What an absolute heartbreaking book. You can feel the grievance through the writing of this book. I was finding it hard to hold the tears back reading this book. Pulled on my heart stings, however found this book was hard to put down as I needed to know more.

The task of repopulating the senior library has been an exciting and daunting task aS in a boarding school our aim is to encourage all members of the community to read. Because of this, I have been searching down a wide and diverse range of books to read that will entice a wide cross-section of the school to come in, browse and find books that they love.
Books like this will ensure that the senior students in the school see the library as a diverse, modern and exciting place with books that speak to them and they want to recommend to their friends, classmates, teachers and tutors.
It is an engrossing and exciting read with fully-formed characters and a plot that ensures that it's hard to look away. It is as far from formulaic as it is possible to be and kept me up far too late in order to finish it. I immediately wanted to read all of this writer's other books as I loved their voice and found that it really drew me into the story and made me think about it even when I'd stepped away from this tale.
This is a thought-provoking read which I'm sure will be a popular and well-read addition to our new library; I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to read it and I know that the students are going to absolutely love it too!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

For Penny Farmer, writing Dead in the Water must undoubtedly have been a cathartic experience and an important step in her grieving process. I am not doubting that. I am not discounting the injustice that her brother and his girlfriend faced, or the loss and the pain that two families feel to this day. But, as a reviewer who is supposed to solely assess a book on its merits as a piece of literature, I can not say that I enjoyed (or even got very far) into this scattered, confusing narrative-structure.
And, I know enjoyed is the wrong word. I feel wraught, and frustrated. and angry. People died. In the most horrific way imaginable. They were eclipsed from this world whilst the people who brought them horror, got to go on with their lives. Frankly, it is fucking awful: the horror that humans inflict on one another. Sometimes I can not even think about it without my body wracking with emotion. And yet...
To be honest, I wonder whether Penny Farmer should have published this; whether she should have put it up for public consumption instead of vomiting it into pixels and shoving it in a drawer. Creating a talisman, almost; a physical manifestation of her grief. After-all, although she had to get the words out somehow, it is apparent that this was not a journey that came naturally to her. I mean, of course, if that is what she needs to do, she has the complete right to. I am not questioning that, I am just... worried.
Because, by doing so, she has opened herself to public criticism.
And, even though I do not want to give Penny Farmer two, measly stars, I feel as though I must. Because, I am not really giving her them, or her family, or the losses they have suffered. Instead I am giving them to the medium, whilst sending all of my love to two families who never gave up.

What a sad sad book. I was drawn in right from the beginning and I feel bad that this family really never did get closure even though they knew exactly what happened to their loved ones. The families struggle and strength was so crushing. I am glad that the families involved didn't had the sons of the mad man, that takes a lot of strength also.

I’ve been meaning to read this one for ages so I’m glad to have finally gotten around to it. It’s a true crime book which covers the long search for justice after the brutal murder of a young couple travelling together. I always think there’s something different about true crime written by the victim’s family as is the case here (Dead In The Water is written by the male victim, Chris’, sister). When the story is told by the family it just feels so much more raw and forces the reader to face the true cost of taking a life. A book written by a reporter, author or prosecutor, whilst fascinating in other ways, can never really demonstrate how completely a murder can affect so many people and how it is a never-ending struggle with grief for the victim’s friends and family.

Something which I found particularly interesting and shocking whilst reading Dead In The Water are the difficulties surrounding jurisdiction and all the different authorities causing so many complications and in many ways allowing a terrible person to escape justice for an unthinkably long time. It really is a shocking story with so many facets to it. I really liked that the author also looked at the impact on the killers family which is sometimes a touch overlooked in true crime but it helped to understand how these extraordinary and incredibly unfair and tragic circumstances arose.

Overall I think Dead In The Water is a complex and genuinely heartbreaking story which has so many twists and turns that it almost seems unreal. Sadly, the story is very real and the loss of life it explains is so terribly sad. The author has shown what sort of people Chris and Peta were and the strength and determination her family have managed to sustain is mightily impressive. I would absolutely recommend this one.

Incredibly sad, well-written, extremely detailed (researched with relevant pictures). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. All the best to the Farmer and Frampton families.

When Chris Farmer and his girlfriend Peta Frampton went missing in the late 70's, their families were desperate to know where they were. Chris and Peta kept in them informed as to their activities and experiences through letters and cassette tapes but when they suddenly stopped, unease grew.

In 1978, 2 tortured corpses were discovered in the sea off Guatemala, hooded, bound with ropes and weighed down with engine parts, were these the bodies of the missing couple?

What follows is the, almost, 4 DECADE search for the truth. Penny Farmer continued the dogged investigation, started by her parents and from where her father left off when he passed away, to uncover the truth of what happened to them.

Chris and Peta's last known location was on a boat, owned and captained by Silas Duane Boston, an American who, along with his 2 young sons, sailed around Central America, picking up passengers and following the whim of Silas, a horrible, violent and odious man who believed he was above others and his actions had no consequence.

This is a fascinating and immersive story, the passion and resilience of Penny, her family and the family of Peta, not to mention the detectives involved is breathtaking. The hurdles they had to jump and the wait for answers is heatbreaking at times but they stayed their course and hoped for justice.

I love true crime books, we hear a lot about the perpetrators of these crimes but hear less from survivors and families of the victims so when I see a book like this I have to pick it up to see the love, passion and, hopefully, justice being served. This harrowing story is a must read for true crime fans as it shows the obstacles they had to overcome when trying to find answers and, ultimately, the truth.

*Huge thanks to Penny Farmer, Diversion Books and NetGalley for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

I was sucked into this story due to the nature of the genre, it being a true crime that remained unsolved by LE. And while I have a great deal of compassion for the family going through this horrific experience, I don’t think the book is as well written as it could have been. Maybe a few more edits would have been all it needed. Making it more professional and less jumbled of a storyline.

#DeadInTheWater #NetGalley

This is the story of a sister and her love for her must find out what happened to her missing brother. The whole family spends years searching for answers. They look for help wherever they can get it. Many years later the perpetrator is caught, but justice is never served.
I appreciate the fact that the author was aware of how hard it was for Boston's children to help her. I also found it revealing that Boston's extended family knew the things he had done, but hid them away.
I had a hard time connecting with the writing. At times the story was repetitive and disjointed. I have a feeling that the editor went a little easy on the author due to the author's personal attachment to the story.

This true narrative tells of two families anguish when their children disappear. What starts out as a wonderful adventure for Chris and his girlfriend Peta ends in mystery and heartbreak.
Chris had just got his degree from medical school and decided he wanted to see some of the world with Peta. They travelled from the UK and planned to go through Mexico and Central America. When mail communication suddenly stopped, Peta's family knew something was wrong as she wrote regularly keeping them updated on where she was. Chris' family started contacting the local police in Manchester and then the police in America. This was long before computers were used, before cell phones and shared communications between different law enforcement.
Interpol got involved, but due to lost documents and the Alantic ocean's distance between the disappearances and the families involved, decades passed.
It is a heartbreaking story of two families trying to get the answers they so desperately need.
I thank the publishers and author for giving me an ARC through Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review.

The synopsis of this book was really intriguing and this is why I was really interested in this creative story. I like reading about this family and their emotions and the hunt of the killer. Anyway, there were some repetitions that were a little too heavy on the style to me, therefore this does not get a 5 star rating.

This is a true crime book, told from the perspective of the sister of one of the victims. After being let down by the authorities, Penny Farmer spends decades hunting down the person (or persons) who murdered her brother and his girlfriend. With a plot like that, and with such a gorgeous book cover and title font, this book promised to please my true crime sweet spot.

I have to be honest in this review, as much as it pains me given the sensitive nature of this story. In a nutshell, the writing did not do this story justice. Maybe, similar to "a lawyer representing himself has a fool for a client", an author shouldn't write something so personal without some serious, unbiased editing.

I'll start with the positives, because there really were great aspects of this book.

I like how the author pays respect to both her late brother and his longtime girlfriend. It's probably easy and natural to just focus on the blood relative who's been murdered, but Penny Farmer made sure to tell both victims' stories.

And although the subject matter is depressing, it's neat that the author was able to use the girlfriend's detailed letters to her family to put together a timeline with the authorities. It would have been even better if those letters could have been scanned in and copied right into the book, but they weren't.

Also, I love how this case was just waiting for modern technology to come around and solve it, although the length of time for which this case was cold is heartbreaking.

Here's what I really didn't like.

I feel that sometimes the author jumps around a bit too much, and some of her paragraphs have sentences that don't exactly blend well, but overall, I think some more detailed chapter titles and sub-headings would have done this book a service. Instead, the author used nautical-themed headings in an attempt to be abstract or poetic, which doesn't work for such a factual, detail-oriented book like this.

The use of explanation marks was ridiculous.

She also introduces facts way before she actually describes them, which is confusing. And when she meets certain people that she's been waiting decades to meet, she doesn't describe it for the reader in a way that makes it interesting. So throughout the whole book I'm wondering if she will ever meet certain people in real life or through video chat, she finally does, and she barely describes how it felt. What a wastes opportunity to allow the reader connect to this store on another emotional level.

Basically, the author the fails at finding a balance between suspenseful build up and factual retelling.

I found this nonfiction book to be more interesting, but less suspenseful, than I'd predicted. I give it 3 stars because I didn't remain riveted or desperate to finish this book, but I did enjoy and respect it.

First, thank you NetGalley and Diversion Books for the advanced copy. I am an avid true crime reader and this book left me in awww, to think that one person could be so evil. To read what people and families went through for 40 years is unbelievable. This book is a must read for any true crime fan. Definitely will give you the chills and rethink a person’s approach when meeting someone new..

Chris Farmer and his girlfriend suddenly stopped sending letters home. This led his family into a 40 year search for answers. They worked with law enforcement (and they worked without them) to find the truth of what had happened.

While somewhat repetitive, this book really shows what the family went through for all of those years. Keep in mind, also, that most of this happened before the internet was a household thing. There was no easy way to contact those involved.

No, it's not perfectly written, but it's very real. Not having been in such a situation, I can't possibly understand what the family felt. However, Penny Farmer did a good job of explaining what they were dealing with. After reading the book I truly believe the crime would never have been solved if not for her persistence and courage. I thank her and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

I recommend this to true crime fans.

Even though I knew this book was true crime, I found it hard to believe that it took the work of one of the victim's family to close the case against their loved one's killer. The book jumps right into the crime and keeps you reading. Even though you know the ending, it is fascinating to see this ugly process as the killer is tracked and eventually caught. Penny Farmer has done an excellent job of journaling the heart break her family survived in order to bring her brother's killer to justice.

Being a fan of true crime, this book was well written and researched. I really felt for Penny and her search .

Well, they do say that the truth is stranger than fiction; this book tends to verify that as we journey with one family through a rollercoaster of emotions and their journey to find out the truth once and for all. Penny Farmer's brother Chris was left for dead alongside girlfriend Peta in 1978 off the coast of Guatemala. This book examines the impact of the tragedy on his family and the manhunt for a psychopathic killer who took a sick pleasure from torturing his victims before discarding them like trash. Penny tells the story with heart, hope and sometimes hopelessness.

However, there was quite a lot of repetition throughout, which meant my overall enjoyment waned in places and I found the pace was a little hit and miss. There is no doubt that what his family have been through is a brutal, harrowing and heartbreakingly awful time being privy to the police incompetence and subsequent closing of the case without a conviction as although they had a suspect they simply couldn't prove his guilt due to a lack of evidence. I am so glad they now have closure, however, that is the only silver lining to arise from such a hellish scenario. This is a great read for those interested in true crime.

Many thanks to Diversion Books for an ARC.

It was a fascinating and horrifying read. After reading I'll be gone in the dark last year, I was excited to pick this up as the killer here was suspected to be GSK. The author's brother, Chris and his girlfriend, Peta had gone for a trip to see the world in 1978. After months of no news from the my, their tortured bodies were discovered in Guatemala. Eventhough the main suspect was Silas Duane Boston,(the boat owner) the police didn't have sufficient evidence to close the case. Even after relentless followups by Chris's family there was no progress. When 38 years later in 2015, Penny finds the killer though Facebook, will they get justice? Read to find out
It was truly tragic and harrowing account. My heart broke for Chris, Peta and their families.

This book was good, but not great. It dragged somewhat in the beginning before finally picking up speed - i think it was because so many people and places got mentioned that it was slightly confusing, and that slowed the story down somewhat. But overall a good story and I'm glad they found the killer. 3.5/5 stars