Christina McDonald is a new-to-me author and I was really intrigued by the blurb of These Still Black Waters.

It turned out not to be what I was expecting....it was better!

It's almost impossible to write a suitable review without spoiling the twists, turns AND a major plot twist that you would never expect at the start.

However, there are enough clues that the reader should identify that all wasn't as it seemed.

I loved that this was my first experience of this author. I'll definitely be back for more from Christina Mc Donald.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. The book was an easy to read slow burn as well it was paranormal. I am not that interested in paranormal but I read it because I like achristina McDonald’s work so I was willing to read it. It was quite good .

This emotionally fueled thriller fell flat for me. The 2 timelines plus the multiple POVs made it hard to keep track of what was really going on. I found myself loosing interest easily, until about the last 20% of the book. In the beginning I wondered who the book was really about, and how this would shape into a series about the detective as there was more focus on Neve and her daughter. The writing style did not hold my attention and left a lot to be desired. I am not sure if I will return to this series or not.

I want to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of this book.

This book is one 𝐀𝐇-𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 read! There are so many jaw dropping twists that you just don’t see coming plus the ending will leave you absolutely 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐊! 🫨
The many POV’s give us a very interesting perspective since the third perspective is that of the killer 😱 I thought that was a great addition in the story/plot
I’m very interested to see what adventures we’ll go on in book 2 of this thrilling series!

Haunting, in the best way.
This book was absolutely amazing! Paranormal, a home invasion, dark secrets, and a dead body— this has everything to keep you hooked from the very beginning! It was so well written and perfectly paced in my opinion. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to give away any secrets— it’s packed full! But I loved detective Jess Lambert and I can’t wait to see more of her!

This was a fun slow burn! I enjoyed the characters and getting multiple POV's. Though, paranormal thrillers aren't my normal this one wasn't overdone and I enjoyed the plot.

What a fun book by an author with my same name. The atmosphere is so good it’s so compulsive and I enjoyed it so much. The setting was spot on.

Reading Between the Wines book review #131/115(met goal in Sept!) for 2023:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book: The Still Black Waters
Author: Christina McDonald
Available Now!!

Sipping thoughts: I have not read a Christina McDonald book since 2021 and I was excited to see this release. I was SO surprised when reading this book with what was actually happening. I really hope no one ruins this book for anyone considering reading it because one or two words in a review will clue people into the real storyline. I still really love The Night Olivia Fell but this one is close due to the surprising reveal and storyline. I cannot believe I didn’t catch the clues and the relation to a movie where this exact storyline played out. I was super-duper excited to see that this is going to be a series and I cannot wait to see what more Jess Lambert has in store for her life.

Cheers and thank you to @ThomasAndMercer and @Netgalley for an advanced copy of @TheseStillBlackWaters.

#TheseStillBlackWaters #ChristinaMcDonald #ThomasAndMercer #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

These Still Black Waters is the first book in Christina McDonald's new Jess Lambert series. I've enjoyed all of McDonald's previous books and These Still Black Waters delivers exactly what I've come to expect when I pick up one of her books, a riveting read filled with twists and turns but that also packs an emotional punch.

I don't want to give anything away since this is a thriller but I really enjoyed so many elements of this story. McDonald's writing is atmospheric, the storyline is dark, unique and haunting, and her characters are complex and compelling, particularly Detective Jess Lambert who has both emotional and physical scars that she is dealing with.

If you're looking for a thriller that will keep you guessing and that will have you turning pages way past your bedtime because you just have to know how everything plays out, this is the book for you.

This was really unique; I didn’t love all the animal euthanasia, but understand the one woman was a vet and it came with her job. ⁣
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This was a psychological revenge mystery meets paranormal thriller? Would be the best way I’d describe it.⁣
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Jess is a detective; who previously was in a car accident, her daughters passed away, and she has a bit of a drinking problem, a self destructive past that haunts her. ⁣
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Neve is being interrogated and has plenty of secrets herself. There is concern that Neve is connected the murder of a woman found, but then another woman is found dead in another area.⁣
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I found it to be a bit long but really liked the paranormal aspect of this and ultimately how the story wrapped up. ⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

4.5 stars rounded up!

Christina McDonald has a special talent of writing suspenseful, thrillers / mysteries, but with beautiful touches of mother/daughter relationships. I fell in love with her first book The Night Olivia Fell, the first “thriller” that made me cry. And then her following books Behind Every Lie, and Do No Harm, followed suit to her first. I always look forward to her latest novel, and after a 2 year hiatus, I couldn’t wait to read this one!

I really enjoyed the alternating POV between Jess & Neve. There is also another element the author brings to this book that the reader doesn’t see until about 75% in (no spoilers), but I thought it was creative and twisty!

Highly recommend for a perfect mix of suspenseful, spooky, and emotional!

Thank you @netgalley & publisher for my e-arc – out now!

This author hit it out of the park with THESE STILL BLACK WATERS. I am mad I took so long to read it!

This is my third book by this author and my absolute favorite. I didn't think she could top THE NIGHT OLIVIA FELL, but boy did she with These Still Black Waters. I loved everything about this book, and I mean everything! The twist came out of nowhere and I thought it was absolute perfection!

I felt so many different emotions while reading this book. It was heartbreaking, haunting and poignant. I actually found myself in tears a few times.

THESE STILL BLACK WATERS made my top ten list of my favorite reads in 2023 and I will be recommending this book for a very long time.

I am also so excited to hear there will be more books featuring detective Jess Lambert!

I cannot thank Thriller Book Lover Promotions enough for bringing this amazing book to my attention.

This story was haunting, raw and very compelling. I started to guess the twist by the midpoint, but it didn't make the twist -- or the story -- any less compelling. I definitely recommend this!

I received a digital ARC from Thomas & Mercer through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This novel did hold my interest. I connected with each character. However, I wish the big twist came sooner. The story became too drawn out before that, and then everything seemed rushed. There is a second book coming according to NetGalley, so hopefully it will continue where These Still Black Waters left off.

Following a violent home invasion, Neve and her daughter Ash pack up and move into Neve’s childhood summer home in Black Lake. But the day they arrive, a woman’s dead body is found in the lake behind her house.

Detective Jess Lambert is the lead on the investigation after she’s come back from a personal tragedy. She thinks Neve is hiding a secret but to what end? And how does that tie in to the murders?

This book was okay. The “big reveal” didn’t happen until more than halfway through the book. The storyline seemed familiar. I didn’t realize that it was a paranormal thriller. I was expecting more of a police procedural.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this eARC. These Still Black Waters is out now.

4.5/5 rounded up to 5 on here

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

“In other words, the past may be dead, but it is our choice if we bury it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it isn’t the dead who haunt the living but the living who do the haunting. Or maybe we haunt ourselves. Like, we’re haunted by our pasts, by our mistakes, the ones that aren’t so easily forgiven.”

This is my first book by Christina McDonald and will definitely not be my last! I absolutely loved her writing. I felt like it just drew the reader in immediately and kept me engaged the entire time. I loved that the chapters were all from the points of view of Neve, the detective, and the killer. I felt like that just added a different element to the storyline and I always like when the authors get inside the mind of the killers. I feel like it just adds some additional mystery/suspense to the book.

I included two of my favorite quotes from this book because I feel like it just gives the reader a different perspective on how we deal with our past and what we can leave behind in the past or carry with us into the future.

Overall, this is definitely such a good book and one I would recommend!

This novel pulled at my heart. It's in 2 POVs and was easy to follow. It did leave me surprised at times. The writing was good. I enjoyed reading about the Detective and watching her character grow.

“The only inescapable thing is the inevitability of choice.” These Still Black Waters

Christina McDonald serves up another gorgeously written contemporary novel of suspense with dollops of the supernatural and a twist of gothic. Combining heart-aching loss with female courage, THESE STILL BLACK WATERS offers a jaw-dropping twist that is brilliantly executed. The characters are so real and fully fleshed out that the immersive story takes over so that you’re not prepared for the twist when it emotionally takes you by the throat and stops you from breathing.

But back to the basics.

Three voices tell the story in alternating chapters—Neve Maguire Campbell, Police Detective Jess Lambert, and the killer.

Neve, mom to 16-year-old Ash, takes her daughter to the old family home on Black Lake to escape recent memories of Ash being hit by a bullet during a horrifying house break-in. Neve hopes a peaceful retreat will help with the healing. Neve hasn’t been to the house in twenty years because of a traumatic incident that she’s kept secret. But Neve’s past catches up with her. The day after arriving at Dullahan House, the body of a woman is dragged from the lake and identified as Bailey Nelson, one of Neve’s old friends from school. Neve is also having what appear to be blackouts where she wakes up in different places and doesn’t know how she gets there.

Police detective Jess Lambert questions Neve about Bailey, but Neve won’t divulge the secret she’s kept so long. She’s more about protecting Ash and helping Ash heal. Jess, however, understands because she had a daughter, Isla, who died in a car accident when Jess drove off the road and into the river. Jess’s leg was mangled, her heart was broken, and she became an alcoholic from the guilt. She barely keeps it together as she goes after Bailey’s killer. She also talks with her daughter’s ghost.

Then a second body is found. Both bodies had a code cut into their tongues, connecting the two. Questions pop up. Is Neve’s secret past connected to these murders? Can Jess keep it together to solve the murders? Why is the basement door at Dullahan House locked and Neve won’t unlock it? What do the friendship bracelets mean when they are found?

McDonald creates relatable characters. Jess with her alcoholism is sympathetic and so is her partner Detective Will Casey who wants to help Jess but does everything by the book which puts the two in conflict. The author uses a playful but insightful device to show the close relationship between Neve and Ash, the game “Would You Rather.” For example, Neve to lighten the mood asks Ash, “Would you rather have a mullet or no toothpaste for the rest of your life?” Others are used to help adjust emotionally.

The hauntingly beautiful writing, both vivid and evocative, has a gothic sensibility. “The moon is sweet, creamy light finding me even amid the trees.” “I climb the narrow wooden stairs, rotting and cracking with age, and jiggle the key into the lock.”

And there’s Dullahan House. Early in the story, we are given its background. In Irish folklore, the Dullahan is a mythological headless horseman who was a harbinger of death. Dullahan represents a past that never dies and haunts the living. The story goes that the Dullahan rode past shortly before his child was found mysteriously drowned in the lake. Take this as a harbinger of what’s to come in the brilliant and mesmerizing THESE STILL BLACK WATERS.

Thank you to Christina McDonald & Thomas & Mercer for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book.

This book was not by favorite. The main characters are both unreliable narrators and you end up so confused towards the middle of the book. If you like paranormal aspects in your books you may really like this novel. This book just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thank you, @netgalley and @amazonpublishing, for the #gifted e-arc of this book.

Wow! I was surprised at how much I loved this book! It was so well written, and it had such an amazing twist. I was able to figure it out shortly before the reveal but loved the way it was executed! I really liked the dual POVs from Neve and Jess and that we got little "diary" entries from the killer scattered throughout the book.

Detective Jess Lambert is now one of my favorite fictional characters, and I was so happy to see that this is the first book in a series, so I'll get to visit her again in the (hopefully) near future!

It's hard to say much more about this book without giving spoilers, but if you enjoy crime fiction with complex, relatable characters, this is the book for you!