Whilst recuperating from a recent heart-attack, social worker Carrie Riccioni moves to her friend’s holiday home in Norfolk coastal town Seagrave for a few weeks, hoping the sun and sea-air will aid her recovery. With little to do other than daily gentle exercise, Carrie’s attention begins to turn towards the small community of Miller’s Point, where she quickly notices the tensions and suppressed emotions of the people who live there. When a young girl goes missing, Carrie’s curiosity becomes a problem to one of the residents, and hidden secrets are revealed, triggering a chain reaction of events that leads to death and madness.

This is the seventh suspense novel by Mark West and published by The Book Folks. All of the novels are stand-alone stories, and yet they all share the same qualities – likeable protagonists, immensely readable prose that you just can’t help but gobble up (just one more chapter…), thrilling suspense plots with more twists and turns than a dizzy rattlesnake, and a great sense of location (you really do feel like you recognise the places described). This one had elements of Hitchcock’s Rear Window coupled with The Lady Vanishes, as Carrie can’t help but look into the disappearance of vulnerable teen Flo. There was something about Carrie that I really liked, and her background as a social worker felt realistic and plausible. I’d love to see her mixed up in another dangerous adventure again in the future. There are plenty of red-herrings and subplots to keep the pace fizzing along, and the denouement completely wrong-footed me (as someone who reads a lot of crime thriller this is something that I can’t claim happens that often). To See Too Much is a wonderful read and I had a great time with it – I’d say it’s the perfect beach novel or something to sink your teeth into over a Christmas break – and it will appeal to readers who enjoy thrills, suspense and a modern take on the whodunit genre. Highly recommended.