Clara’s Verdict
LJ Ross — Louise Ross — has built a formidable following by writing exactly the kind of atmospheric, character-driven crime fiction that readers want to spend their weekends with. The Creek, the second novel in her Summer Suspense Mysteries series, is set at Frenchman’s Creek in Cornwall: the estuary and woodland that Daphne du Maurier immortalised, now the backdrop for a different kind of story — one about escape, community, and the impossibility of outrunning your own past. Clare Corbett narrates with skill and presence, and the whole thing is an extremely compelling listen.
Ross tackles domestic abuse here with care and without sensationalism, which is not always the case in commercial fiction. The result is a thriller that takes its emotional subject seriously while still delivering the suspense and the twists that her readers expect. This is a strong instalment in a strong series.
About the Audiobook
Kate Irving arrives at Frenchman’s Creek in the middle of the night with her young son, a suitcase, and very little else. She is fleeing an abusive relationship with a controlling celebrity — the kind of man who is charming in public and something else entirely in private — and has come to her grandfather’s cottage because it is the only place she can think of that feels safe.
The community she finds there is quietly eccentric: fishermen, artists, wealthy incomers, all coexisting in the kind of rarefied, self-contained world that exists in a few corners of Cornwall. Her grandfather is a pillar of this community; his friends extend their warmth to Kate in a way she finds difficult to accept. She is wary, damaged, fiercely protective of her son. Slowly, reluctantly, she begins to trust.
And then something terrible happens, and the community looks to Kate for answers she does not yet have.
The novel is part of the Summer Suspense Mysteries series (Book 2), but functions perfectly well as a standalone. The pacing is relentless — each chapter ends at a point that makes stopping almost impossible — and the Cornish setting is rendered with genuine specificity. Ross knows this landscape and makes it vivid without over-describing it.
The Narration
Clare Corbett is an ideal match for this material. She voices Kate’s wariness and emotional guardedness convincingly — the defensiveness of a woman who has learned not to trust kindness — and handles the shifts between the thriller’s darker passages and its more tentative moments of warmth with real skill. Her Cornish community voices are differentiated without becoming caricature, and she brings exactly the right quality of suppressed tension to the climactic sequences. A very good performance of a book that demands versatility.
What Readers Say
The audiobook holds a 4.5 rating from 25 reviews, with readers consistently describing it as impossible to put down. « Numerous unexpected twists, chapters that had me on the edge » — « You can’t put it down until you’ve reached its climax » — « I never saw the ending coming, which is a change as I normally do with other writers. » Several reviewers note that the handling of the domestic abuse storyline is sensitive and realistic, making the book more emotionally resonant than a straightforward thriller. One reader: « Strong characters, strong emotions, an abusive and controlling celebrity — all of whom challenge the good guys. » The consensus is that this is one of Ross’s best.
Who Should Listen?
Essential listening for fans of LJ Ross’s DCI Ryan series, and an ideal entry point for new readers. Particularly suited to those who enjoy British crime fiction with a strong sense of place — coastal, atmospheric, beautifully specific — and a central relationship (Kate and her son, Kate and her community) that earns its emotional weight. The Cornish setting makes it ideal holiday listening, though you may find it hard to put down long enough to see the sights.
Listen to The Creek on Audible UK — the second book in the Summer Suspense Mysteries, and one of Ross’s finest.
