This book was very visually appealing if that makes any sense. The prose captured perfectly the sultry, lazy days atmosphere of an isolated tropical island with the promise of something mysterious and sinister. Unfortunately the latter never materialized and the whole thing just fizzled out for me 2/3 of the way through. To the point that I really didn't care how it ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Gallery/Scout Press) for providing a digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

An interesting plot and of course it did not disappoint. I was hooked from the start. Full of twists, suspense and mystery. Definitely recommend.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

I was very interested in this one and I enjoyed most of it. It was a nice and unique idea but in the end for some reason, I just didn’t feel like I loved it.

A great read by this author. I definitely recommend checking this one out!
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I couldn't get into this thriller set at sea. It gave me a lot of The Sea wife vibes (and I loved that book). But I found the story slower paced and frankly not super interesting. Was a miss for me unfortunately. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read an advance copy!

Captain Tengku receives a distress call from the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Aboard the luxury yacht they find a woman and her injured husband. But the yacht is not theirs, the owner is nowhere to be found and the wife just confessed to murder.

This book started out so strong.
Who owns the Yacht. Where are they?
This had a “The Beach” feel to it and I was all about it. But it was nothing like the Beach and it was actually quite boring
For a story where a lot happened. It felt like nothin happened.

There's been a lot of buzz around Emma Bamford's new book, Deep Water.
And after binge reading it one rainy day, I can say that buzz is justified.

I was hooked after reading the author's notes at the front of the book. "I've long had an affinity for films about vacations gone horribly wrong". She also references Dead Calm, The Beach and The Ruins. All films and books I've really enjoyed. Oh, and she's an experienced sailor. The book benefits from that inside knowledge as well.

Deep Water opens with the ending. We know the outcome, but nothing else - the how, the why, the who. Just Virginie praying her husband survives....

Virginie and Jake are newlyweds with a dream of sailing their own yacht wherever they choose. At a port on the way to Thailand, an older man tells them of a beautiful island that few know about, completely off the grid and 'about as remote as you can get in this world.'

Uh, huh - sounds amazing, doesn't it? It does, and Virginie and Jake decide to change their itinerary to go the island named Amarante. When they arrive, there are two other boats and a third shows up. Things start off well, but.....

And that's where I'm going to leave things, so you can experience Bamford's wonderfully insidious plotting. She builds the tension and suspense slowly, layer by layer. It seems easy to dismiss somebody's actions and behaviour when you've just met them. But as the reader looking from outside in, I could see where things might be headed. And I found myself talking out loud, telling Virginie to open her eyes!

The description of the island was vivid. I thought that one element of the island's past might have figured larger.

I enjoyed the plot's slow burn but others may find themselves wanting more 'action'. This reader quite enjoyed Deep Water.

With such a convoluted plot, this novel was a welcome addition to my reading for this year. Found alone on a catamaran adrift with her injured husband, Virgine relays a story hard to believe. After traveling to the deserted island of Amarante, she and her husband encounter someone unexpected and who comes to dominate their lives. Well done and well worth reading.

Looking for a great #beachread #thriller ? Look no further than DEEP WATER!

I read this in one sitting and really enjoyed being whisked away (at least in my mind!) to the beautiful waters of the Indian Ocean. At first I was totally jealous of Jake and Virginie’s dream boat vacation ...however, once things start to go awry, I was glad to be safe on my own couch!

Personally, I found the final few chapters a bit redundant, however, overall it was a quick #popcornthriller

Thank you to Netgalley for my arc!

It had promise, but it definitely missed the mark. The novel started out on a great note; Virginie and her unconscious husband are rescued from a boat in the middle of nowhere by a Navy captain. The passports and clothing don’t belong to Virginie, and something has clearly gone wrong. Good hook, but that’s where it ended for me.

Tired plot, annoying characters, too dragged out. Nothing interesting happens on the island. Too much time is spent trying to create a creepy narrative around the ruins on the island, which goes nowhere. Both Virginie and Jake are unlikeable. Virginie seems to be scarred from her relationships with her ex husband and her father, acts way younger than she should, seems like she tries to hide who she really is so her husband will like her, and spends her time on the island flirting with Vitor and alienating her husband. Jake is a sailor who can’t swim?

This seemed like a copy of Reckless Girls, only not as well executed.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book, though I found the middle portion dragged a bit, you won't have trouble keeping track of the characters, there are not a lot and most of the time they are on a secluded island. Virginie and her new husband Jake are living their dream, they have a boat and are planning on sailing to distant locations, staying for a while then moving on to the next. They are in a port and meet a guy that tells them about this isolated island that would be perfect for them to visit. They eventually decide to go there, even though it takes over a week to sail there, once there they find a few others already staying there, but they seem to be friendly and welcoming so Virginie and Jake settle in. Another boat arrives not long after, a fellow and his lady friend, obviously wealthy by the looks of their boat and their clothing. They all settle down and find a routing of finding or fishing for food during they day then eating around the campfire at night. Virginie and Jake's boat experiences a mechanical issue that Jake is determined to fix on his own, it soon becomes apparent that he can't and with the monsoon season coming they are desperate to get off the island. The ending of this book was the most exciting part, a lot of the middle dealt with the day to day routine and I found it a tad repetitive. I would recommend it though, it was well written. Thank you to #Nethgalley and #Scout Press for the ARC.

This book was a strange one for me because I both really enjoyed it and was simultaneously let down (just a little)!

As a person who grew on up survivalist novels, I was immediately drawn to the concept of Deep Water. The start of the novel goes in strong with a Navy ship finding two people in distress and in need of desperate help and works backwards to what happened to them to get them to that point (and then outcomes to follow that).

Right off the hop I was excited but then the pacing of the book and the lack of thrills left me a bit bored. The island of Amarante itself could have been a lot creepier and used a lot more to strike fear, and the supporting characters needed some development.

Ultimately the twist and ending was predictable so that was where I was let down. The book was very atmospheric but I wish it had some more oomph.

“She breathed in the air. Wind in her hair and wide blue all around. Nothing to do but enjoy the ride; nothing behind them - nothing that mattered, anyway - and everything ahead. The future, and all that lay within it.”

For some of us, the call of the sea is persistent and alluring. For couples like Virginie and Jake, they’re willing to leave their old life behind in favour of a life at sea discovering exotic locales and living each day on their own terms. Newlywed and craving adventure, the Brits pump all their savings into a yacht and set sail from Malaysia to Amarante, an idyllic but forgotten island with pristine beaches in the Indian Ocean. Heady with romance, adventure and a promise of new beginnings, they soon discover that even the most beautiful waters in the world can’t wash away the past.

“Wanting something desperately can hurt just as much before all hope is lost as it does after.”

After weeks at sea, they arrive only to find that there are a few others with the same idea. They get along great with the other couples until Jake’s sailboat needs a repair and from there … the ceiling on ‘paradise found’ is shattered. When they are discovered (the opening of the book) by a navy ship one of them is emaciated and the other is unconscious…and there’s a LOT of blood on the deck. One of them confesses, “It’s all my fault. I killed them.” What happened? How did a trip of a lifetime turn into a murdering rampage on the high seas?

Knowledgeable of marine terminology and able to ramp up the initial tension, Bamford’s setting is intriguing. The Wayfinder sailboat is the perfect claustrophobic setting and the Indian Ocean, the perfect favoured playground of the rich and newly retired. What began as an intense thriller with lots of potential, soon evened out like a ship regaining equilibrium after a rogue wave. All the intense moments that comprise a good thriller were at the beginning and then the book settles into an investigation of life at sea.

However, (big pause) this was still a good book. I just changed genres in my head to continue. When I saw it more as a misadventure at sea than an intense thriller, it became, for me, a good account of exploring the dark side of paradise and life at sea by someone who has actually lived and explored what she writes about ...for years. Bamford, a yachtie and a high seas adventurer, was inspired by one of the Indian Ocean Chago Islands, which became her fictional Amarante.

Bamford explores how our dream of paradise and our clambering to experience it can push us to our limits. Her in-depth examination of how far we’ll go to save our marriage is thought-provoking….does it matter if it’s 6 days, 6 months or 6 years married? It was also interesting to note that the lure of money and its problems were still found in the middle of the ocean. One would think that the deep blue would equalize and that a common bond would unite. It was good to be reminded that there’s no escaping it if it’s a game you wish to play.


The author is also more focussed on the unravelling of tension and the lazy, hazy endless days at sea. Readers will realize that not every day at sea is glamorous with exotic locales on the other end of a set of binoculars. There are days of ‘nothingness’ and days when supplies are getting low and anxiety sets in and there are also days when the silence wears you down. The remoteness finally kicks in and there’s a wedge for anxiety to blossom. Bamford also brings to light the role of a captain and the necessary importance of insight and wisdom in conjunction with reliance on his quick reaction time. Perhaps Jake and Vee weren’t as well equipped as they thought they were.

This is a good book for those who are interested in life at sea, kicking the landlubber life, or need a good dose of reality - not everything is as it appears.

I was gifted this book by Emma Bamford, Simon & Schuster Canada, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.