April BOTM: Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

[Maryrose]

If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?

Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. . . .

Could the life of your dreams be the stuff of nightmares?

Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .

Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave?

Wonder no longer. Catherine Steadman’s enthralling voice shines throughout this spellbinding debut novel. With piercing insight and fascinating twists, Something in the Water challenges the reader to confront the hopes we desperately cling to, the ideals we’re tempted to abandon, and the perfect lies we tell ourselves.

Available on Amazon.com

[Maryrose]

I have a love-hate thing going with this book. The audio version was very enjoyable as the author has a great narrating voice. I liked listening it in my car…and then I started guessing where it was going. Then I just wanted it to be over. The protagonist was such a dumb ass.

1) There’s nothing in her background that I could buy her risking her life in a very dangerous way. She doesn’t come out as savvy enough for that. She was nervous when she realized Eddie had info on her life, but then proceeds to make decisions that put her in a far more dangerous situation than Eddie could have. Riiiiight…..
2) If Eddie was so locked in on her life, how is it that he didn’t know Marc was involved? In fact, I don’t think I quite got just HOW involved Marc was. When the plane first crashed, I thought for sure that Eddie was involved but once the story got going, I knew Marc had to be linked somehow. I just don’t think that part of the story was tied up very well. Too many loose ends. Like why did that damn bag keep showing up in their honeymoon suite if someone else hadn’t been involved? Made no sense.
3) Every decision she made was so damn stupid.

Okay – so maybe I disliked it more than I liked it. Don’t let me pick the next book.

[Abs]

Skimming through this is not making me want to read this Mary. 😂

[Maryrose]

Way to kill it right?

I can’t pinpoint when exactly I started disliking it. I was enjoying the book and wondering where it was headed, then next thing I know, I’m pissed because she’s such a dumb ass. LOL

[Anonymous]

Oops…I finished this months ago and apparently never posted my thoughts here. I kept hearing about this book and thought it would be a great mystery read. I was wrong. Below is my review from GoodReads.

I had hopes. That first paragraph? That first chapter? Wow. Fantastic. From there though? The timeline rolled back 3 months and it was all downhill. My curiosity while initially piqued, turned into boredom, scoffing and page counting. At first I thought Erin could be (and should have been) an empathetic character. She has a good job. She’s engaged, planning a wedding to the man she loved. A man who looses his job (which always seemed sketchy, but the author never does anything more than skim over that). And then something goes so horribly wrong that she’s googling how to dig a grave. The problem is that somewhere between her crying about only getting a 2 week honeymoon in Bora Bora instead of 3 and her drunkenly opening a bag she had already decided they shouldn’t be opening (twice), my brain went “OMG. She’s dumber than a box of hair.” So yeah, there went any semblance of empathy.

Yet the hope from the beginning persisted. It had to get better. Right? Yeah. No. Instead the reader was treated to overly detailed EVERYTHING. Don’t bother opening Google, just pick up your copy of Something In the Water the next time you want to know anything – and I mean anything – about a Glock. Or selling diamonds. Or how to choose the menu for your wedding reception. None of that mattered all that much in the end. Heck – there are characters – Caro, Alexis – that I still don’t know why they’re even present. The twist as predictable as it was might have worked if the author had spent a little time making Mark into something other than a 2 dimensional cardboard cut out. Instead if felt rushed and incoherent as the author spent pages explaining (imagine that. More explaining) everything that actually happened and was perpetrated by the real bad guys in order to hand wave all the plot holes.

This one could have been great. Instead I’m left with knowing that 36 cubic feet of soil weighs roughly the same as your average hippopotamus.

[Author]

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