into contact with seems to be in either love or lust with her, and her relationship with Jack moves ludicrously quickly (again, this feels like the kind of wish fulfilment a teenager would write). However, it's addictively readable and moves at a cracking pace.

There was a lot about this book that I found totally ridiculous, and if I hadn't known it was written by the same person as Thomas's last three novels, I'd never have guessed. It certainly felt like the work of an immature/inexperienced author, and some parts, for example the sex scenes and the sometimes nonsensical unknown-narrator inserts within the main narrative, felt like they'd been deliberately added to make the story more sensational. On top of this, the conclusion is all over the place - one minute Lily is desperate to get Laura in prison by any means, literally a few pages later she's helping the same character to escape any kind of retribution. And yet... despite all the flaws, and the whole thing not being particularly believable, I had a lot of fun reading this. I wouldn't go out of my way to get hold of the other Lily Pascale books, but if I came across one in, say, a charity shop, I'd probably pick it up. (Incidentally, Meg - the heroine of Thomas's latest, and in my opinion best, book Our Tragic Universe - is a writer who's procastinating over a contract to pen a serious literary novel, while churning out trashy thrillers in the meantime because they're easy money. Can't help but wonder if that's more than a bit autobiographical.)

[Lisa - The BookSirens Goddess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is the third in the author’s detective series, it was the first one that I ended up reading. The book worked fine as a standalone, but not so much in terms of keeping my attention. I did finish it, and the story was interesting, but the characters just didn’t have the kind of intensity I like from a book like this. Reading some of the reviews, I can tell that the earlier two books are better, so I might try them down the line.

[Kellyann]

a cute little mystery, but i wasn't as impressed with this book as I expected to be. i remember being very impressed with my previous (first) experience with this author. this may be one of her earliest works, though, written in the early 1990's. At one point the characters are trying to do internet research and (seriously) lamenting the fact that you can't type in a piece of a lyric and easily get back the song and artist/group. oh, google, what did we do before you? others might consider this book very well written and the problem may be with me and mysteries. like reality tv, they always seem a little too overblown and drawn out for me, with the characters, especially the lead, continually re-asking the same questions and dramatically stewing on things. overall, an entertaining distraction.

**after going back and rereading my previous reviews of this author (and that this is the *4th* book I've read by her), maybe i feel more meh about her than I thought! only once was I really impressed and it might have been more to do with the topic than the writing.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as In Your Face, but still an excellent read.
I felt I could detect a hint of tiredness in the author with the genre - like she had to write this novel for contractual reasons, rather than pleasure. Parts felt a little derivative after having read the first two Lily Pascales. Indeed, as there was a relatively happy ending for Lily, it felt as though this was the author saying goodbye to her.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok this was a pretty terrible book but somehow I was still hooked by the story ? The main character Lily (and Jack for that matter) were so poorly developed and bland-trying to be exciting-bland. The plot was interesting but what a lame-o ending to the mystery!!! ugh

[Ewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seemed less focused than the previous two books, but I enjoyed spending time with Lily Pascale. I would be interested in reading her further adventures, if the author every fancied writing about her again, a couple of decades down the line.

[Jago · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A fitting end to the Lily Pascale mystery trilogy.

[Jacque Roeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will never think of the word "seaside" in the same way again.

[Jeannine Chew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this mystery. The whole twin storyline had some interesting twists and you are left guessing as to what is real.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book from Scarlett Thomas, perhaps not as good as her others but for a murder mystery genre book this is pretty good. It's one of her earlier books and stupidly enough on my side it is the third in a series of three so I have started in completely the wrong place although I didn't feel like I suffered too much for that so this can work as a stand alone book. It has a lot of the standard Thomas features as far as characters and ideas go. There is the usual living alone with pet slightly hippyish lead female character with connections to higher education and literature. In this case she is a lecturer at a local college; and part time detective of course which is how the murder mystery comes in. I am quite jealous of her life living in a little country cottage, only needing to work part time and earning enough to live off.

The plot basis in this is quite cunning. We have two identical twins, one of which commits suicide so the first thing is; was it really suicide? The note is signed Laura and her brother etc all say it was Laura who has killed herself. But the surviving twin, Alex tells the police that she is actually Laura and the killer made a mistake with the identity. But she continues in the outside world as if she is Alex, even with Alex's boyfriend. So Lily, our heroine, also has to work out which twin has actually died.

Spoilers now! I have to say the surviving twin was a proper little sociopath - so frustrating that she didn't get her comeuppance at the end. I have had the misfortune to know people like that and it does seem bizarre how they manage to make it through life. So I suppose that gives the book a more realistic ending as well rather than the standard stylised ending you get in a lot of these murder mystery books.

[Ipek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A baffling read for me, to say the least. Of the Lily Pascale books, the first I read was In Your Face, the second one in the series and having been told prior to reading it that it wasn't as good as the later Thomas books, I was still delighted by it. Which makes the clunky, paint-by-numbers plot of this book all the more strange to behold -- was it not written after the second one? I can enjoy meandering, not-with-a-bang-but-a-whimper kind of mysteries, which sounds like a counterintuitive thing to say, but I really can, when the characters and their interactions are done right, in which case the mystery can take the back seat even if it's a mystery novel. Case in point, Rendell's Barbara Vine books. That was not the case with this one -- the mysterious love interest guy with the dark past, the Mean Girls/Black Swan twin girl, Pascale's weird tendency to say things like "cursing in French, for my father is French, I then walked toward the door" -- all of it so off. I was left with a kind of sadness on finishing the book, because I had been looking forward to reading it. Scarlett Thomas is one of my favorite writers of all time, yet I can sort of see why these books are out of print.

[Jessica-Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Seaside to be little bit creepy, definitely strange, and very compelling. As someone who primarily reads YA or "cozy" mysteries Seaside took me out of comfort zone when it caught my attention while browsing and didn't let it go. Although I didn't find the experience perfect, I did enjoy reading this book much more than I expected to. I didn't know it was part of a series and had never read anything by Thomas before. I was incredibly disappointed when I discovered that this was the only book from this series that they had at my library.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lily Pascale Mysteries are great, lots of twists and turns and a fabulous modern Nancy Drew type leading you along. Unfortunately Thomas only wrote 3 of these novels and doesn't plan on writing any more in the series as she's moved onto more serious literature. So if you read all three don't expect any resolution to Lily's story - she's a character that isn't likely to be revisited by the author - so neat, wrapped up ending. Kind of like real life.

[Judie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm glad to know this is the last of three in this series and that I won't be reading the first two. I got to read the happy ending, such as it was. Lily Pascale is far too worldly of a crime solver for me.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one veered a bit too far into the cheesy realm of mysteries. Too much fluff for my taste. But it did give me wacky dreams and had a decent premise. Although the resolution wasn't that great, I still enjoy the bits of the current Scarlett Thomas that peeked through.

[Louise Conway · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like these little books, Scarlett Thomas is one of my favourites and so I had to complete the collection really; I love Lily Pascale though she's a great character and so much fun. I do prefer Scarlett Thomas's later novels but if you are a fan of hers you'll enjoy this triology too.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder mystery by a young English author. Something about the English, I like them and their books. Was a good yarn and am looking forward to reading more from her.

[Tuck]

couldn't finish. Who authorized this?!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series starts to fall apart - but still a good read

[Kristina Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars, not for literary merit, but for having a sufficient amount of plot twists to compel me to finish the book in under 2 days.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun mystery with enough going on to keep me hooked. It might not be the best book in the world, but it was fun and I liked the main character.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty fun. The character development on a few of the characters was pretty light, but overall, it was a fun read that kept me turning pages.

[Keishua · Rating 4 out of 5]

good heroine.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very odd book. Interesting characters.