Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review. My review is based on an uncorrected text so any quotes used here might not be in the final product or changed.
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“Brian belatedly realized that if you told a lot of lies, even if it was for a good reason, like trying to keep people safe, it started to get hard to trust that other people were telling the truth.”

Dark Waters by Katherine Arden is book 3 of what is going to be a four book series.
Spring has come and we find our band of friends, Ollie, Brian and Coco, a bit jumpy after everything they’ve experienced and waiting for something else to come around the corner because the Smiling Man isn’t done with them yet, he told them so after all. They just don’t know when he’ll pop up again.
While the friends are hanging out together at Brian’s family inn one day the lights flicker out and the door starts to open, saved only at the last minute by Brian’s parents returning they find a note left behind at the door signed by S. (Three guesses who that could be and the first two don’t count.)
Coco’s mom tells them about a trip on Lake Champlain she’s taking for work to write about a boat tour that explores the lake and looks for their very own lake monster, Champy, and invites everyone along. Brian is excited for this chance to have a break of being scared every second and looks forward to being on the water. Things get awkward when Brian runs into his old best friend Phil while surrounded by his new best friends Ollie and Coco and things take a dramatic change for the worst when it turns out that there just might actually be a lake monster and they find themselves stranded on a mysterious island that is haunted by past events.
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What I loved about this book, this book is Brian’s book. Book two we didn’t see much of Brian and he is aware of how Coco was the star of their last encounter with the Smiling Man and he just wants to do better and offer his support to his friends. And he gets to.

“He’s lived in dread for months, but now that something bad had happened, he felt calm. Somehow actual, specific danger was better than danger that you imagined but couldn’t see.”

Brian heads their survival on the island and works together with Coco and Phil most of the book handling problems. Ollie is a little more reserved this book, for good reason, but it was weird seeing her sidelined like that.
What I didn’t like? That ending and knowing a I have awhile to wait to find out how that’s going to be resolved. How am I expected to wait patiently after that ending? 😂 while this maybe wasn’t my favorite of the three books so far I can say I definitely still really enjoyed it and look forward to the last book of this series.

I wasn't aware when I started this book that it was the third title in a series. Not knowing anything about the characters or backstory made this story, at times, hard to follow, but I didn't even care because I had to know what was going to happen! There was plenty of action and scary bits to keep the intended audience gripped as well as wonderful character development. I will say that this book leaves you on a major cliffhanger! I cannot wait for the next book to come out because I have to know how they are going to save themselves and their parents from the smiling man!

It's pretty clear I am not the intended audience for this series, and that's a fine thing because these would have scared the ever loving poo out of me when I was in the appropriate age range. Dark Waters is an excellent installment in a solid series.

Once again Katherine Arden knocks 'em dead with this super scary middle grade horror novel, Dark Waters. Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC. I enjoyed this continuation of Ollie's, Brian's and Coco's dealings with Seth, the smiling man from books one and two in this series and am happy to hear there will be a fourth. This book is set in the spring and is essentially a monster book, where the three friends get shipwrecked on an island cloaked by Seth's magic so it is not seen by the real world. Thus they can't be rescued. On this island there is a snake-like sea (but also land-going) monster that hunts the children and their parents. Kyle, a character from the first story, makes a reappearance in this story and befriends the original three. So the four friends must figure out a way to either kill the sea monster or rescue themselves. I can't wait to read the fourth!

Picks up not long after the 2nd book. Felt rushed, not as exciting as the first two books. Ends in a cliffhanger - will still be reading the next book. Told from Brian's POV this time.