3.5 stars that was almost a 4 BUT...

One of my favorite books is The Ruins and when I saw the blurb stating this was akin to that I was SOLD.

I don't want to spoil things too much but DO NOT read this book if you are expecting any kind of supernatural/creepy type happenings. It's just a more mundane story about misadventures when sailing and going off the grid. It was still a good read but nothing like I was anticipating getting into.

I feel if this book was billed better it'd have better reviews. The middle part is a bit dragging and I kept waiting for something spooky to kick off. It does not.

Overall it's a gripping read but just not what I thought I was going to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The trip of a lifetime! Sailing the world, making friends in new ports, exploring remote locations. What could go wrong? Quite a lot, as it turns out, and quite spectacularly in Deep Water, a compulsively readable mystery/psychological thriller.

Their sailboat Wayfinder restored and stocked, Jake and Virginie are ready leave Malaysia for Thailand when a sailor on a nearby boat tells them about Amarante, a near perfect, uninhabited island. Their decision to change course will also change their lives. Amarante is as beautiful as they imagined. Their boat neighbors are Pete and Stella and Roly and his dog Gus. They learn how live on the island works - everyone contributes and everyone participates. All goes well until they are joined by Viktor and Teresa, a couple they had perviously met at the marina. Viktor is a shady character, an alpha male, and his behavior immediately disrupts life on the island. Then a mishap brings Jake’s insecurities to the surface and Virginie must deal alone with the other boaters. As food supplies grow thin and the monsoon season gets closer, life on Amarante is far from perfect.

Emma Bamford notes that she has “an affinity for vacations gone horribly wrong.” She’s written a perfect story of that exact thing. Deep Water is a survival story that examines exactly what you will do to stay alive. From the basics of food and water to more complicated moral choices, this unforgettable, well plotted novel is full of well described characters, especially Jake, Virginie, Viktor and Danial. The suspenseful plot builds slowly toward a shocking conclusion. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Emma Bamford for this ARC.

I loved the chapter from the captain's perspective. Then, the narrator changed and it just tanked for me. I didn't finish the book.

Gallery/Scout Press,
Thank You for this eARC ebook!

Deep Water by Emma Bamford

A Military ship comes across a yacht in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Captain Danial
orders his men to rush the ship to over to help.
When they get on the yacht they can see that a British couple Jake and Virginie are badly injured. Who confesses she did something

As she is shaking with complete terror she tells their shocking story to Daniel.
A couple months earlier they bought a yacht, who were out venturing the sea.
Where they stared was Malaysia, And there they learned about a isolated island full of beaches. When they arrived they can see that they are not the only ones on this beach and some become tangled up with a motley crew of expat sailors.
Their smooth sailing soon turns into a horrifying nightmare.

Daniel needs to uncover just exactly what happened and if Virginie is telling the truth.
His team discovers something alarming and if he doesn't do something now him.and his crew could fall prey to the this island as well!

Mini Review:
This is an enthralling, utterly crazy and compulsively readable thriller with a refreshingly original premise.
I thought this was more of a slow burn of suspense myself.
I'm glad to say that it remained compelling until the very end.
The characters felt like real believable people, the writing was interesting, the story very original.
It's a tension-filled, wickedly twisty and delicious deviant read that is endlessly thrilling as you race through the pages.
Following the characters you end up understanding how everyone ended up playing a role in this crazy thing and why it ended this way.
A good quick story that I fully enjoyed reading.

Okay, I'm not sure how to feel about this book. It's not my typical genre but the cover and synopsis really intrigued me. I was kind of expecting a "LOST"/Bermuda Triangle vibe with the whole 'island's deadly pull', but this was no such thing. It starts off great and pulls you in. A Navy ship comes across a little boat's Mayday call and when they arrive, they notice an unconscious man with a head wound and a very skinny woman in a bikini. But they quickly realize its not their boat and they need to uncover what happened. As the woman explains her story to the captain, the chapters then start back 'at the beginning' with how the couple was led to the island in the first place and what happened there. That's when this book lost me. It dragged, and dragged, and dragged. And it felt like nothing really happened for most of the book. I understand that it was the build up and getting to know the characters, but I was honestly expecting some sort of magical/spell thing about this island but it really just served as a measly backdrop as the author tried to jazz up the storyline, It was boring. I wanted to skim through so badly. I didn't care for the main character 'Vee' at all. By the time the so-called drama happened, it was so bland and not exciting and I felt totally let down. And then when you think the book is finally going to end, it felt like the author had to add more words to hit some sort of word count and added an extra dramatic part that didn't jive and just felt like the story could've ended sooner. I don't get the 5 stars from the other reviews and I'm wondering if they even read the book. The synopsis really tricked me as I thought the island was going to play a bigger character. Not a thriller I would recommend unfortunately. But if you like boats and sailing the high seas, it might keep your attention at some parts.

Jake and Virginie are fulfilling a lifelong dream when they spend all their money on a yacht, planning on visiting every exotic port of call their hearts desire. In Malaysia, they learn of an island so beautiful, so remote and untouched, the couple knows they have to visit. When they arrive they discover a ragtag band of other people looking for their piece of paradise, but something goes terribly wrong and weeks later, Jake and Virginie are found adrift on their battered yacht and rescued by a navy ship. Virginie tells the captain that the whole thing is her fault, and that she killed them all. Now, the captain must try to unravel the truth about what happened on the island, while trying to prevent his own crew rom falling under the island’s deadly pull. Wow! This book is so exciting and left me guessing. A must read

This book is a murder mystery that takes place at first on a boat. A single witness or victim? A classic whodunit mixed with a thriller. I absolutely love this book.