This is a good pool/beach read if you like twisty plots, beautiful scenery (the island of Capri, Italy) and severely flawed characters. Rich family has long-held secrets, one family member discovers a few of those secrets, chaos and drama ensue. Not the most original plot, but the novel is entertaining, if a little long. Rouned up to 3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and the author for the ARC and the opportunity to read and review this novel.

The beautiful island of Capri in Italy is the setting for a truly outrageous family drama. Thirty years ago a young successful playwright, Sarah Lingate goes missing after an evening out with her husband. The very wealthy and connected Lingate family is exonerated of any blame in Sarahs's death. The storyline jumps back and forth in time and seems a little slow in the beginning but it certainly picks up and by the end I couldn't put the book down.

Present day has Sarah's 33 year old daughter, Helen, wanting to break free of the confines of her family, they keep a very tight leash on her saying it's all for her own good. But the household of her father, her boyfriend, aunt and uncle along with her uncle's assistant is a group of people with very few positive traits. As Helen tries to figure out the past and present, she finds she is always a step behind her family.

The setting of Capri is amazing and Katy Hays does a great job of bringing us onto the island with it's beauty, cliffs, nightlife, luxury, and much more. It really sounds like a playground for the rich. Hopefully not all rich are like the Lingates because they are lacking in redeeming qualities.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

3.75 stars, rounded up.

Saltwater tells the dark story of the Lingate family. They are rich, obsessed with maintaining their image, and have no problems hurting people and each other in pursuit of getting what they want. If you enjoy stories of rich people behaving badly, you'll like this book. The pacing of the story is a tad slow, but steady. I stayed interested in how it would all shake out, so that wasn't an issue for me. I loved the setting and how Hays wrote the island of Capri. It almost felt like a character--beautiful! Saltwater is full of twists and secrets and will appeal to readers who enjoy literary thrillers, dark family dramas, and atmospheric books!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Atmospheric and Hauntingly Beautiful

*“Saltwater” by Katy Hays is a mesmerizing novel that immerses readers in a world of art, obsession, and the power of the sea. The writing is lyrical and evocative, drawing you into the protagonist’s journey with a dreamlike intensity. Hays masterfully captures the push and pull of desire, isolation, and transformation, making the novel feel both intimate and expansive.

The novel’s strongest element is its atmosphere—Hays brings the rugged coastline and shifting tides to life in a way that feels almost hypnotic. The themes of identity, reinvention, and the blurred lines between past and present are handled beautifully, leaving a lingering sense of unease.

The only reason for four stars instead of five is that some parts of the story feel slightly meandering, with moments that could have been more tightly woven into the narrative’s emotional core. However, the novel’s spellbinding prose and immersive world more than make up for it.

If you love slow-burning literary fiction with gothic undertones and a deep connection to nature, Saltwater is well worth the read!

Set on the island of Capri in Italy, Saltwater is a novel by Katy Hays. Thirty years ago, Sarah Lingate, there on vacation with her wealthy husband and extended family, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Ruled an accident only because the Italian police couldn’t prove otherwise, Sarah’s death has lingered over the Lingate family for years. Present day, the Lingates are back in Capri on their annual vacation, with Helen, Sarah’s daughter, her boyfriend Freddy, and Lorna, a Lingate assistant. Lorna goes missing, and the story of Sarah’s death re-emerges and intertwines with Lorna’s disappearance.
Lies and deceit, family secrets, infidelity, blackmail… lots of juicy topics. Chapters flip flop around different characters and timelines, which keeps the suspense and surprise lingering until the end. It is not as quick paced as a typical suspense read and could be considered a hybrid of family drama and suspense. The idyllic setting of Capri was well described and gave an authentic feel. While the story got a bit too outlandish by the end, it was still a pretty enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Books for my ARC.

Saltwater by Katy Hays is one of the most twisty thrillers I have read in a long time. The book starts out a bit complicated with multiple points of view in multiple timelines. The Lingate family is forever haunted by the death of Sarah Lingate 3o years ago. Now the mystery surrounding her death is being reopened and family secrets may finally come to light.

The main character of this book I would say is Helen. She is the daughter of Sarah Lingate and as an adult she feels trapped by the burden of her family. In looking for a way to escape she has to uncover the secrets of the family's past. Unfortunately her family's narcissistic ties to money and each other prevent her from easily escaping.

The plot is described as a slow burn, but I had the opposite experience. There are so many characters, details, and moving parts. While I was forced to start slow I felt that the pace moved rather quickly. This book is the epitome of rich and privileged people behaving poorly and using money to hide their super shady behavior.

Almost every character in this book gets a point of view at some point and within at least one timeline. At first this made this book complicated to follow because there were so many puzzle pieces and details to keep straight. I think if I had been listening to this book on audio I would have easily gotten lost, and for that reason I recommend the physical.

Readers who enjoy constant twists and turns will love this book. Despite the initial complexity of the book, Katy Hays does bring it all together in the end in a way that the reader will understand. Saltwater kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page. I rated it 3.75 stars and rounded up to 4 on Netgalley & Goodreads.

Saltwater is a fun thriller with lots of twists and turns. Some of it was a little predictable, but the ride was still really fun. The story is told from different perspectives, starting off alternating between Helen and Lorna, and then moving to some other characters. Helen is the adult daughter of a wealthy, old money family, whose mother was mysteriously killed when she was a child. Her family returns to Capri every summer, to the site where her mother died. There are a few holes in the story, one of which is why the Lindgates kept returning to this spot. And there were some coincidences with the connections between Lorna and the Lindgates, but that didn't run the book. And I had a few different theories throughout the book and was delighted by the ending. Beautiful scenery in Capri too!

2.5 stars. Based on the description, I really thought I would enjoy this book. But it was just so painfully slow moving and I couldn't connect with any of the characters. They were all either unlikable or unrelatable or both. I only rounded up to 2.5 stars because I was surprised by the twists at the very end. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This was a good, twisty read. There were times when I was a little frustrated at the structure of the story, getting small pieces of information at a time, and out of order, but it all came together by the end. It had a bit of a White Lotus vibe, which I liked. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nearly 30 years ago, playwright Sarah Lingate’s body was found below the cliffs on the island of Capri. Left behind are her wealthy husband and his brother, along with his brother’s wife. Her young daughter was home in California with a nanny. The death was ruled an accident, but the family is still shrouded under a cloud of suspicion.

The Lingate family continues to visit the island for a week every summer, and Helen Lingate grows up vacationing in the place her mother died. Her family is controlling and vindictive, and she’s felt trapped under the weight of their name for most of her life. This summer, her mother’s necklace mysteriously appears at the villa, which sets off a string of events no one could have seen coming.

-Mystery
-Multiple POV
-Dual timeline
-Slow burn
-Lush setting

The mystery and setting of Saltwater were fantastic! The moody tone set by the author was unwavering throughout the book, and I loved its contrast with the bright cover art.
The ending was definitely one I did not predict; to the point that I didn’t enjoy it. It seemed to be more for shock value than as a natural development of the story. The characters were truly some of the most unlikable I’ve ever read, with no redeeming qualities.
Despite that, Saltwater was well-written and I did enjoy the glimpse into a totally unfamiliar world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Saltwater
By Katy Hays

I was excited to read, Saltwater by Katy Hays from the cover and description alone. I had read, The Cloisters previously and liked it so much I knew I had to try this novel. Hays’ art history background serves both novels well as she incorporates the present day with ancient places and their many moods.

When reading you have no idea who to trust and whose viewpoint is accurate. Even the narrators don’t know if they can trust themselves. As murky as that seems, these folks come back to the scene of the crime, a murder in Capri, every year, as the rich with blinders on are bound to do.

Even Capri is a hot mess and hiding things in this story. Money isn’t freedom. Guilt and jealousy make people do desperate things. Who do you think you know? Everyone is hiding something while thinking they have the upper hand. It is throughly enjoyable reading experience with twists and turns til the end. It builds then slides like a landslide.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced digital read.

Thank you to NetGalley for another ARC!

4 stars this time!

In the beginning, I kind of wrote this off to be a snobby rich family drama. There’s almost an eerieness to it in what’s left unsaid. At one point, I thought I could place exactly what was going to happen because I had read a bit of thriller/mystery and there’s usually a formula to them but the timeline in this book kept throwing me off. It’s written out of order on purpose so you get certain information at a certain time, but that also makes it great.

The ending I could predict but also not at all? I’m not sure how that makes sense but I did gasp. It’s one I will have to eventually read again so I can get all the information because I feel like I missed some things

This dark thriller about a toxic, wealthy family with many secrets gripped me from the beginning. The multiple points of view and timelines shifting between thirty years ago and the present effectively build the suspense as the present-day murder of a pregnant woman after a party ties to the murder of a pregnant woman after a party in the past. Both murders take place in an island setting amongst a small, wealthy circle of suspects, adding to the claustrophobic and mysterious atmosphere. The characters slowly reveal more of themselves, their relationships, and their secrets as the novel progresses, and themes of family loyalty, class snobbery, the inequity of power between rich and poor, and the destructive nature of secrets between intimates play out. The concluding chapters contain several twists, some of which I saw coming and some not--I couldn't decide if there are almost too many final dark revelations--but I would recommend this to lovers of psychological thrillers, family sagas, toxic love affairs, and exotic settings (the island of Capri in this instance).

When a young woman goes missing on the summer island of Capri, the situation is eerily similiar to a situation that happened 20 years earlier, when the wife of a wealthy family is found dead on the cliffs of Capri.

Lorna is a scrappy young woman, determined to make her life better, even if it means lying and stealing to get to the top. She works with and for the Lingate family and is friends with Helen Lingate. But when Helen can't find Lorna anywhere after a party one night, she knows something happened to her, and that her family is behind it, just as they were behind her mother's murder.

Told in dual timelines from Sarah, Helen and Lorna's perspectives, this book will leave you wanting more. Badly behaved wealthy families? What more could you want!

I really enjoyed this slow-burn thriller set in Capri! Italy, which is quite possibly my favorite place in the world, comes to life on the page, as does the lifestyle and whims of the rich. I enjoyed the complexity of Helen, the daughter of the wealthy Lingate family, and I also thought Naomi, Helen’s aunt, was a great character.

Overall, for me, the characters and setting are the stand-outs! At times, I wished for the plot to move a little more quickly, but part of the reason for its slowness is the character development and totally on-point building out of this rich and complex family, so sometimes you can’t have it both ways, right? The insight into the way this type of old-money family operates, in juxtaposition with the ‘gauche’ new-money set, makes me think that Hays has experience with this or REALLY did her research.

This book has a bit of the feel of the movie Saltburn in that you get to watch a very wealthy family coming apart at the seams, rotting from the inside out. And the timing of this type of story seems perfect: there seems to be a trend in the general public – a zeitgeist, if you will – to turn against the wealthy and powerful who wield their weight to take down those with fewer means at their disposal, as we’re seeing play out with this Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni case.

I highly recommend this for readers who enjoy domestic, slow-burn thrillers and those who (like me) have an obsession with Italy.

This hits the shelves March 25!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!

If you enjoy books about rich snobby characters getting their due, then this book is for you. The story was snarky and engaging, but this would be more of a popcorn-vacation-type read for me, nothing unforgettable. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Pub Date: March 25, 2025

#Saltwater


The story was fast paced and part of the twists I never saw coming. Told in multiple POV’s during different times. The newspaper articles were a nice add in too. Even though the family is a bunch of rich snobs I did feel for Helen. I loved how the whole story wrapped up and the ending was excellent. The believability is stretched but that’s what makes it a fun read.

This would make for a great summer or vacation read.

The proof is broke into Part One and Part Two. There are no chapters to try and find your place. Within the Parts you are given each person’s pov and I hope when the book publishes that it will have chapters and not just the two parts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an ARC of this book. The writing is solid, with vivid settings and a decent character development. While the characters were engaging overall, the pacing of the story can feel a bit slow at times, which affected the flow of the narrative. The story itself was decent, but ultimately, it didn’t leave a lasting impression and didn’t become a favorite. It’s an enjoyable read for fans of this genre, but it might not stand out among others. An okay story overall.

I have to say having never been to Capri, I sure feel like I know the place. Katy Hays did such a fantastic job of immersing you into Italy.

The story was fast paced and part of the twists I never saw coming. Told in multiple POV’s during different times. The newspaper articles were a nice add in too. Even though the family is a bunch of rich snobs I did feel for Helen. I loved how the whole story wrapped up and the ending was excellent. The believability is stretched but that’s what makes it a fun read.

This would make for a great summer or vacation read.

The proof is broke into Part One and Part Two. There are no chapters to try and find your place. Within the Parts you are given each person’s pov and I hope when the book publishes that it will have chapters and not just the two parts.

Thanks NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this e-arc.

Who doesn't love rich peoples problems with the background being a Italian island?!?!?
Long ago murders ruled an accident and family drama, this book was made for me.

Easy read, definitely giving summer TBR list vibes. Mystery and thriller readers will definitely enjoy this.

Thanks to NetGalley and especially to the publisher for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

This was fun, twisted, and kept me on my toes for the entire book! Not my favorite twisty mystery I’ve ever read but def worth the read!