A sinister story of seaside sinning
WHEN Andrew, the manager of Shanamore Holiday Cottages, sits down to watch hidden camera footage, he is horrified to witness the brutal murder of one of his guests. As the recording of guests is obviously illegal, not to mention some further secrets which are problematic (to put it mildly), he is prevented from contacting the gardai.
Natalie, an Instagram influencer, has rented one of the cottages and has gone “offgrid” in search of answers to some difficult questions. Cancelling all her engagements, dumping her smart phone and changing her name, she swaps her public persona for one of complete privacy and isolation; a break from curating an idyllic lifestyle. However, it is not long before she is noticed by the locals and ‘following’ takes on a new meaning.
When Natalie is reported missing, her followers’ posts draw media attention and ThePaper.ie assigns entertainment ‘journalist’ Audrey the task of creating a feature which will result in clicks. As Audrey begins to dig into Natalie’s online world, she senses there is more to the disappearance than meets the eye: “She had more than enough material to make a story for The Paper [but] there was a gaping hole in the middle, an unanswered question… Why had [her husband] waited a week to report his wife missing?”
The fictional village of Shanamore is one we all know: “a glorified crossroads near a seaweed-and-stones-strewn east Cork beach that was half an hour’s drive from everywhere else… a church, two pubs, a petrol station and some sort of arty-farty ‘design centre’ but not much else.”
Rewind is an arresting thriller which scrutinises the filtered world of Instagram and peels back the façade of a sleepy seaside town, revealing dark and disturbing stories which make your skin crawl. Addictive reading.