Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman . This arc was sent to me for a honesrt review.

Erin and Mark are madly in love and have an elaborate wedding planned and a month long honeymoon in a very private tropical getaway.
At first I thought I would like the characters and maybe Erin was just love struck ,then I decided that she is just plain DUMB. I want to believe people cannot be that stupid , but who am I to judge.
I was into at the beginning but the story went on way to long for me and Erin was in too many very unbelievable situations. It wasn't that bad but not a thriller for my taste to give it a 5 rating.
Some chapters were well written and got me reeled back in then I was disappointed again. So sorry Catherine this wasn't one of my favs. Maybe the next one !

This book grabbed me with the opening lines! I was on a red-eye flight and couldn't put it down. I didn't get any sleep because I had to find out what happened. The action slows down a bit but then speeds up halfway in. It's a great thriller with twists and turns. It makes you think about money, power and all the evil things they can make a person do. This is a perfect vacation book that you will enjoy!

Fantastic book. Fully developed characters and very very interesting mystery at the heart of this. How well do we really know people? Best book I had read in 2 years!

Erin makes documentaries. Her new spouse Mark is an out of work financial planner. On their honeymoon in Bora Bora the bride and groom find a satchel stuffed with cash and conflict diamonds and after a half hearted attempt to turn it over to authorities they decide to keep it. Bad move? Of course. The bag’s owners are not nice people to say the least. Erin and Mark’s attempts to navigate around them make for interesting reading.

I enjoyed this book, it kept me on the edge of my seat.
I felt like I was in the apartment & being a part of the plan.
It was quick and had great plot twists. I enjoyed getting to know each of the main characters.
Great beach read.

Although the first part kept me interested, I didn't like this book in the end. Seemed formulaic. I had no sympathy for any one in the book. In fact, I didn't LIKE anyone in the book. Seemed to copy too many others.

The story starts out strong and pulls you right in. Erin is digging a grave for a body. And then the story loses me. Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave? Well no need to wonder anymore, the first chapter tells you all you need to know. You learn a bunch of useless facts about digging a grave.

This book is definitely a slow burner. I was struggling to get through the chapters in the beginning. The writing style didn't work for me. There was so much useless detail in this book that could have been left out. Seriously, a whole chapter on flying first class? I also don't need to read the whole Wikipedia definition about something.

The story itself kept me intrigued but it was unrealistic and unbelievable. And Erin was so irritating that I almost didn't finish the book.

I originally was going to rate the book 3.5 stars but after thinking about this review, I had to knock it down 1/2 a star.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy of Catherine Steadman's "Something in the Water" in exchange of an honest review.

Erin marries the lover of her life. With stress heading into the wedding, she is really looking forward to being away from it all for a couple of weeks. Just her, her husband and no worries to speak of. It all goes south after a diving expedition and what they discovered in the water.

Through a series of events Erin becomes increasingly worried. Worried about her future, her safety and about what exactly they stumbled upon in Bora Bora.

A twisting story leaving you not sure who to trust and not sure what the truth is. The author does an amazing job of creating believable characters and a story you won't want to put down.

I was unable to finish reading this novel, unfortunately. The beginning was very compelling, but the narrative lost speed and intrigue quickly. The writing is lovely, but the plot simply wasn’t gripping, and the pacing certainly didn’t live up to the “thriller” billing.

A work of genius. I could not put this down. Author had me grabbed from page 1. Characters are amazing. Cant wait for the next one from this superb author!




sent to amazon as barth gimbal

It was exhausting being inside Erin’s (the narrator’s) head. She examined thoughts, possibilities, probabilities, everything in minute detail. The one thing she never examined nor doubted was her love for her new husband, Mark, and there’s the rub. The ending is perfectly told in the first chapter. How we get to that point is laid out in forty subsequent chapters each subtitled to give the reader a glimpse into what to expect.

It is a big year for Erin. She has obtained funding for her first solo project, a documentary following three prisoners during and after incarceration. Her upcoming wedding to Mark; everything seems to be “at a magical point”. Maybe not. Mark loses his job as an investment banker for an undisclosed reason. No severance, bad economic timing, no job prospects, limited savings and a mortgage on his only asset, his house. They minimize the situation, downsize the wedding, shorten the honeymoon and everything will be fine. Off to Bora Bora for their honeymoon and when something goes “thunk, thunk, thunk’ in the water the downward spiral begins. Now the beguiling question of whether something is flotsam or jetsam begins to define everything, the truth, the lies, the deception, the fear, the idiocy of all of it. It would be too easy to add more but they would all be spoilers.

The tension is at all times handwringing tense. The characterizations and their circumstances are spot on. This book is a true testament to “How quickly what is good can become not good enough through comparison.” There are no altruists in these pages just varying levels of greed and for me that’s the rub.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC

Well, I didn't see that coming.!!! Erin and Mark are a newly married couple who seem to love each other very much.. Erin is a filmmaker doing a documentary on prisoners about to be released from the system and Mark has a decent job as an investment banker. They are looking forward to their honeymoon in Bora Bora even though Mark recently lost his job and Erin's documentary is in the works. What happens on their trip during a scuba diving excursion is going to change their lives and have you questioning what you would do if you were in their situation. Lots of surprises in this book, but I had a hard time liking either protagonist. So that's why I'm only giving it 3 stars.

Mark and Erin have a wonderful life. Mark is a rich banker and Erin makes documentaries. Right before they get married, Mark loses his job and financial security. They still go on a beautiful honeymoon where they discover a secret. This is a debut novel written by the actress that plays Mabel Fox on Downton Abbey. It’s a great, twisty easy read that I really enjoyed.

This book took me a little while to read as it starts out with Erin digging a hole and it takes a while to get to the point where we could follow along and understand. I will say that after that first chapter it does go back in time to show us what has happened leading up to the point where the book started. Erin. and her husband Mark are the main characters in this book and we are provided with what has been going on in their lives and we can see what they do to overcome daily struggles.

This book was sooo good! The first chapter kept me intrigued and I couldn't wait to find out the story behind it. Sometimes it was a little predictable and the main character did some stupid things, but I would highly recommend it if you love a good thriller.

I had a hard time with the first quarter of the book. I wanted to put it aside, put the sheer curiosity of what was in the water kept me going. Well, once that was revealed, I couldn't put the book down and read the remaining 3/4 of the book in an afternoon! Everything was snowballing and I had to know the answers!

★2 / 5 ★

Something In The Water starts with a pretty gripping prologue. Straight up, it sets you up to believe the whole book is going to be this super thrilling and interesting story—and it’s just not. I enjoyed the prologue on how difficult it is to bury a body at night (creepy and intriguing, right?) Well, that’s pretty much the only part that's exciting. The rest, to me, wasn't. Therefore, I give the prologue a rating of 3.5 stars and the rest of the book 2 stars.

Since this is an ARC, I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just focus on the writing and pace of the story. Two things that weren’t as good as they could've been. Again, the writing in the prologue was fine, however once the actual story began I didn’t like it anymore. In simpler terms, the prologue felt like it was written by someone else entirely; that’s how different it felt. Meaning the writing (after the prologue) wasn’t polished and I couldn’t connect to anything or anything—making me not too interested. That, in addition to a predictable plot and predictable pace and everything predictable … well, obviously didn’t help the rating.

Also, the whole story of finding this money and gold wasn’t as interesting as I thought it could’ve been… though, I will say some parts were OK (where the writing felt smooth and the dialogue was good), which is this wasn’t a 1 star. That, and how I didn’t DNF this—so it held my attention somewhat.

Overall, this is a poorly written review (sorry) … I feel like saying this is a “me thing,” because I’ve seen lot of good ratings for this book. So I guess, if you like thrillers maybe give this one a shot?

A tense entertaining read about how life choices have domino effects.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2391329715

Enjoyed this fast paced read. Just what I needed for a new thriller fix. Crime, betrayal, unexpected friendship and lines in the sand you didn't know were crossable. Wow. Good read!

Unfortunately, Something in the Water did not work for me. I really didn't enjoy the characters and the narrative structure. I know many people will enjoy this thriller, especially if you are drawn to narratives that move along non-linearly and relationship based conflicts.