Another hit from Katy Hays! I was such a fan of THE CLOISTERS, and SALTWATER not only lives up to but exceeds my expectations for her sophomore effort. Great characters and interpersonal dynamics, and a lush vivid setting.

The Lingate family has immense wealth and privilege. When the body of Sarah Lingate is found near the cliffs of their Capri vacation home, her death is ruled an accident and almost forgotten. Thirty years later, Sarah’s daughter Helen is fed up with her controlling and oppressive family, and she is desperately trying to break free. When the Lingates arrive in Capri for this year’s annual vacation, they’re met with a mysterious package that unearths questions about Sarah’s death. No one is innocent in this entitled family, but that makes this thriller all the more enticing. This is a perfect pick to escape the gloom of winter.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

A mysterious death? A beautiful setting? A wacky family?
Yes please! These 3 elements let me know this was the book for me! I love thrillers that involve so many elements that help the plot to keep going.

4.5⭐️
I was immediately impressed by Katy Hays writing and the way she allowed for the story to unfold. It all unravels in several timelines- 30 years ago before Sarah was found dead, the hours leading up to Lorna’s disappearance, and now, which is after her disappearance. I absolutely love timelines like this because the air is mystery as long as possible and allows you to try and solve everything yourself, and I never found it confusing. I had so much fun reading this and while the end was a bit far-fetched, I was satisfied with it.
I went into this book blind and pretty soon you start to realize through Lorna’s point of view that she knows more than you think and there’s more to Helen than meets the eye.
Lorna is an assistant who is invited to join the Lindgates on their family vacation on the island of Capri. The island they return to every year to keep up pretenses because 30 years ago, Helen’s mother died on the island. And everyone thinks someone in the family, or all do them, did it. What does Lorna know? Will the truth finally come out, or will someone die before they have the chance to bring it to light?
What follows is a twisty and enthralling journey to find out the truth full of family drama and secrets. The atmosphere is eerie and tense, the players are incredibly wealthy and self-serving, and you’ll be questioning everyone’s motives and involvement to the very end. I’d absolutely love to read more thrillers by Katy Hays!

Welcome to Capri, where glitz and secrets collide!

Dive into a gripping thriller about a family's opulent Italian retreat shadowed by a 30-year-old tragedy.

In 1992, Sarah Lingate's mysterious death at Capri’s cliffs left behind her daughter Helen. Despite suspicions of foul play, it was ruled an accident. Thirty years later, the Lingates return to the island, only to find Sarah’s necklace waiting for them—creepy, right?

As old secrets surface, Helen and family assistant Lorna hatch a daring escape plan. But when Lorna vanishes, Helen must face her twisted family and confront the truth about that fateful night.

Not everyone will leave the island alive. Ready to uncover the mystery?

WOW!!!! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the description and cover had me hooked right from the start. This book needs to be turned into a movie or series ASAP! The flashbacks, from Sarah’s POV and others, were incredibly elite, like peeling back layers of a mystery onion. The suspense kept me guessing with so many potential suspects and twists that had me on the edge of my seat. The beautiful setting of Capri added an extra layer of intrigue.

This book has everything—an insane plot, rich characters, and an ending that left me speechless. The writing was top tier, and every page had me wanting more and it was giving! Just wow! 10/10!!!! It's a rollercoaster ride of emotions and mystery that you won’t be able to put down. I promise you!

i really enjoyed this!! a great thrilling story! i will definitely be recommending this to my friends! it was a really great read and im very thankful for this review copy.

saltwater by katy hayes

every year after her moms death the Lingates go to Capri to prove her tragic death an accident. Helen who was young at the time enlists the help of the family assistant to finally figure out what really happened.

I read the cloisters last year by this same author and the strongest part was the setting and I would say the same goes here, the characters are very eh to me as was true for the cloisters but I had a decent enough time to want to continue with saltwater

also similarly to cloisters this ran a bit too long and too slow to start at the beginning. if you don’t like rich people you probably won’t be able to look past many of the characters but I enjoyed Lorna who was just trying to lookout for herself the whole time

overall I enjoyed it. not perfect not horrible. definitely a great summer read or a fun book club pick!

thank you as always to netgalley and penguin/ballantine for the earc to review!

I was attracted to the setting in Saltwater, who can resist the Mediterranean and the Isle of Capri? While this was a bit slow to start, and maybe a tad too long, but I enjoyed the solid writing of this thriller / family drama, which is perfect for your next vacation. Looking foward to what this author may have in store for the future. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Salt Water by Katy Hays
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book 5 of 2025
Thank you @randomhouse @netgalley for this MASTERPIECE. Chefs kiss chefs kiss chefs kiss 🤌🏼 the easiest 5 stars of my life. The setting, the characters and the devilish plot are all so hot! 🥵 makes me wanna take summers in Capri wearing Anthropologie dresses at lavish events. Hays gives so much depth to characters. Lorna may be my favorite. Girl is just looking out for herself in a sea of evil people. The end may have been a little cheesy how things worked out but I would have never guessed things would end up the way they did! Although the cover screams summer read with the hot pink lettering, the colorful Italian backdrop & sexy dark haired mystery girl stepping in the water, it’s 100% a thriller with deception and vanity lurking around every turn. Can’t wait for this book to get published and Hays to get the credit she deserves for this amazing novel!

#Saltwater #NetGalley

A psychological drama that has secrets, mystery, missing people. All set in the world of the rich and elite where things like this are just the normal. A tense but enjoyable. This started out a bit slow but picked up pace and flowed well enough. I would say this is a perfect weekend read.

Saltwater is suspenseful, tense, and intriguing. Lots of surprises and twists along the way add interest even though most of the characters are shallowly developed and quite despicable. Is a quick, entertaining read set in romantic Capri.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for the opportunity to read this ARC.

In 1992 Sarah Lingate was found dead outside the family home on the cliffs of Capri. The family is suspected but the death is called an accident by the authorities. Every year the family, including Sarah's daughter, Helen, return to the home. On the 30th anniversary of Sarah's death the family arrives and finds the necklace that Sarah was wearing the night she died. Helen enlists the help of family assistant Lorna to find a way to escape her family. Before this can happen Lorna disappears. This is enough for the police to reopen the the investigation into Sarah's death. Helen soon becomes aware that all of her family may be suspects in her mother's death. Her controlling father, consistently out of it aunt Naomi, her uncle Marcus, and other friends. To top it off Lorna is also not who she seemed to be.

I had a really good time reading this book. It did take a little while to get to the real meat of the story but once it got going I couldn't put it down. We follow the point of view of multiple characters throughout different timelines. Just when I thought I had things figured out there would be another twist. Most of the characters are morally gray and have their own reasons to keep secrets. The summer in Capri setting would make this the perfect beach read. I enjoyed the mystery and twists. This is my first book from Katy Hays but I would definitely be interested in reading others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Take the screaming popularity of Succession and its rambunctious family of unlimited wealth and power (although here it is not as well defined), add in a gorgeous location and stir with the death 30 years previously of a family member who just so happened to have written a Pulitzer Prize winning play, and voila. Told from multiple POVs and in multiple eras, this should have been a winner. The main trouble is, I didn't feet the characters were well developed enough to be original, and despite several plot twists, could see them coming.

This is a novel different from any I have read before. At first, I found it confusing and not making any sense or connections. As I continued to read, things became clearer as to the plot and mystery. The story will grab you if you can get past the first confusing chapters.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book took me for so many twists and turns - it felt like I was getting whiplash! I was not expecting the end at all and it truly had me on the edge of my seat.

When the ending / twist clicked - I put the book down and and covered my face as I let out a little groan (i guess??) - mostly of excitement because it has been an extremely long time since I read a book that I didn't see the twist coming, sometimes I feel books have too much foreshadowing that it is a dead giveaway to the plot twist at the end - but this one did a stunning job at leaving the reader, truly shocked!

This author knows how to get you hooked and for me, it did take around seven chapters, and a restart to fully get involved in the book but I will dip into that in just a bit!

A part of this book that I loved was how it was separated into two main parts, and the first part left off on a cliffhanger that made you not want to put down the second part, and really get to the bottom of this!

This book will keep you on your toes and lead you making your own theories up in your mind as to what exactly happened between the seemingly perfect family (besides the murder of course)!

When I touched on earlier, saying how it took me a minute to get into the book was simply because there was an introduction to truly so many characters that my brain wasn't computing it right away. I was reading and getting the characters confused, and it truly wasn't making any sense. I put the book down for honestly about a month and a half before I picked it up and tried to start where I left off. I realized I had to restart and so I drove to the beach around me and took a little beach read day and got everything straight in my head and I am so glad I did because this was such an enjoyable book to start off my 2025 with!

If you want a book that will leave you stunned and also make you use your mind to truly get to the bottom of everything... then this is the book for you!

Ooooo…this is good.

What is the Lingate family hiding?

Why do they come back to Capri every year?

The family goes back to make sure nothing new has been found out about Sarah's death.

Did someone kill Helen's mother, Sarah Lingate, or did she have an accident?

Helen lost her mother on the family's vacation in Capri when she was very young, and it has always been recorded as an accident, but was it?

Helen was always kept under strict guard as she grew because the family was afraid she would say something about the incident.

As they do every year, the family is back in Capri and have their assistant Lorna with them.

She and Helen had become friends, and Lorna knew all about how Helen grew up.

What is going to happen this time?

Will Lorna be under scrutiny and close watch now that she is with them? Will she be safe? She isn’t family, but does it matter?

What about the necklace Sarah wore? How could it have been found after thirty years?

And...who sent the necklace to the family at their villa?

What does all this mean?

Find out in this book that details Capri perfectly and makes you want to go there or go back.

And...find out about the secrets and lies kept by this wealthy family.

You won’t want to stop reading - and just wait for the twists. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Saltwater by Katy Hays is a captivating psychological thriller set on the picturesque island of Capri. The story centers around the mysterious death of a playwright in 1992 who married into a wealthy and privileged family. Her cause of death remains unknown—was it suicide, or was she murdered? Through dual timelines and thought-provoking themes, the novel delves into these questions, exploring whether wealth and privilege can shield people from their past indiscretions.

Although the book starts off a bit slow, it gradually builds momentum, skillfully weaving together multiple points of view and timelines. Katy Hays handles the intricate plot and numerous twists with finesse, creating a story that keeps readers guessing.

I particularly enjoyed Hays’ elegant writing style and the surprising twists and turns throughout. The international setting of Capri added an engaging layer to the narrative, offering a refreshing escape into another culture and location for this U.S.-based reader.

If you enjoy thrillers with family drama, secrets, and a richly atmospheric setting, Saltwater is worth diving into.

The beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea. A wonderful island, Capri. A wealthy family with dark secrets. Murder for nearly 30 years ago. And it all crashes together with the daughter of the victim wants answers. To start with, the plot was superb and the ending was so twisty I could never have guessed all the things going on. Readers just accept what they hear - never believe until you have proof. Mostly, it was 20% too long, and I only say this because there were chapters where nothing much happened and it felt slow and repetitive. But the writing was solid, and the characters had some spunk to them. I'd read more by the author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC. Originally I was going to give this book two stars, but the twist bumped it up in the end to three. This story was told in different timelines which I am normally ok with but it just seemed very erratic and hard to follow. It was an ok read…just not spectacular.