Something In The Water by Catherine Steadman
(Format used for this read: Print–paperback)
Prepare to be shocked yall…..
I suggested a PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER for our monthly book club pick.
Say WHHAAAAATTTT?!?!
I know….I even shocked my dang SELF with this one!
Here is why though….our past two picks have been very heavy, serious books…one read just like a textbook and one was super long and drawn out and borrrrrring.
We needed something TOTALLY different to shake things up…something purely entertaining and complete OPPOSITE of what we had been digesting.
A friend on base moved this past spring and passed along some of her reads to me….this was in the stack.
I was glancing thru my “to be read” pile on my bookshelf (there are A LOT…because I have had quite the problem purchasing books online during this pandemic….books and cases of wine have been my downfall 🤣…which I guess may not be too far away from prepandemic life actually…) and I was looking for a few interesting books to bring along to last month’s book club meeting as suggestions for our next read.
I found this one and thought….hmmmm…why did I even keep this?!? This ain’t my jam AT ALL.
I do NOT like to be scared….thrillers are NOT my thing.
I don’t mind a good ol’ mystery every now and then…but thrillers that mess with your mind and make you kinda jumpy when you hear a loud noise in the middle of the night….naawwwww they are usually a HARD PASS for me.
But every other person in my book group enjoys them. (I did have ONE group member–Sara– who resisted scary of any way, shape or form with me…and she moved away recently 😪 WE MISS YOU GIRL!)
I am all about community though… and every now and then I will suck it up and take one for the team….because I am nice and I love my book club 😁
I texted two of my friends in the group who also participate in a “scary” book club–where they read all the books me and Sara wouldn’t LOL–to see if they had read this one before.
They said no….and got SUPER interested….and also were like “Wait….are YOU suggesting this for Read the Damn Book Club???????” (yes, that is the actual name of our group—and our only singular rule for people to participate 😂….and YES we absolutely mean it!!!)
So I brought it to our group meeting…everyone was excited for something totally different this month….and we said “Let’s do it.”
And I thought in my head “WHAT DID I JUST DO HERE?!?”
Here is the official summary:
“If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?
Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. . . .
Could the life of your dreams be the stuff of nightmares?
Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .
Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave?
Wonder no longer. Catherine Steadman’s enthralling voice shines throughout this spellbinding debut novel. With piercing insight and fascinating twists, Something in the Water challenges the reader to confront the hopes we desperately cling to, the ideals we’re tempted to abandon, and the perfect lies we tell ourselves.”
The first sentence of the first chapter was “Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave?”
And I was like “DAMN IT. Seriously….DANI WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!?”
I had no idea what was awaiting me on the pages….and I was NOT really wanting to find out!
But I have to admit….it kept me interested the whole time.
I don’t think it was extremely well written–which kinda bugged me.
I think the author was trying to be more conversational in how she wrote using Erin’s voice and point of view. Erin is a documentarian and I think her goal in writing the way she did was to almost give you the vibe of her own documentary as she tells her story. It kinda worked…and yet also irritated me at the same time. I felt like this could have been done better—in a not so choppy, more descriptive way.
Something else that irritated me was the “dumb scary movie” decisions that were made thru the ENTIRE book.
You know how when you’re watching a scary movie (I admittedly haven’t watched one in YEARS….surprise surprise…but go with me on this…) and you watch a character make an EXTREMELY dumb decision that would NEVER HAPPEN in real life?
For instance….running TOWARDS an unknown sound to “check and see” what it is….double checking to see if the zombie/murderer/etc is REALLY dead…groups splitting up in haunted houses….jumping into a car to escape whatever they are running from and NOT checking the backseat first….
And you’re like yelling at the screen saying “DO NOT DO THAT!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?”
(OMG just typing that mess made me freaked out and made me remember exactly why I DO NOT LIKE SCARY STUFF, YALL)
So yeah…THOSE kind of decisions…there were plenty of those in this book.
In one instance, there is a mysterious duffle bag and a cell phone….and I screamed inside my head multiple times “WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!? NO GROWN ADULT WITH COMMON SENSE WOULD DO THAT!!!!!”
But I guess that is one of the points of a thriller…..to rile up your adrenaline to keep you interested.
I did think the book was a TAD predictable….I figured out one of the main plot twists fairly early on…and there were definitely a few “Lifetime” movie moments sprinkled throughout.
While I don’t know I would say I truly liked this book, I am glad I read it when I did. Our group needed something to shake us up a bit and I think it worked efficiently! I’ll find out for sure when we get together next to discuss.
This book wasn’t really “scary” like horror movie scary…. it did have some violence but there was nothing super graphic or excesssive….and it didn’t keep me up at night listening for weird sounds downstairs…
So in that aspect it wasn’t that bad…..I wasn’t too freaked out.
Even though you can kinda see what is coming, it is still an exciting read.
If you’re already a fan of these types of books, you would probably TOTALLY be into this.
If you usually shy away from these like I do, I think maybe you should jump outta your reading comfort zone like I did and give it a chance.
You never know what could happen.