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Czy na miesiąc miodowy można wybrać miejsce rodzinnej tragedii? Wszyscy sądzili, że Jon Towers nie wróci więcej do posiadłości, gdzie zginęła jego pierwsza żona, ale on zaskakuje rodzinę i przyjaciół, przywożąc do Buryan świeżo poślubioną Sarę. Czy to przypadek, że do rezydencji Jona zjeżdżają także wszyscy, którzy gościli tam przed dziesięciu laty i byli świadkami wypadku? Czy historia rzeczywiście lubi się powtarzać?
Susan Howatch zasłynęła jako autorka sag rodzinnych Cashelmara i Penmarric, a także powieści zręcznie łączących romans z intrygą kryminalną, które zostały przetłumaczone na ponad 12 języków.
Susan Howatch zasłynęła jako autorka sag rodzinnych Cashelmara i Penmarric, a także powieści zręcznie łączących romans z intrygą kryminalną, które zostały przetłumaczone na ponad 12 języków.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
5 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
Susan Howatch
95 books563 followersSusan Howatch (b. 1940) is a British novelist who has penned bestselling mysteries, family sagas, and other novels. Howatch was born in Surrey, England. She began writing as a teen and published her first book when she moved to the United States in 1964. Howatch found global success first with her five sagas and then with her novels about the Church of England in the twentieth century. She has now returned to live in Surrey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 7, 2022
I've read a couple of other Howatch novels in the gothic genre which were enjoyable, but this was a disappointment. It was an effort to reach for the book to continue reading & there were days when I never opened it. I'll chalk it up to the fact that it was her first outing. I wasn't invested in the characters, perhaps because they were not fully fleshed out. The set-up was long and boring, there was no real suspense or sense of foreboding until the last 50 pages of the novel. Those last pages are the only reason I went from a 1 star rating to a 2.
November 5, 2018
Lightweight summer entertainment, done well enough to hold my attention. Somewhat formulaic, though, with a rather weak dénouement.
This story hearkens back to the summer reading of my teen years. What better place than the rugged coast of Cornwall for a juicy who-dun-it? I thought I knew . . . but as it turned out, I didn't! What fun!
My first by this author, but I shall return!
This story hearkens back to the summer reading of my teen years. What better place than the rugged coast of Cornwall for a juicy who-dun-it? I thought I knew . . . but as it turned out, I didn't! What fun!
My first by this author, but I shall return!
August 20, 2020
Ten years ago Jon's wife died in mysterious circumstances at their Cornish home. Now he's returned with plans to marry again but reconnecting with family and old friends means that secrets are coming to the fore. This was a readable mystery story, nothing sparkling and quite predictable but short and enough to keep you interested.
October 5, 2024
While this has some of the hallmarks of a gothic romance (gaslighting, Cornwall, hidden secrets) it doesn’t quite fit the genre. To begin with, almost every named character gets their own POV segments. It’s exhausting. Much of the mystery revolves around the death of Sophia, ten years prior, and we are treated to each and every character’s memories of that faithful night. After the third time it gets tedious. The writing itself is good but the structure is deadly dull.
January 9, 2022
All things considered, a very well written novel. In all fairness, I also consider Howatch one of the best writers ever.
August 30, 2021
Before she turned to doorstopper family sagas in the mid-1970s and linked novels exploring the crises in the contemporary Anglican church from the late 80s onward, Susan Howatch enjoyed a career as a successful author of Gothics from the mid-60s to the early 70s. This short novel is her first in the genre. While not great, it shows a writer who was good at characterization, moral ambiguities, dialogue, and unafraid to tackle family dynamics and sex--all of which would stand her in good stead later. Ten years after the accidental death of his first wife during a Cornish house party, Jon Towers has brought his new bride, much-younger Sarah, back to England from Canada, where he has reassembled all the suspects at his former home. The mystery itself is not much of a mystery; Howatch is more interested in exploring the characters' motivations and their differing memories of what happened to Sophia Towers. The weakest link in the entire cast is Sarah, who ostensibly is the reader's surrogate, but who doesn't seem to be of much interest to the author and subsequently to the reader, either. Howatch would become more assured at her craft and "The Dark Shore" functions as a beginning effort by an author who quickly became much better.
May 15, 2012
This novel by Susan Howatch, her first, published in 1965, has often been compared to Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca" which can be said of many books of the romantic suspense/gothic genre. However, "The Dark Shore" has a compelling quality all its own. The familiar and often reused plot is here - a young bride, newly married to a wealthy and successful man, finds herself thrown into his world - namely, his home estate which is filled with secrets, danger and the shadow of his departed first wife who died in suspicious circumstances. The setting is in the same part of Britain - Cornwall. But Howatch puts her own unique spin on the often-told tale, created characters with not only a connection to the "hero" Jon Towers and his past, but also all of whom had motives for killing his first wife, Sophia. Sarah, his new spouse, eager to begin a new life with Jon in Canada, not only is very uncomfortable visiting Clougy, where Jon had resided with Sophia and the place were she met her death, but the new Mrs. Towers is also unnerved by the strong connection between Jon and his "cousin" Marijohn, who seems to have psychic abilities. Jon has another motive for returning to Clougy: he wishes to reconcile with his son, Justin, who has been estranged from him since his mother's death. It's not long before Sarah begins to notice a change in Jon, he has become withdrawn and short-tempered, and then a series of strange "accidents" begin to occur. Inevitably, the heroine begins to doubt her husband - how well does she really know him? Is he capable of murder? Is she doomed to suffer the same fate of her predecessor? Are those around him out to get her?
Three other characters - Eve, Michael and Max - all have apparent motives for murder, as does Jon, but the murderer is not so easy to guess until right near the end of the novel. There are so many secrets, such a tangled web, that the reader begins to feel the same amount of confusion and terror as Sarah.
The character that I enjoyed the most, besides Sarah, is Justin. He is a very appealing, sympathetic young man whom you know was hurt deeply by his mother's death and his father's distance from him. In the end, it is Justin's memory of that terrible night that enables him to discover the killer's identity and race to spare Sarah from certain death.
The story and setting by today's standards seems quite dated (no cell phones or internet), but that makes the atmosphere Howatch created all the more menacing. You feel Sarah's growing sense of dread and isolation. Who can she trust and believe in?
This is my favorite of Susan Howatch's novels I have read so far, next to "The Waiting Sands".
"The Dark Shore" is a good starting point if you want to try out Howatch's novels or if you are a newcomer to the classic romantic suspense genre.
Three other characters - Eve, Michael and Max - all have apparent motives for murder, as does Jon, but the murderer is not so easy to guess until right near the end of the novel. There are so many secrets, such a tangled web, that the reader begins to feel the same amount of confusion and terror as Sarah.
The character that I enjoyed the most, besides Sarah, is Justin. He is a very appealing, sympathetic young man whom you know was hurt deeply by his mother's death and his father's distance from him. In the end, it is Justin's memory of that terrible night that enables him to discover the killer's identity and race to spare Sarah from certain death.
The story and setting by today's standards seems quite dated (no cell phones or internet), but that makes the atmosphere Howatch created all the more menacing. You feel Sarah's growing sense of dread and isolation. Who can she trust and believe in?
This is my favorite of Susan Howatch's novels I have read so far, next to "The Waiting Sands".
"The Dark Shore" is a good starting point if you want to try out Howatch's novels or if you are a newcomer to the classic romantic suspense genre.
October 7, 2015
I believe that this is Susan Howatch's first novel, so I will grant a bit of leeway for a first novel. "The Dark Shore' is a thriller of sorts, rather a combination Of Daphne DuMaurier's classic novel "Rebecca" and an Agatha Christie country house party mystery.
Set in London and Cornwall, "The Dark Shore" is about the aftermath of a death and its effects on the survivors. Ten years after the mysterious death of his first wife, wealthy businessman John returns from Canada to England to tie up loose ends of various affairs and marry a new wife. He contacts Justin, the son he left behind to be raised by a resentful grandmother, and the "friends" who were at his country house when Sophia died. There's nothing like assembling everyone who was at your wife's death to make a jolly house party.
Howatch uses Sarah, the new wife, and Justin, as the recipients of confessions and confidences about what really happened that fateful night. Unreliable narrators abound as the two outsiders try to make sense of the stories and figure out who is lying and who might have a motive for murder. This is rather interesting and drives the story. But since the Cornwall setting is on the coast, every single character is constantly taking a walk down to the cove, over to the cliffs, or to the lagoon where the fateful flat rocks are. All the to-ing and fro-ing is confusing, especially if the reader is not taking it all in in one sitting.
All in all, a fair start for a writer who has gone on to much better things.
Set in London and Cornwall, "The Dark Shore" is about the aftermath of a death and its effects on the survivors. Ten years after the mysterious death of his first wife, wealthy businessman John returns from Canada to England to tie up loose ends of various affairs and marry a new wife. He contacts Justin, the son he left behind to be raised by a resentful grandmother, and the "friends" who were at his country house when Sophia died. There's nothing like assembling everyone who was at your wife's death to make a jolly house party.
Howatch uses Sarah, the new wife, and Justin, as the recipients of confessions and confidences about what really happened that fateful night. Unreliable narrators abound as the two outsiders try to make sense of the stories and figure out who is lying and who might have a motive for murder. This is rather interesting and drives the story. But since the Cornwall setting is on the coast, every single character is constantly taking a walk down to the cove, over to the cliffs, or to the lagoon where the fateful flat rocks are. All the to-ing and fro-ing is confusing, especially if the reader is not taking it all in in one sitting.
All in all, a fair start for a writer who has gone on to much better things.
July 31, 2011
The Dark Shore was about as cheery as the title suggests. I was very keyed up to reading it after I finished another of the author’s work entitled The Shrouded Walls, but I found this story very annoying considering the tense excitement of its cousin. The most exciting portion of the story came in the very start, and was practically embodied within one titillating sentence. After that, the story was very well told and very skewed so you would not see the outcome; but the morals, the character’s reactions, and the mess of unneeded description in what felt like an attempt to humanize the characters all became too much for the story to bear. It was good enough to read and didn’t get too boring, though it did get a little draggy in the middle, but I would have rather had a better quality mystery in my hands.
Overall: The story was interesting, but the plot and motives were annoying to uncover. I would recommend reading this book if you don’t have another mystery on hand and are really craving the hunt for the unknown; but if you have another option ready, I might would steer you in that direction.
Overall: The story was interesting, but the plot and motives were annoying to uncover. I would recommend reading this book if you don’t have another mystery on hand and are really craving the hunt for the unknown; but if you have another option ready, I might would steer you in that direction.
June 9, 2025
Set in England during the 1960s, The Dark Shore is split into two parts: the first part is a group of people discover Jon Turner has returned to the United Kingdom after a decade in Canada with a young fiancée Sarah where it leads to various characters playing telephone with one another trying to figure where are the surviving members of a weekend party hosted by Turner and his first wife Sophia a decade ago in their beach home and the circumstances of that weekend resulting in the death of Sophia. At the same time, Turner attempts at rebuilding a relationship with his estranged son by offering him a job in Canada and Sarah starts to have terrible premonitions over not only being married but her husband attempting seek the ghosts of his pasts. The second part is of Sarah and Turner recreating the weekend of Sophie's death at his beach with the same party as several attempts are placed on Sarah's life as well as various clues giving her the possibility that the killer may have been there on that night.
It is hard to say who is the main character of this story truly as everyone has a point of view where there is an entire subplot that has little to do with the main story apart from it containing characters from the first portion. However, the main focus is on Sarah's attempts are uncovering what had happened to her husband's first wife even though most of the time it becomes clear everyone is nor telling the full story because they are both unwilling or don't even have the information provided.
The weakest part of this story was the two main characters of Sarah and Jon. Jon is just unlikeable even as he attempts to make amends with others, he doesn't really give a justification on why we should care or root for him. Sarah is rather bland as a character where she has little going on for her apart from being a plot device for setting the events in motion.
Despite the main characters being weak, the mystery itself does allow you to stick with the novel as you want to uncover what is discovered and how the clues came out even with what each character discovers at every point of view.
It is hard to say who is the main character of this story truly as everyone has a point of view where there is an entire subplot that has little to do with the main story apart from it containing characters from the first portion. However, the main focus is on Sarah's attempts are uncovering what had happened to her husband's first wife even though most of the time it becomes clear everyone is nor telling the full story because they are both unwilling or don't even have the information provided.
The weakest part of this story was the two main characters of Sarah and Jon. Jon is just unlikeable even as he attempts to make amends with others, he doesn't really give a justification on why we should care or root for him. Sarah is rather bland as a character where she has little going on for her apart from being a plot device for setting the events in motion.
Despite the main characters being weak, the mystery itself does allow you to stick with the novel as you want to uncover what is discovered and how the clues came out even with what each character discovers at every point of view.
April 23, 2023
Am ales aceasta carte deoarece in trecut citisem "The Waiting Sands" de la aceeasi autoare si mi s-a parut buna, cu un aer gotic si tensionat, cu o intriga misterioasa si cu multa atmosfera. Consider ca este mai buna decat "The dark shore" si recomand sa o incercati pe aceea.
Imi plac cartile autoarei pentru ca desi se gasesc cu coperti roz si adesea dau impresia ca infatiseaza povesti sentimentale sau erotice cuprind mult mister si deseori si un caz de crima ce trebuie elucidat. Si sa nu uitam ca actiunea se petrece in Cornwall, un loc care pe mine ma fascineaza si pe care il consider propice pentru literatura de mister si groaza.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea, tanara Sarah soseste in Londra din Canada pentru a se casatori cu un barbat atragator si milionar din domeniul imobiliarelor. Acesta are insa un trecut intunecat fiindca mai fusese casatorit odata cu o femeie asemanatoare lui Sarah, casnicie din care rezultase un fiu. Pe acesta l-a abandonat la bunica lui si nu s-a mai interesat de el plecand in Canada si cladindu-si acolo un imperiu financiar. Revenind la Londra dupa 10 ani trecutul il prinde din urma, mai ales ca este suspectat ca si-a ucis prima sotie la Buryan, casa de vis pe care au detinut-o la malul marii.
Sarah va trebui sa descopere daca sotul ei e ucigas dar si sa supravietuiasca pentru ca el a ales s-o duca in luna de miere tocmai la Buryan. Cititorul se intreaba astfel daca el va ucide din nou sau e doar o victima a circumstantelor.
Asa cum rezulta din sinopsis avem de-a face cu un thriller destul de interesant, autoarea stiind sa mentina suspansul si la un moment dat cititorul chiar are impresia ca totul e ca o coarda ce sta sa plesneasca.
Nu mi-a placut sfarsitul si felul in care s-au dezlegat lucrurile, totul ducandu-se prea mult intr-o zona de neverosimil ceea ce dezamageste.
In concluzie nu este o carte rea dar nici foarte buna mentinandu-se intr-o zona gri potrivita pentru cateva ore de relaxare.
Imi plac cartile autoarei pentru ca desi se gasesc cu coperti roz si adesea dau impresia ca infatiseaza povesti sentimentale sau erotice cuprind mult mister si deseori si un caz de crima ce trebuie elucidat. Si sa nu uitam ca actiunea se petrece in Cornwall, un loc care pe mine ma fascineaza si pe care il consider propice pentru literatura de mister si groaza.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea, tanara Sarah soseste in Londra din Canada pentru a se casatori cu un barbat atragator si milionar din domeniul imobiliarelor. Acesta are insa un trecut intunecat fiindca mai fusese casatorit odata cu o femeie asemanatoare lui Sarah, casnicie din care rezultase un fiu. Pe acesta l-a abandonat la bunica lui si nu s-a mai interesat de el plecand in Canada si cladindu-si acolo un imperiu financiar. Revenind la Londra dupa 10 ani trecutul il prinde din urma, mai ales ca este suspectat ca si-a ucis prima sotie la Buryan, casa de vis pe care au detinut-o la malul marii.
Sarah va trebui sa descopere daca sotul ei e ucigas dar si sa supravietuiasca pentru ca el a ales s-o duca in luna de miere tocmai la Buryan. Cititorul se intreaba astfel daca el va ucide din nou sau e doar o victima a circumstantelor.
Asa cum rezulta din sinopsis avem de-a face cu un thriller destul de interesant, autoarea stiind sa mentina suspansul si la un moment dat cititorul chiar are impresia ca totul e ca o coarda ce sta sa plesneasca.
Nu mi-a placut sfarsitul si felul in care s-au dezlegat lucrurile, totul ducandu-se prea mult intr-o zona de neverosimil ceea ce dezamageste.
In concluzie nu este o carte rea dar nici foarte buna mentinandu-se intr-o zona gri potrivita pentru cateva ore de relaxare.
June 29, 2024
I picked up "The Dark Shore" by Susan Howatch after hearing somewhere that NBC had considered adapting it into a nighttime soap opera/mystery a while back. The book is a light read with a touch of mystery, but it didn't quite capture my interest as much as I had hoped. The storyline unfolds with a murder mystery backdrop, but I found myself not particularly invested in the characters. While it was easy to read, I understand that some of Howatch's other works may offer a more compelling experience so I still would consider them. I do understand why NBC ultimately passed on this.
December 7, 2022
Sięgnęłam po tą książkę, wiedząc o niej niewiele. Niezawsze czytam opisy z tyłu i chyba tutaj też tak zrobiłam.
Historia opowiadana jest z róznych perspektyw dotyczących wydarzeń z przed kilkunastu lat. Akcja głównie rozgrywa się w Buryan w posiadłości.
Jedyna pozytywna rzecz jaką znalazłam w tej książce to to, że dość szybko ją przeczytałam. Jednak sama historia mnie nie porwała. Nie mam do niej jakichkolwiek uczuć. A wręcz miałam wrażenie, że nic tam ciekawego się nie dzieje.
Historia opowiadana jest z róznych perspektyw dotyczących wydarzeń z przed kilkunastu lat. Akcja głównie rozgrywa się w Buryan w posiadłości.
Jedyna pozytywna rzecz jaką znalazłam w tej książce to to, że dość szybko ją przeczytałam. Jednak sama historia mnie nie porwała. Nie mam do niej jakichkolwiek uczuć. A wręcz miałam wrażenie, że nic tam ciekawego się nie dzieje.
December 8, 2023
interesting...but too many characters, too many povs, i thought some parts were overdone in order to create unnecessary loopholes to evoke mystery. Moreover, this book has a heavy adulterous and incestuous undertone which as quite sickening. i realized that i like the historical gothics by this writer better.
January 6, 2026
A fairly straightforward short novel by Susan Howatch. It does have some of the elements that she later developed into much more complex, compelling and lengthy family sagas, however the secret at the core of this one does not really amount to much. Nonetheless, it's relatively engaging and you can read it in a day or two.
May 30, 2020
This book took me a minute to understand. It had a amazing plot and I finished it in one day just because I wanted to find out what happened. But the weird bond between the brother and sister could have been explained better because that gave a strange twist to the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2017
The author's first novel. Written in 1965, it is now quite dated and also unfortunately quite forgettable.
October 11, 2017
Excellent! Another good mystery! Never guessed who the killer of Jon's first wife was. Very suspenseful and a very good, enjoyable read.
June 12, 2020
An entertaining mystery with some interesting characters - an enjoyable read.
July 12, 2020
Nah not really.
April 8, 2021
I was drawn to this book by a cover promising it was in the same vein as Rebecca and was left disappointed in the first 15% of the book. Gave up and decided not to waste any more time on it
March 24, 2025
An interesting story that kept me intensely reading until the end.
January 25, 2008
I didn't find this book as dark as I remembered it, although I had forgotten almost everything that happened. I did find the characters reasonably sympathetic and their motivations understandable, and even in her early years Howatch's writing style stands out as concise, yet deep. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this so much if I hadn't read her later work; it probably wouldn't even be in print still if she hadn't had such success with her recent novels. But it was a good book - surprisingly so - and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a low-key thriller with some suspense but no gore.
November 14, 2009
This tale has a gothic feel to it even though it is set in more modern times.
March 10, 2011
I give it three stars, because it is an entertaining book. Well done of this particular genre. Reminiscent of Rebecca by Daphne DeMaurier. She also reminds me of Mary Stewart's mysteries.
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January 24, 2015I loved. all three stories.
June 29, 2014
I love all Susan Howatch's books! She is one of my favourite authors and the paperbacks are falling apart ... time to get her on Kindle.
February 6, 2016
This is a quick read, but not one I will return to. I found that I did not really care about the characters enough to be keenly interested in who the killer was.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews