Something in The Water
Author: Catherine Steadman
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★1/2
On a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, newly married couple Mark and Erin go scuba diving. Everything is perfect. Until they find something in the water.
Erin and Mark decide to keep their discovery a secret. No one else need know; they trust each other implicitly.
But someone else does know. And in situations like these, it is far better to trust no one, not even those closest to you…
My thoughts
Erin is a documentary filmmaker and is engaged to handsome, successful, financial advisor Mark. The two have a nearly perfect relationship—each balances the other out, and is able to cheer the other up when down.
Erin is creating a documentary about prisoners reintegrating into society after their release. She has a strong interest in the world of crime, and this grows as she continues work on her film project about three people who are being released from prison. The documentary examines closely the lives of these three individuals and starts out as a project but ends up taking a sinister turn.
Putting a pause on the filming, Erin takes a break and she and Mark leave rainy England for a dream honeymoon in Bora Bora.During their honeymoon, Mark and Erin spend their days hiking, eating exotic meals, basking in the sun, and enjoying each other’s company. It certainly seems like the perfect honeymoon. Erin even faces her fear of water to go scuba diving in the ocean with Mark. But after a big storm makes the waters cloudy, they are forced to change their dive location to a different island about an hour off the shore of Bora Bora. This is when they make the discovery, stumbling across a mysterious black bag in the ocean. Let’s just say, the items in the bag are highly suspicious.
I must admit I found myself in a bit of a lengthy reading slump through much of the first part of the book. The story just seemed to take so long to get going, and I found the slow build of getting to know the characters just a bit too mundane at times. I didn’t find the main characters particularly likeable, and instead of Mark and Erin, the most memorable for me were the three prisoners at the heart of Erin’s documentary.
It wasn’t really until around Chapter fourteen that I found myself far more interested in the plot. My only real issue with Something in the Water was how long it took to actually get going. At several points I found my interest dwindle and it felt pretty difficult to keep reading. My god was this book slow up until about halfway through for me. I felt like nothing was happening and I was struggling to complete chapter after chapter. Finally it picked up around half way through when the pair found the mysterious bag in the ocean. The story takes an interesting turn here and I was finally keen to see how things would unfold. The writing picks up in pace at this point and I began to engage with the plot, finding the story suddenly far more intriguing.
All in all, the plot was highly improbable, and it disappointed me in how unrealistic certain aspects of the plot became. I felt that some of the events that transpired from Mark and Erin’s decisions were just too far fetched. I think it would be almost impossible to get away with some of the things that Mark and Erin got away with in the book, and this took away from the suspense and realism of the story. However, the story itself was entertaining for the most part.
Overall I have to say I was left a little underwhelmed with this one. Despite enjoying some parts of the second half, it was a fairly good read but took too long to find it’s feet. I felt that this had a really tantalizing premise for a story, and it simply didn’t live up to its potential unfortunately. Something in the Water was basically just an average thriller for me with a decent ending. I’d hoped for more.
Overall reaction:
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★1/2
On a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, newly married couple Mark and Erin go scuba diving. Everything is perfect. Until they find something in the water.
Erin and Mark decide to keep their discovery a secret. No one else need know; they trust each other implicitly.
But someone else does know. And in situations like these, it is far better to trust no one, not even those closest to you…
My thoughts
Erin is a documentary filmmaker and is engaged to handsome, successful, financial advisor Mark. The two have a nearly perfect relationship—each balances the other out, and is able to cheer the other up when down.
Erin is creating a documentary about prisoners reintegrating into society after their release. She has a strong interest in the world of crime, and this grows as she continues work on her film project about three people who are being released from prison. The documentary examines closely the lives of these three individuals and starts out as a project but ends up taking a sinister turn.
Putting a pause on the filming, Erin takes a break and she and Mark leave rainy England for a dream honeymoon in Bora Bora.During their honeymoon, Mark and Erin spend their days hiking, eating exotic meals, basking in the sun, and enjoying each other’s company. It certainly seems like the perfect honeymoon. Erin even faces her fear of water to go scuba diving in the ocean with Mark. But after a big storm makes the waters cloudy, they are forced to change their dive location to a different island about an hour off the shore of Bora Bora. This is when they make the discovery, stumbling across a mysterious black bag in the ocean. Let’s just say, the items in the bag are highly suspicious.
I must admit I found myself in a bit of a lengthy reading slump through much of the first part of the book. The story just seemed to take so long to get going, and I found the slow build of getting to know the characters just a bit too mundane at times. I didn’t find the main characters particularly likeable, and instead of Mark and Erin, the most memorable for me were the three prisoners at the heart of Erin’s documentary.
It wasn’t really until around Chapter fourteen that I found myself far more interested in the plot. My only real issue with Something in the Water was how long it took to actually get going. At several points I found my interest dwindle and it felt pretty difficult to keep reading. My god was this book slow up until about halfway through for me. I felt like nothing was happening and I was struggling to complete chapter after chapter. Finally it picked up around half way through when the pair found the mysterious bag in the ocean. The story takes an interesting turn here and I was finally keen to see how things would unfold. The writing picks up in pace at this point and I began to engage with the plot, finding the story suddenly far more intriguing.
All in all, the plot was highly improbable, and it disappointed me in how unrealistic certain aspects of the plot became. I felt that some of the events that transpired from Mark and Erin’s decisions were just too far fetched. I think it would be almost impossible to get away with some of the things that Mark and Erin got away with in the book, and this took away from the suspense and realism of the story. However, the story itself was entertaining for the most part.
Overall I have to say I was left a little underwhelmed with this one. Despite enjoying some parts of the second half, it was a fairly good read but took too long to find it’s feet. I felt that this had a really tantalizing premise for a story, and it simply didn’t live up to its potential unfortunately. Something in the Water was basically just an average thriller for me with a decent ending. I’d hoped for more.
Overall reaction:
