This book is incredibly slow and follows too many characters. I enjoyed the tension that was built in Sig’s first chapter, but it went downhill from there. I didn’t care about any of the other characters.

Creepy, haunting and atmospheric.

I admit this one confused me a little. First of all, I think the blurb doesn’t really describe the book properly. I was really expecting a pandemic/virus situation and definitely not … what this book ended up being (I don’t want to say the word because spoilers). It really kind of threw me for a loop.

Besides that I had a couple of other issues with the book. Firstly, believe me when I say a more miserable lot of characters is rarely to be seen. These people have got some problems! Halfway through the book I was thinking for god’s sake, they have enough trouble already, they don’t need outside reasons to hate/fear for their lives. I mean every single person has some really major issue going on in their life. Then I realized isn’t that just life? Aren’t all our lives messy? Don’t we hurt ourselves and each other in so many ways every single day that an outside force is hardly needed to make us supremely unhappy. The book does serve to remind one of the need to stay connected to people we love and shore up our defenses against all comers.

The only other issue I had with the book was that it was a little slow to start, mainly because there are so many characters involved in the plot. I understand why it was written that way, but a little paring down might not have hurt.

That being said, once things got going it was hard to put down. I am at work today, functioning on 3 hours of sleep, in no small part because I kept reading this book long after I should have stopped in the early hours this morning. So if you are looking for horror/suspense then this will probably fit the ticket for you. It was deliciously creepy at times. I recommend.

As multiple reviewers have stated, this supernatural horror novel is a slow starter. On a remote north Atlantic island, an ancient curse has been dug up out of the earth. What follows is a creepy, claustrophobic zombie apocalypse. The story has multiple shifting character viewpoints, and there are a few too many to keep track of for much of the book. The action and tension really ramp up at the end, but overall I think the pacing is a little erratic. The writing is good and the characters are interesting, but I think dropping a few of the viewpoints and fleshing out the remaining characters more would have served the novel better. There are a few gruesome scenes, but overall the gore level isn't too bad. The very end gets a little more out there and woo-woo than is my general preference, but overall this is a solid horror story. Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the digital review copy.

3 stars
This is an incredibly slow book. It made it difficult to want to keep picking it up. The story itself is pretty good, it just needs better pacing, or more action.

C. A. Fletcher writes Dead Water in multiple point of views, and really sets the scene of the story. As you are introduced to each character, you learn about their flaws, struggles and get learn what makes each character tick.

The story does start of incredibly slow, and unfortunately that’s where it lost me. I can easily say I’ve never read this take on ‘zombies’ before, and I really did enjoy that aspect of it. C.A. Fletcher really ups the chill factor towards the end of the book, but I do wish it were there all along.