Still Waters is a keep you on the edge of your seat murder mystery that had me hooked at chapter one. A must read for anyone who loves a suspenseful whodunit!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Matt Goldman, and MacMillan audio for advance access to the audiobook in exchange for my honest review. The audio was narrated by Helen Laser, and she did a fantastic job!

Publication date- May 21, 2024
#nettgalley #stillwaters #mattgoldman

Buckle up, because the dysfunctional family drama and strained sibling relationships really added to the tension!

Liv and Gabe have just gotten the news that their brother died, and now they must head back home to Minnesota to unpack the truth of what happened.

*many thanks to Forge Books, Macmillan audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Still Waters is now the second thriller I've read by Matt Goldman, and this one was again bubbling over with family drama!

An email from beyond the grave starts this book off, and suddenly estranged siblings Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom are forced into finding out what happened to their dead brother Mack. Threatening notes, a mysterious key and an ornery old woman all add to the strains put on this small-town family. While the book has a dark undertone, (though not menacingly so), the additional love story helps offset and counterbalance the ever-present suspense.

It's evident that Waters enjoys writing unlikable characters submerged in family drama, and what I enjoy most about his writing is the morally gray compass they live by! Additionally, his books are very cinematic with a panoramic view - his TV writer background clearly coming across!

The audiobook narrator often created unintentional pauses between some sentences in the same paragraph, at times leading me to believe the start of a new paragraph or chapter break was occurring. Although this didn't detract from my enjoyment in listening, these hesitations were not edited out.

All in all, the resort setting makes this a perfect thriller to take along on your next vacation!

Thank you NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, Forge Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

Nothing like a death that turns out to be murder to reunite estranged siblings! This was a great read and I love that the mystery got solved and some healing occurred between the siblings! This was my 1st book by Matt Goldman but will not be my last, I am adding his books to my TBR.

3.5 Goldmans writing is so smooth, his novels just flow with nary a misstep. A family that had drifted apart is brought together after their brother’s death, though only two are now left. They receive an email from him saying his death is actually a murder. Now they must work together, return to their family owned summer camp, and try to find the truth.

The summer camp and their experiences there when younger brought to my mind the times I spent summers at my families summer house. Glorious day, swimming, skiing, hiking, just priceless. But as this book also shows your memories as a child are not seen the same way as an adult. There are secrets here, plots and happenings that were not as they appeared. A good, solid mystery.

Narration was terrific.

Liv and Gabe receive an email from their brother just hours after hearing the news of his death. Desperate to figure out what really happened to their older brother they travel to their Minnesota home for answers.

This premise immediately sucked me in. I was super intrigued once I read about the emails that were sent from their brother after his death.

The dysfunctional family had me both entertained and continually interested. Adding in the strained relationship between Liv and Gabe and how they worked through their past was a perfect touch to the whodunnit mystery.

I did enjoy this audiobook. However I wasn’t a huge fan of how the woman did the male voices. It might have just been that she was speaking with a Minnesota accent. So that just might have been my preference.

This recently released suspense/mystery book will have you trying to piece together every possible clue!

When the siblings Liv and Gabe get a suspicious email from their recently deceased brother their reunion for the funeral takes on a whole investigation! Upon returning home deep family secrets are uncovered and when another body is pulled from the lake the siblings are determined to find the truth!

This book is filled with suspense, family connections, working to overcome individual struggles, and is one I would definitely recommend!

Thank you to #netgalley and @forgereads for the advanced audiobook!

After the death of their estranged brother, Liv and Gabe both receive an email from him stating that he was murdered. Though they haven't been close in a long time, they travel back to their childhood home to discover the secrets about their family and who could have wanted to hurt their older brother. Story moves quickly and keeps you listening. The narration is very good.

Liv and Gabe are estranged Irish twins who reconnect after the death of their older brother, Mack. Shortly after hearing the news they both receive an email from Mack himself claiming he was killed. They decide to return to their childhood home, a lakeside resort in Minnesota, to have a service and scatter ashes. Once there, they are warned to leave, as their lives depend on it. Of course, Liv and Gabe are more intrigued when they also learn Mack was their half-brother. Who is the father, and who killed Mack?

I listened to this book, and super enjoyed the narration by Helen Laser. Her Minnesota accents were perfect and voices were excellent. Matt Goldman wrote a mystery that was easy to listen to, characters that I hated and others I rooted for, and a heartbreaking story of relationships that are loyal but passionless. Recommend for a summer read or listen.

Siblings who have drifted apart are drawn together by the death of their brother and resulting matters that must be settled in their hometown in the Northwoods of Minnesota. In the process, they encounter some mysterious circumstances involving his death as well as the murder of a resident, not to mention property disputes with another family.

This was a satisfying family drama/mystery with lots of quirky and eccentric characters. I loved the narrator's use of Minnesota accents. She did a great job with those 😅 And the author clearly has Minnesota roots or at least did a good job of researching because he got so many of the regional references right (at least so far as I can tell, being an Iowan). The setting was charming, and now I want to visit. I wasn't terribly surprised by the ending, but there were still some great twists.

Estranged siblings learn of the death of their older brother and then receive an email from him claiming he was murdered. The siblings return to the family resort in the Northwoods of Minnesota to investigate his claims and face the past.

I'm not sure I would call it a thriller, but it moved at a steady pace and was a solid mystery. The setting is perfect for a summer read - a north Minnesota resort community with an interesting cast of characters. I did figure out some of the twists, but not all, and it wrapped up well.

The narration was good.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for a free copy of #StillWaters by Matt Goldman. All opinions are my own.

Still Waters is a gripping murder mystery thriller that had me hooked at chapter one. The narration was excellent I will definitely recommend this to my friends!

Still Waters is the first book that I have ever read by Matt Goldman, and it was a nice surprise.

As most of my reviews start, I didn't know what I was heading into when I started listening to this book. I like starting "blind" so to speak, so I can be pleasantly surprised along the way. And this is another instance where I am glad that I didn't know anything heading in.

This book is about a dysfunctional family, as many mystery/thrillers tend to be, and it had a pretty good pace throughout.

I will say one thing I did struggle with throughout this book, is it did seem to dray on throughout some parts, and there were times that I think information was added more than it needed to be.

But I would recommend this book for people who like a nicely paced, small town mystery, and will keep you guessing- but if you are looking for twists and turns and shocks, this may not be exactly what you are looking for.

This is my introduction to Matt Goldman, and he now has a new fan! This book has it all - small town vibes, family secrets, drama, betrayal, lies, and more. This was a quick and easy listen with complex characters that were well developed. There were characters I liked and some I didn't like, but they were all fleshed out and gave off "I've lived in a small town all my life" vibes. The two main characters were a joy to get to know and follow along with throughout this book.

This story started out as a slow burn, but that didn't bother me too much as I was wrapped up into getting to know the characters. Once it picked up, it kept me engrossed up until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

An intriguing premise that keeps you guessing until the end. As a person who is estranged from their siblings just like the leads of this book, maybe I identified a little more with the plot, but it is definitely a juicy one. I enjoyed the setting very much as well and found myself routing for the brother and sister team the whole way through. The answers definitely make sense, although a couple of things were a little predictable, nonetheless a solid read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Tor Publishing and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest book by Matt Goldman., with the audio perfectly narrated by Helen Laser. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom are estranged siblings, along with their older brother, Mack. But then Liv gets a call from Mack's wife saying that Mack died from a seizure. Right afterwards, both Liv and Gabe receive a scheduled email from Mack, stating, If you’re reading this email, I am dead. I know this will sound strange, but someone has been trying to kill me. The siblings return to their family-run resort in the Northwoods of Minnesota to investigate. But they are soon enmeshed in family and small town secrets and someone is not happy they are there.

I alternated between the digital and audio versions of this book, but was totally enthralled with the narration and the Minnesota accents (think Fargo). It just really added to the atmospheric feel of this book. The characters felt real, especially Liv and Gabe, with their estrangement and resulting feelings coloring everything. This book was the perfect blend of family and small town drama and mystery. It was an easy, quick read and I thought the ending was perfect.

I love Matt’s books. He does a fantastic job of weaving mystery, secrets, and complicated family relationships into a captivating story. In his newest novel, Still Waters, estranged siblings, Liv and Gabe, come together after the death of their elder brother. Both receive posthumous emails from him that state that he was murdered. The story that unfolds is an emotional thriller as Liv and Gabe try to uncover their family’s secrets and figure out who killed their brother.

I highly recommend this book and all of the previous books written by this author, especially if you enjoy complicated family dynamic stories that have an element of mystery to them. The audiobook is great and I loved how the narrator used a midwestern accent during the dialogue portions.

Thank you @macmillan.audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

(This same review was shared on the Barnes & Noble website)

After the death of their older brother, estranged siblings Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom return to the Northern Minnesota lake resort they grew up at. But they are getting warnings to leave. Their brother thought someone was trying to kill him, not there is a note on their door. When another person ends up dead, they decide to team up and figure it out. They are afraid that they could be next.

This may be a case where the audiobook narration negatively impacted my opinion of the overall book. I am not sure if the narrator, Helen Laser, was trying to force a Minnesotan accent or what. Sometimes it was fine. But especially male characters in dialogue were terrible. There is one mentally challenged character, but all of her male characters sounded like this.

As for the story itself, the dynamic between Liv and Gabe was weird. It made the story feel insincere. The overall premise was good. The execution- which I admitted could have been negatively impacted by the audio narration- was not as good.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.