One Girl, One Summer begins one summer’s morning at the Golden Rabbit Campsite. A private plane crashes onto the area causing devastation to many including the Gale family who own the site. As an investigation begins, the locals are scandalised when the pilot who is suffering from amnesia decides to stay in the community. Whilst teenager Nell Gale’s life is in turmoil, it’s soon clear she is not the only one hiding things.

I enjoyed this story of the Gale family and all the twists and turns of a dysfunctional family trying to work and live together. There were quite a few elements to the story running parallel with each other, but the quality of the writing means they are all handled seamlessly. Unlike with some books I actually found myself interested in them all equally rather than skipping over one to get to the next one.

The novel switches between viewpoints from young Nell and her mum Cathy to the return of DI Ali Samson in her second outing. I felt very sorry for Nell and found the actions of her mum to be very frustrating, although equally as the story unfolds you begin to understand her a bit more. Some of the coincidences within the story were maybe a little far-fetched but then I always say I read for enjoyment not to read real life!

This is a novel that starts with a bang (literally with a plane crash) and then slows down once the drama and intensity of the plane crash calms down. It was an interesting story that once again manages to put family front and centre of the crime.

This is the second of Isabel Ashdown’s novels and as well as the recurring detective there were mentions of #The Starlings’ from the previous book but this still works perfectly as a stand alone. If you like a bit of family drama with an undercurrent of menace then I’d highly recommend this.