I enjoyed this book. I read this is a first novel for Ms. Steadman. Well, she did a remarkable job. I couldn't put the book down, I needed to know what would happen next. The characters are spot on. A naive young bride and the man she looks up to as her husband. The hardened criminal showing kindness I'm trying to help her. All mesh well to tell the story. The storyline ran smoothly. Awesome book.
5 Stars

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman. A young couple, Erin and Mark, are getting married. They have their stuggles, but things change dramatically when Mark loses his job. The wedding plans change, but they still can go on their honeymoon to Bora Bora. When they are snorkeling, they come across a bag and Mark goes under to see what might be down in the water. He discovers a plane with the passengers on it - and Mark says they are "bad people". They open the bag and discover money, jewels, and usb/phone - and figure out that there is a Russian connection to the bag.
Erin and Mark keep the bag - but nothing comes without a price. Erin and Mark discover that this bag brings a fortune but also a fate. Can they get away with this without anyone discovering who they are......or will they be "found out"...
Really good! Written in first person - Erin - the reader takes the journey in Erin's mind and this takes it to a new level - I really couldn't put this down to find out what was really going on...Recommend.

Received this from NetGalley and the publisher as an advanced reader copy in return for an honest review! It's hard to let you know what this is about, without giving any spoilers. Erin and Mark are newlyweds on their honeymoon. While snorkeling, they find something in the water that will change their lives and their relationship forever. I will be honest, when I first started reading this book, I was not sure I was going to like Erin. When you read the book you will understand. As I kept reading though, I slowly started to understand where things may be going. She did very frustrating things at times, but due to those things, the book kept me on the edge of my seat. Although in my head I said I would never do those things, or my husband wouldn't, if you really put yourself in their place you start to wonder..
I would hope that I would do the right thing. Highly recommend this book for fast-paced suspense! And for those that like their books without bad language and detailed sex scenes, this is also a book for you. I missed neither. I can't guarantee no bad language but I don't recall any.

Erin and Mark are sickeningly happy. The kind of couple that has sex every single day and it's always amazing, who have pet names and miss each other when they're apart, who risk their lives for each other. The kind of couple you hate just because they are so happy.

But you can't always see what's lurking below the surface.

Just as they are starting their lives together as a married couple, they find "Something in the Water" during their honeymoon that changes everything. Thus begins a sequence of events that is as riveting as it is unbelievable. I admit I had to suspend my disbelief in order to get past the fact that some rich Russian thugs were hunting them down AND the police were investigating Erin in connection with terrorism, all while they are opening Swiss bank accounts and selling a bag of diamonds and going about their regular everyday business. Simultaneously. Within the space of a couple of weeks. But, I suppose, "That's the way life works, isn't it—nothing, and then everything at once." Although farfetched, having that many problems all at once makes it more difficult to figure out who the "bad guy" really is.

I found myself cringing at Erin's naiveté and mentally smacking her upside the head for being so dumb/impulsive/thoughtless/secretive/risky. She knew everything she was doing was incredibly stupid, yet she kept chugging along. Turning on the phone was the worst possible thing she could have done...everyone who's watched Law & Order or NCIS knows that. Trusting and confiding in Eddie was a huge gamble. And how did she not realize immediately that Patrick wasn't from the prison? Hell, taking the bag in the first place was far from a brilliant idea. But even I didn't see Mark's betrayal coming until right before Erin realizes it herself.

In the end, everything fit together perfectly: Erin had a perfectly believable explanation, and she didn't have to come clean about the bag or the plane crash or anything they'd done. Everything except Mark. Did he really love her? (He had to have loved her—it's not like she was rich from the beginning, to justify marrying her and then betraying her.) If he did love her, how could he have betrayed her like that? What was his ultimate plan—to kill her, or just disappear with the money, without a trace? When did he come up with this plan—in the middle of their honeymoon? And why did he turn on her out of the blue? It's not like he could have been planning that for the entirety of their relationship, and he couldn't have known anything like that would ever happen. Or did he just decide to seize the opportunity when it presented itself? And if so, why did he even marry Erin at all? Oh, and, one other thing: What the heck was on that flash drive?!

I did find parts of this novel tedious: Erin's long inner monologues (with the same questions over and over), the educational info dumps (the significance of the size of champagne bubbles?), lengthy dialogue with no interruption (no one talks that long without doing something!), the fully transcribed phone conversations (we don't need to hear them from hello to goodbye). That said, it was still an excellent book, one I may have to read again later to pick up on the subtle hints I'm sure I missed before.... and I will definitely pick up Steadman's next book!

I was really disappointed in this book. After the prologue I’d thought I had found another amazing thriller.... but I was wrong.

The entire book just seemed too drawn out, too much happened, and there were too many unnecessary events and details.

It felt like the author tried too hard to mislead us. The ending also fell flat. And while I’m curious about the news event that takes place when the book ends, I don’t plan to get the follow up book if there is one.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The first chapter grabbed the reader by the throat and practically dared you not to keep reading.

This story of a young couple takes place over the course of just a few months, beginning with the wife, Erin, burying her husband in the woods in October and then goes back to July to tell how they got to that point. We follow them through their engagement, marriage and honeymoon in Bora Bora. During this time the husband, Mark, loses his job and we follow Erin as she works producing a documentary about three prisoners about to be paroled from prison. After the couple’s honeymoon, their lives are changed and things really get interesting.

I thought the author did an excellent job with this book. The pacing was fast, the characters were well developed and I especially liked that it was written in the first person, which seemed to add an extra layer of tension to the story.

The book had the potential to be a fast-paced thriller, and for the most part, it kept me entertained. The reader gets to know, Erin, the narrator very well but she has the main flaw of being too curious for her own good and her poor judgment left me frustrated at every dumb stunt she pulls. In this day and age, she should know that smart phones have SIM cards, that they can be tracked via location, yet she still boots it up. Her clumsy efforts to cover up each step she makes are for the most part, ineffective. And it is never really explained why there is so little interest from the perps to finding the bag of goods she and her husband found in the water. (They only wanted back a flashdrive when there were millions in gems and cash to be recovered?)

Plus, why does she trust a prison inmate she interviews for her documentary after only one meeting? She confides in a criminal who has obviously been keeping tabs on her with his outside contacts, which should raise some red flags. Yet she throws all caution to the wind in trusting his associates?

The newlyweds seem very happy and very much in love for most of the book. Yet, we learn very little about Mark, the husband. His motivations in the last part of the book are never explained or make a whole lot of sense. Were these two ever in love to begin with? It just left me confused. Especially when the ending felt rushed, like the author just wanted to wrap it up.

This plot could have seemed a little outlandish, but I felt like the casual narrative tone helped normalize it. It helped build the tension, instead of feeling melodramatic. I like that. I felt invested.

The ending didn’t come as a complete surprise, but there are few other storylines that made me wonder how about their relevancy and whether maybe my initial suspicions would be wrong. They weren’t but there was enough to make me second guess myself along the way. What didn’t turn out to be relevant to the conclusion wasn’t useless though. Everything served a purpose to the story, not just to misdirect the reader.

Yikes. Ending up reading this in one go and stayed up till 3 in the morning. Addicting from the first page and though a bit predictable I was still surprised at the end. Definitely recommend.

The story starts out in the present time, but goes back three months to tell what led to Erin being in the woods digging a grave. Erin and Mark are newlyweds who are very much in love, but dealing with some financial issues. The wedding was planned and mostly paid for, so they get married and go on their honeymoon. Oon this trip they find "something in the water." The something changes everything and the twists begin. While you know the ending pretty much from the beginning, you need to read what led up to the grave digging to really know how you feel about Erin, Mark, and what they find in the water. I am giving this book 3.5 stars rounding to 4.

What a fun book. A tad on the unbelievable side but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this story. A honeymoon, a surprising discovery and characters that you didn’t know whether to trust. It was a quick and satisfying book. I was rooting for Erin and really liked her character through the conclusion. Great book to take along to the beach. Just don’t go scuba diving!

This story starts out grabbing the readers attention and doesn't let go until the end of the novel. Full of drama and excitement, this is the story of Erin and Mark, two newlyweds who make a discovery that changes their lives. The story is part flashbacks to before they were married and continues on in the time after they make their discovery and start to make some interesting life choices. I really enjoyed the suspense of the story and found myself wanting to holler at the main characters more than once for the decisions they make. Thanks netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am going to start by saying that I really enjoyed this book much more than I think I should have given the many issues I have with the story and characters.

The main characters Erin and Mark were not all that likeable but they were kind of weird and dumb at times so they were fun to follow. The idea for the documentary and the characters that went along with it were a little too convenient but great for keeping the story moving and fresh. In general there were some good plot ideas, nothing that was too shocking but it all worked well and made for a fun read.

As I mentioned earlier there were some issues, one big one was that I think Erin is supposed to be smart but boy does she come across as dumbass. She is seemingly and up and coming documentarian but her first interview with Holli made her seem ill prepared and then her relationships with her other two were totally inappropriate if she was going to be objective. She seemed to be kind of flightily in her relationship and at times seemed like it was really based on a sexual attraction. Maybe it was that attraction and a lack of a real bond that kept her from seeing what was going on with her husband and her ongoing need to lie to him.

Again I don’t know why but it all worked for me and I would recommend it to anyone who can let details slid a bit.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House for providing me a copy of Something in the Water for my honest review.

If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?

Erin and Mark are on their dream honeymoon. Two weeks in tropical Bora Bora to celebrate their marriage and temporarily forget the stresses of home. Until they find something during the course of their scuba diving excursion. Something that could change their lives. Something that could end their lives.

I absolutely loved this one. What an incredible debut. The writing grabbed me from the first page and I was instantly addicted. Just one more chapter before I go to sleep. I love the descriptions, from first class in the airplane to the underwater world of the dive site. I could picture this entire novel as it unfolded and felt like I was right there with Erin. You share the tension like you are along for the ride. And boy is there tension. "Oh Goddy, God, God. Why look down? Why? I don't want to look down. I don't want to look down, Mark. I shake my head." I would absolutely love to see a movie made out of this. I spent the whole book yelling at Erin. "Noooooo! Don't do that!" The closer I got to the end, the more frequently I found myself thinking "you idiot!". In the meantime, I will read anything else that Catherine Steadman writes. This was absolutely fantastic.

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publisher for my free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was way better than I had expected it to be, always a good thing. Very well written, great plot, and a host of very interesting and diverse characters. A life changing event for 2 people and the tale of how it affected each of them. Are they in it together or is one going to turn on the other ? You will have to read it to find out !

This book is a slow burn. The prologue is action packed and very intriguing but the beginning of the book is very different. It was a hard adjustment to go back in time before the event we know will happen. If I had known that setup would be worth the payoff it would have been fine, but of course I didn’t so I struggled with about the first quarter of the book. That’s when we finally get to the events in the title and the reason you are thinking of reading this book because of its description. Before that it’s the domestic life of Erin and her fiancée and Erin’s work life. The whole book is told from Erin’s POV. The secondary characters are very well written and I enjoyed the characters who were part of Erin’s documentary. They steal their parts of the book and you will enjoy the side trip even though it is different from the main plot of the story. After you find out what’s in the water the book of course takes a very different turn. As the plot moves forward the action and suspense ramps up until the final end. There is a great payoff in following Erin as the book moves forward. I really enjoyed this book. I was shocked at the end to read the Author’s description and find out this was a debut novel by an actress. I think I would have been wary of this book had I known that but it is so well written I had no idea so don’t hold that against her. I hope she continues her writing career as I’d love to read more.

From the get-go, you know the husband is dead and the wife is burying him, but you don't know why or where. While that sets the tone for the rest of the novel, the second "beginning" is slow-going and frustrating at points. Their honeymoon in Bora Bora revs up the action when they stumble on a crashed plane buried in the ocean, a bag full of money and other questionable commodities. This spirals the husband and wife duo into people they didn't know they were capable of being. It was reminiscent of B.A. Paris' The Breakdown with a touch of a How to Get Away With Murder vibe. Steadman's Something in the Water wouldn't be a novel I'd recommend at first, but if all of your go-to recommendations are checked out, it would work just fine!

This is one of the rare books with an amazing first chapter that instantly pulls the reader in and makes it impossible to not read on. I was excited to keep going and find out how Erin--our main protagonist-- comes to eventually find herself digging that hole. The answer that unfolds was, well, pretty predictable. Sigh.
The book has shades of that movie A Simple Plan to it--where the fantasy of finding a million dollars doesn't quite lead where you'd believe it to in reality; good people turn bad--or were they ever good to begin with? The story isn't bad, it really isn't, but there's that level of predictability--elements and events are introduced that are huge flashing lights to any reader of thrillers, but the author conveniently ignores said flashing lights until she's good and ready to let them be addressed in the story. But. They're. RIGHT. THERE! Through a good portion of this book, I was yelling in my head "What about the thing? The THING you keep mentioning as an afterthought. The THING you're hiding. Why is no one talking about the thing!?" I had the same complaint about dialogue that would be clearly stated and extremely suspicious but instead the author tried to distract attention from those, again, FLASHING lights by going into a two or three page inner monologue/introspection by Erin.
And oh, Erin, Erin... I wish I liked you more! That first chapter had me fooled that I was really going to enjoy reading about this woman and her self referential breaking of the fourth wall. However, this technique became old fast--and never pays off; who is she speaking to and why? Never explained. She's equal parts stupid, naive, entitled, and nuts but it never really came together for me into an interesting character. If this were a horror movie, she's the equivalent of the girl running up the stairs instead of out of the house--she's not the girl you're cheering on, she's the one you're cursing at for being so stupid.
So would I recommend it? Err, see it's hard in the post Gone Girl world. I suppose it all depends on how you like your thrillers--nail-biting or gentle. I'd put this in the later category.

I was swept into this story right at the very beginning. The narrator begins by conversationally describing the effort that it takes to dig a grave. Like she was telling you this story over cocktails. We don't know who is being buried, or why, but we know that a crime has occurred and that she is digging a grave in the woods. This first chapter really drew me in fast.

Erin and Mark are on a romantic, relaxing, and adventurous 2 week honeymoon at the Four Seasons in Bora Bora, one of the most beautiful and luxurious places in the world. They find something in the water when they go on a day excursion, and their lives are never the same after that. I loved traveling to Bora Bora through this book. The author describes the area perfectly, and has an obvious fondness for that part of the world.

This is a book with a strong theme on bad decisions. Erin and Mark's choices were awful, terrible, and never the right ones. It was like a comedy of errors, with many wrong turns. They made me want to scream and yell "WTF!" with frustration, many times. But still I read on, because I wanted to know how this turns out. Even bad decisions usually result in good lessons learned, but alas, this is not the case with Erin and Mark. They keep making poor choices over and over, digging themselves into a literal hole that they can't get out of.

I was mildly disappointed at the ending, because it was something that I least expected. And many of the questions that I had at the beginning were not answered by the last chapter. There were loose ends that weren't addressed or resolved by the end. However, I did like it overall. The writing is good, the pace is rapid, the plot is entertaining, and this is a fast read.

A middle class London documentary producer and her banker husband go on a honeymoon to Bora Bora. While diving they stumble across something that changes both their lives. You read the ending at the beginning - but how did it end up like this? A fascinating read that you won’t be able to put down. One of the best books so far this year. I want more from this author