Review: Deep Water

Deep Water by Emma Bamford
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery/Scout Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, an honest review is what I have to give. I didn't care for this one. It opened with a fantastic hook, but quickly jumped back in time and then spent countless pages on mundane details like fixing up the boat, sailing, spending time on the water, etc before any of the meat of the story happened.

I feel like this would have been a better hour and a half movie, rather than a book that took more hours than that to read. I also feel like I've seen this movie and read this story before, but executed better.

The only character I found really likeable was Gus, the dog. The rest were either unlikeable or not fleshed out enough to cause me to invest. The setting was good, but was definitely underused, and the details of the history of the island were a huge waste of words. The specific plot "twists" were all predictable.

I did like the "much later" epilogue that closed out the story decently.

Overall, it was a bore with a few random redeeming qualities, such as the setting and the hook. So, two and a half stars rounded down.

View all my reviews