Erin and her Husband, Mark, are on the honeymoon trip to dream of: They’re staying in a luxury bungalow at the Four Seasons in Bora Bora for two weeks, having flown first class from England, and they’re enjoying all the perks they can imagine. It’s perfect and beautiful.

And just five days in, they go scuba diving and find a wrecked airplane, and a locked duffel bag. Should they leave it there? Hand it over to hotel security? To police? Or just cut their way in out of sheer curiosity and discover something that could make a huge difference in their lives?

Because when they return home, it’s to the reality that Mark has lost his plush job as an investment banker and finding a new job isn’t going so well. And while Erin has satisfying work as a documentary filmmaker, she’s not established, and she can’t support them in their very comfortable home and lifestyle.

So they make choices that lead them, one by one, down a path of fear, paranoia, distrust and danger. And their lives will never be the same.

This is Catherine Steadman’s first novel. She’s an actress (and, yes, I’d seen her on “Downton Abbey”), and now she’s a published author, one many Readers should enjoy. I turned pages eagerly to see how everything came together (because at the very beginning she lets readers know at least one important piece of the ending), but I also soaked up her descriptions of places and people. Erin has never flown first class and enjoyed such a luxurious, decadent vacation, and most readers probably haven’t, either; Steadman walks us through the whole process so deliciously that I felt vicariously upgraded. Armchair traveling here is in high style. We also get a feel for a life of crime, as Erin interviews some inmates she is basing a documentary on.

All in all, a fine addition to the genre, and a good beach read.

Rated: High. There are a few dozen uses of strong language, as well as instances of moderate language. Sexual content is fairly tame; the main character says she and her husband have sex frequently, but there’s not much detail. Violence includes some scenes of peril and some killings.

* I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.