Thriller set in Tulum, Yukatán Peninsula (a friendship group in flux)

24th July 2018

Girls’ Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, thriller set in Tulum, Yukatán Peninsula.

I happened to spot this novel on Social Media and I was attracted by the wonderful and exotic Mexican setting.

Three women pushing forty have been friends for over 20 years, but in recent times there have been significant fall-outs and stresses. Three friends from way back. Ashley, Lauren and Natalie are gathered together in Tulum for just a few days to try and rekindle and rework their deep sisterhood amidst the beautiful and tropical setting. Three, of course, is a difficult number, with spiky comments, insecurities and anger easily fired by the dynamics that are now entrenched. After a few days – many an alcoholic drink along the way and just before they are due to leave – Ashley goes missing. “Girls’ Night Out” is the story of the build up to her disappearance and the subsequent days as they unfold and clues appear for everyone to unpick and examine.

One major issue between two members of the group is the company “BloBrush” (or BlowMe, no, I didn’t snicker), which they run together: their product a rather ingenious brush and hairdryer in one, which sounds a like a perfect invention for the hair culture of today. Ashley and Natalie have been in partnership for quite some time and Revlon has just approached them to buy them out. Ashley doesn’t want to sell, Natalie does, as she has personal circumstances that make a purchase vital to the survival of her family. These two, then, are already at loggerheads, and Lauren is the outsider. Lines are already drawn…

However there is a further ‘significant event’ which becomes clearer as the story unfolds and keeps blowing up in the group, a further festering theme.

Marco, a local, soon insinuates himself into the group, offering to show the women around, taking more than a passing fancy to one of them. His presence causes further division. He does however try and introduce them to the spiritual nature of the Mayan people, still evident all around, and he organises an out-of-hours trip for them to Chichén Itzá. Of Tulum, Marco says: “It is believed that sixty-sixmillion years ago, an asteroid struck right here in Tulum. It produced an intense energy that is still here and has created a magical aura.” This, then, is definitely the place to go for spiritual edification, when searching for answers in life and looking to unravel tricky situations..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza

The women settle into their luxury accommodation, already touchy, irascible and irritable with each other, and this continues throughout the novel. Their dynamics can get really quite wearisome and enervating. Their friendships now are very brittle and it is very hard to get a sense of the great closeness these three are said to have enjoyed in the past; rekindling their old friendship dynamics is the basis for this holiday. There is telling that they have been a close knit group but there is no real showing, and thus it is a little difficult to give credence to the foundation on which this trip – and the story – relies.

The structure of the novel flips back and forth, each character comes under the spotlight, and the days before, the time leading up to and the period after Ashley’s disappearance are brought into the frame. It can be a slightly confusing construct, making the reading experience feel fractured.

Mexico doesn’t get a very positive rating in the novel, it’s dangerous (reiterated several times) for women travelling on their own, the hospital is dirty, the taxi has used and empty drink cans rattling around in the back. The police are corrupt. But the women are where they are and they just have to bite the bullet of their situation.

If you are heading to Tulum, or Mexico, then this will be an evocative beach read.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

You can follow Liz and Lisa on Twitter, and together again on Facebook

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