3.75 Stars

I don’t normally say a book would be better as a movie, but that’s exactly how I felt about Salt Life. I could totally see myself enjoying it on screen. It wasn’t quite the thriller I was expecting — more of a family drama with a touch of suspense. The story was okay, but if it ever gets adapted, sign me up! My main struggle was the beginning, which felt a bit disjointed, and the different POVs were confusing at times. Overall, not a bad read, but I think it would really shine on film.

A perfect book for fans of Succession or Salt Water. While I think the book took way too long to tell us what happened to Sarah, I really appreciated the wordlbuilding. I felt like I was on the island of Capri, at a lavish villa surrounded by scheming rich people. While this wasn't perfect, I look forward to what the author writes next!

Thank you Netgalley & Ballantine Books for an eARC ♥️♥️♥️

Thirty years ago, Sarah Lingate's life was cut short in a tragedy that was dismissed as an accident. But her daughter Helen is determined to uncover the truth, and as she digs deeper, she'll find herself entangled in a complex tapestry of secrets, lies, and twisted fates.
This gripping mystery takes you on a thrilling ride through time, jumping between 1992 and the present day. With multiple narrators, each with their own secrets and motives, you'll be kept guessing until the very end.🫣
And then, just when you think you've got it all figured out, the rug is pulled from under your feet with a twist that will leave you breathless!🤪

The pacing of this book felt a bit slow, and seemed to be more of a family drama than thriller. I did enjoy the descriptions of the Capri setting though and felt like this could be a perfect beach read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance eARC.
I'm torn on this because I did enjoy the descriptive writing about Greece and the Isle of Capri. It felt like a character in the book. The rest of the characters... I don't know. They were definitely obnoxious and by the end the twist was pretty outrageous. It was semi entertaining but actually pretty slow.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC.

Saltwater follows the Lingate family who is trying to recover from the death of Sarah Lingate, who mysteriously died of suicide in 1992 while the family was vacationing in Capri, Italy. We follow the POVs of Helen Lingate, the daughter of Richard Lingate and Sarah, and Lorna who is Marcus Lingate's assistant, Richard's older brother. At the annual family vacation 30 years after Sarah's death history seems to repeat it self...

I really enjoyed the summer mystery vibes. The characters were well written in terms of them being rich and snooty, and acting like they were above everyone. We got flashback scenes from Sarah's POV of what happened in 1992, which slowly gave us more and more details about the Lingate's true nature.

I will say that I didn't connect with the characters very well. Especially Helen whose POV we get the most, at certain points I'd forget were in her pov as the writing was more of a narrator than 1st pov. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the book. The last 20% was crazy and there were plot twists that left my jaw on the floor.

Overall such a fun book I think people would enjoy a murder mystery set in Capri, really makes you want to travel to Italy.

Well written, character driven novel of wealth, greed, privilege, and the lengths people will go to protect their reputation and lifestyle. I was engaged with these characters from the very beginning, the plot was appropriately paced, and the twists just kept coming until the very end. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced reader copy

While the beginning sets up an intriguing premise, the middle section tends to drag, making it feel slower than necessary. Some parts felt overly drawn out, which slightly diminished the momentum. However, the final act more than makes up for it, delivering a satisfying and well-executed ending that ties the story together in a compelling way.

Overall, Saltwater is a solid read for those who enjoy atmospheric, character-driven narratives, even if they require a bit of patience to get through the slower sections. If you appreciate books that build tension gradually and reward you with a strong finish, this one is worth picking up

Oh man, this book had so much promise. I love family drama mixed in with murder but unfortunately this book didn't do it for me. Yes it has both of those but it's such a drag to get through. I was ready for the excitement but it fell flat. It's REALLY slow. I got about 41% in was like please give me something. I was very tempted to DNF it. I honestly wish I did. I really disliked the ending. It just felt so unpredictable esp for it to happen TWICE. excuse, me? I just don't understand that at all.

Sorry just upset by this one.

*I just want to thank Netgalley and publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.*

I think I lost track of the numerous, delicious plot twists. Saltwater focuses on the dysfunctional Lingate family, and features money, sex, and avoidance of responsibility. Ms. Hays lures the reader in with the first plot, the murder of Sarah Lingate. But it turns out that is just the tip of the iceberg. The thread that ties the multiple plots together is the annual vacation to Capri from Bel Air. There is Marcus who controls the decision-making in the family, or so it seems. His wife, Naomi, is an alcoholic who is envious of anyone who potentially threatens her way of life. Helen is the daughter of Sarah and Richard who plots to get out of the family. So as you can see, there a multiple who-don-its. Delightful read that you won't be able to put down.

What happens when the death of a matriarch in 1992 mirrors a current day death of 2022 of another young woman whom was trying to uncover the truth. In 1992, Sarah Lingate's is found dead floating in the water and it is caulked up to being a drunken nights accident but was it really?

In present day we have Sarah's daughter, Helen, trying to uncover the mystery behind her mothers untimely death and she asks the help of her friend Lorna. But not long after Lorna arrives she also goes missing. Our author reveals lots of duplicity that leads to blackmail, extortion, and murder which always proves families often hold messy secrets. In some ways I thought this book was too long and some chapters unneeded. However, still a great book

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

While the premise and setting of Saltwater really grabbed me, I unfortunately had a hard time getting in to the book. I would have liked a better introduction to the characters, and I felt the mystery was a little slow and a little too all-over-the-place.

Even though it took me awhile to get into the book due to it being set in a different time zone, I enjoyed reading it. It took me awhile to get into it because I don't typically read books thats set in the 90's or even 100 years ago. but reading this and it being a mystery I really enjoyed myself honestly, and I would recommned this book to so many people.

‼ Before I get into it, thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Katy Hayes for giving me the opportunity to read Saltwater's e-ARC ‼

Knives Out meets Dallas in this mystery novel.

Sarah Lingate mysteriously dies in 1992 on the Italian island of Capri. Everyone is torn between murder, suicide, or a drunken accident. The old-money Lingates immediately close ranks and refuse to talk about the issue, even among themselves. But 30 years later, Sarah's case is reopened after "new evidence" has been presented. Just in time, for the family's annual summer vacation to Capri.

I absolutely loved this book. Katy Hays painted Capri as a beautiful, stress-free island for wealthy people while making it the most chaotic place ever. I have never wanted to go to a place more than Italy. "Just relax, I tell myself. Go with the flow. Have fun. But then, that advice has only ever taken me bad place." (Loc 1336)

No one protects you like family, am I right? "...I've always been one of them. Isn't that what family is? A cult you can never leave..." (Loc 2866) Richard is the troubled brother, Marcus cleans all the messes, Naomi is the drunken housewife, and Helen has been sheltered her entire life. Helen knows that something is up with her mother's death but she has been trained, like everyone else in the family, to say 'No comment.' "It was an accident. Maybe a suicide. That's what the family has always said. And every year they come back here to prove it's true." (Loc 129)

Can Helen, Sarah's now adult child, really be that naïve? "I would finally have some power. Because that's what money was - power." (Loc 1456) Did she really believe that Lorna wouldn't betray her? And Lorna? Didn't she see that the family would have just thrown her under the bus when shit it the fan? She was the expendable one. "He would leave me here now. He would let me drawn to save her." (Loc 1415)

Not everything is what it seems to be. "At a certain point you cared less about burning them down. The rubble preferable to a pretty façade." Everyone has two sides. It's just a matter of which sides can you trust?

Katy Hayes' Saltwater is a great read for lovers of suspense. Its a fantastic story of a wealthy family and their all of their drama. The story kept me captivated and the twist at the end was worth it all!

SALTWATER
BY: KATY HAYS

About 4.5 Stars!

I think that I loved this more than other reviewers, but the beginning you really have to pay attention, which there was a large cast of characters' introduced and the writing about the tropical Island of Capri, Italy is heavy in description which Katy Hays does a superb job. In her lush imagery of Capri that is more like a rocky, cliff-like jutted drop into the Mediterranean Sea without sandy beaches like one would expect. Still this talented author engages the senses to visualize bright sunshine with the scents of fig and pine so that one can smell the salty air mixed with the tropical fruit and flowers creating a very atmospheric setting. Her writing is very descriptive, but I agree with a couple of
reviewers that this novel could have been shorter by about twenty percent. Even with that whopper of a twist this got somewhat dragged out for longer than needed especially in the middle when the author makes the twist known to the reader, and some of the Lingate family who was responsible for Sarah's death it loses it's driving force of suspense. Part of the mystery is also compromised, until the next twist is one aspect of keeping me intrigued enough to read further until I finished this family domestic drama. Most of what makes a great thriller is the continuation that propels the momentum forward in a pulse pounding fashion, which is it's able to give the reader chills. Katy Hays partially achieves this but not until the explosive ending, and final twist that I never saw coming, which is to praise Katy Hays, for writing another successful novel after, "THE CLOISTERS," which would be a tough act to follow, Overall, I only read a couple of underwhelming reviews after I wrote mine. I hope that this reaches as wide of an audience since it's a solid piece of well above average writing. I'll be recommending it to the Patrons of our Library.

I enjoyed the newspaper clippings that after everybody arrives in Capri or maybe it was before it the newspaper in July of 1992, says that Sarah Lingate disappeared and was later thought by most people that her death wasn't really an accident or a suicide as the investigation into her death was ruled. She left behind a three year old only child named Helen, and her husband Richard. This story begins with Lorna who is Richard's brother Marcus's assistant, and they are just getting on the dock of Capri, with Lorna's musings about how horrible rich people are, and she's reinvented herself. She's studied to get to be Marcus Lingate's assistant with him none the wiser of Lorna's past. Her new job could be compromised, and her plans thwarted, unfortunately for her when she runs into a man named Stan who wants to buy the deceased Sarah Lingate's manuscript of a play she had written, but never got produced because of her untimely death. It was more or less autobiographical about the Lingate family, who never want their personal imperfections exposed to the world since it's definitely shows them truthfully unflattering to say the least. People witness Sarah, and Richard having a heated argument which ends up in Richard telling her she can't publish her play. This is the icing on the cake for Sarah, who tells Richard she's filing for a divorce. Henceforth, the gossip around the Island has always been that either Richard, or one of his viper family members are really responsible for killing Sarah, and the police got it wrong thirty years ago.

Another aspect that makes a great mystery or thriller is the exemplary job Katy Hays has married her abilities with the perfection of a fabulous setting with masterful character development. She either chose most of her characters to be unlikable, which besides Helen, Renata, and her son Oris, and possibly Freddy, the other three Lingate's are hard to connect to for me, personally. I sympathized with Helen's isolation caused by her father, but it was so extreme it lacked credibility in this day and age. I found it far fetched that a thirty three year old woman wouldn't just leave instead of hatching a plan with Lorna to bribe the Lingate family to pay millions for both of them to break out on their own. Maybe they depended on the Lingate millions to lead the sort of lifestyle that they both thought they deserved. Doesn't it make them seem greedy or is it out of desperation that prompts one to steal money from the Lingate family through bribery from an anonymous source? Does their actions of dishonesty seem warranted? Do the Lingate's have reasons for willingly paying out that much money? What exactly do they wish to keep secret to part with such a huge sum of money?


Helen is now thirty three years' old, and her and Lorna plan to steal two hundred million dollars of the Lingate's money, since Sarah's necklace that she had worn when she died suddenly shows up in an anonymous package. This exorbitant amount of cash is supposed to buy them their freedom. Only Lorna disappears and Helen thinks that Lorna double crossed her, and is worried obsessively about Lorna's whereabouts. Is Sarah's concern purely because she's worried about her friend for altruistic reasons? Is she worried about Lorna because she sees the window of opportunity of her breaking free of the conniving Lingate's? Either way she is upset about what happened to Lorna, until she witnesses with her own eyes Lorna getting hauled out of the sea. The police decide to re-open Sarah's investigation into her death once they find Lorna's been murdered. I really thought the reveal of who was responsible for Sarah's death was revealed too early on, and the suspense was like popping a balloon, with the grip of the tension of what makes a captivating thriller dissipating like the air escaping the balloon. Even though only the reader, and the Lingate family know who caused Sarah's death, for me personally, that happened to make the book lose it's grip on the tautness of the writing lose some of its tension. While I still really liked this novel and think it was based on a terrific premise, I never connected to any of the characters making the novel get too bogged down in dysfunctional family domestic drama until the final twist was revealed. Even after that it just lost the thriller/mystery vibes way too early in the book. Katy Hays did a superb job with creating a place that I could visualize in my mind as if I've been there before, but convinced me to want to visit Capri soon.

As I said, the book was supposed to be a thriller, and a mystery, but devolved mostly about a dysfunctional family, and the entire Lingate family would have matched that moniker very well. The disclosing of who was responsible for Sarah's death was revealed too early for my liking, I know I already said that, but I feel it's important to drive that point home. I'm still really glad that I got an ARC of the novel, and Katy Hays really has convinced me to want to visit the Island of Capri, by her lavish and vivid use of engaging all of my senses. I would still recommend this to other readers and if I may give a word of advice, try to go into this as blindly as you can, for the greatest enjoyment of reading for me is just a small description about what the book is about. I think with this one the synopsis in the Kindle edition gives a little too much away. The novels that I usually enjoy the most are the ones that I go into completely blind. I'm very excited to see what Katy Hays comes out with next because I know I'll really want to read it.

Publication Date: March 25, 2025

A Huge Thank You to Net Galley, Katy Hays and Random House Publishing Group--Ballantine Ballantine Books, for generously providing me with my fantastic early ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

#Saltwater #KatyHays #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantineBallantineBooks #NetGalley

This book had an interesting premise, but it didn’t quite deliver. The atmosphere was moody and immersive, but the plot felt slow and aimless, and the characters never fully clicked for me. I kept waiting for something big to happen, but it just never did. That said, the audiobook was well-produced, and the narrator did a decent job bringing some emotion to the story, which made it easier to get through. If you love beautifully written but super introspective stories, you might enjoy it, but for me, it just dragged.

Thank you to the publisher and Hayes for this advanced copy.

I can summarize Saltwater with one word: atmosphere! So much rich atmosphere. I loved the setting of this story.

Complex narrative set against the beautiful backdrop of Capri. I’m hooked!

I would recommend this to any fan of Alice Feeney who I think does a great job weaving stories of family drama.

Sarah Lindgate fell off the cliffs of Capri on a family vacation in 1992. Since then the Lindgate family has continued to vacation there and her now 33-year-old daughter, Helen, wrestles with feeling trapped in her very controlled life. When a package arrives at the house on the 30th anniversary of Sarah’s death, everyone is on edge. And Marcus Lindgate’s personal assistant, Lorna, who joined them on vacation has also gone missing. Secrets will be uncovered in this suspenseful family drama.

I really liked the writing in this and the different points of view. The way the story unfolded with a non-linear timeline, sometimes going back to Sarah’s perspective back in the early 90s, sometimes bringing readers to the present in Helen’s or Lorna’s voices. Themes of wealth and privilege, control, manipulation, and societal expectations abound. I admit, it’s hard for a book in this genre to blow me away; I’m too keen on making predictions to sit back and enjoy them. But this one had enough subplots of interest that it held my attention. I also liked the writing style.

Overall, a clever, somewhat slow-paced, and suspenseful title that makes me curious about the author’s earlier and future work.

I think the cover is beautiful for this book. The setting...Capri, Italy what could be better?

I thought Helen was great i enjoyed getting to know her character. The others however were underdeveloped and boring. I typically love the writing style that gives you multiple points of views while jumping from the past to present so I get the whole picture. This book however did not do a very good job with the past to present and back again. I was confused for the majority of the slow book.

I did enjoy the twist at the end and did not see that coming at all! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC.