Erin makes documentaries. Her new spouse Mark is an out of work financial planner. On their honeymoon in Bora Bora the bride and groom find a satchel stuffed with cash and conflict diamonds and after a half hearted attempt to turn it over to authorities they decide to keep it. Bad move? Of course. The bag’s owners are not nice people to say the least. Erin and Mark’s attempts to navigate around them make for interesting reading.

I enjoyed this book, it kept me on the edge of my seat.
I felt like I was in the apartment & being a part of the plan.
It was quick and had great plot twists. I enjoyed getting to know each of the main characters.
Great beach read.

Although the first part kept me interested, I didn't like this book in the end. Seemed formulaic. I had no sympathy for any one in the book. In fact, I didn't LIKE anyone in the book. Seemed to copy too many others.

The story starts out strong and pulls you right in. Erin is digging a grave for a body. And then the story loses me. Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave? Well no need to wonder anymore, the first chapter tells you all you need to know. You learn a bunch of useless facts about digging a grave.

This book is definitely a slow burner. I was struggling to get through the chapters in the beginning. The writing style didn't work for me. There was so much useless detail in this book that could have been left out. Seriously, a whole chapter on flying first class? I also don't need to read the whole Wikipedia definition about something.

The story itself kept me intrigued but it was unrealistic and unbelievable. And Erin was so irritating that I almost didn't finish the book.

I originally was going to rate the book 3.5 stars but after thinking about this review, I had to knock it down 1/2 a star.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy of Catherine Steadman's "Something in the Water" in exchange of an honest review.

Erin marries the lover of her life. With stress heading into the wedding, she is really looking forward to being away from it all for a couple of weeks. Just her, her husband and no worries to speak of. It all goes south after a diving expedition and what they discovered in the water.

Through a series of events Erin becomes increasingly worried. Worried about her future, her safety and about what exactly they stumbled upon in Bora Bora.

A twisting story leaving you not sure who to trust and not sure what the truth is. The author does an amazing job of creating believable characters and a story you won't want to put down.

I was unable to finish reading this novel, unfortunately. The beginning was very compelling, but the narrative lost speed and intrigue quickly. The writing is lovely, but the plot simply wasn’t gripping, and the pacing certainly didn’t live up to the “thriller” billing.

A work of genius. I could not put this down. Author had me grabbed from page 1. Characters are amazing. Cant wait for the next one from this superb author!




sent to amazon as barth gimbal

It was exhausting being inside Erin’s (the narrator’s) head. She examined thoughts, possibilities, probabilities, everything in minute detail. The one thing she never examined nor doubted was her love for her new husband, Mark, and there’s the rub. The ending is perfectly told in the first chapter. How we get to that point is laid out in forty subsequent chapters each subtitled to give the reader a glimpse into what to expect.

It is a big year for Erin. She has obtained funding for her first solo project, a documentary following three prisoners during and after incarceration. Her upcoming wedding to Mark; everything seems to be “at a magical point”. Maybe not. Mark loses his job as an investment banker for an undisclosed reason. No severance, bad economic timing, no job prospects, limited savings and a mortgage on his only asset, his house. They minimize the situation, downsize the wedding, shorten the honeymoon and everything will be fine. Off to Bora Bora for their honeymoon and when something goes “thunk, thunk, thunk’ in the water the downward spiral begins. Now the beguiling question of whether something is flotsam or jetsam begins to define everything, the truth, the lies, the deception, the fear, the idiocy of all of it. It would be too easy to add more but they would all be spoilers.

The tension is at all times handwringing tense. The characterizations and their circumstances are spot on. This book is a true testament to “How quickly what is good can become not good enough through comparison.” There are no altruists in these pages just varying levels of greed and for me that’s the rub.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC

Well, I didn't see that coming.!!! Erin and Mark are a newly married couple who seem to love each other very much.. Erin is a filmmaker doing a documentary on prisoners about to be released from the system and Mark has a decent job as an investment banker. They are looking forward to their honeymoon in Bora Bora even though Mark recently lost his job and Erin's documentary is in the works. What happens on their trip during a scuba diving excursion is going to change their lives and have you questioning what you would do if you were in their situation. Lots of surprises in this book, but I had a hard time liking either protagonist. So that's why I'm only giving it 3 stars.

Mark and Erin have a wonderful life. Mark is a rich banker and Erin makes documentaries. Right before they get married, Mark loses his job and financial security. They still go on a beautiful honeymoon where they discover a secret. This is a debut novel written by the actress that plays Mabel Fox on Downton Abbey. It’s a great, twisty easy read that I really enjoyed.

This book took me a little while to read as it starts out with Erin digging a hole and it takes a while to get to the point where we could follow along and understand. I will say that after that first chapter it does go back in time to show us what has happened leading up to the point where the book started. Erin. and her husband Mark are the main characters in this book and we are provided with what has been going on in their lives and we can see what they do to overcome daily struggles.

This book was sooo good! The first chapter kept me intrigued and I couldn't wait to find out the story behind it. Sometimes it was a little predictable and the main character did some stupid things, but I would highly recommend it if you love a good thriller.

I had a hard time with the first quarter of the book. I wanted to put it aside, put the sheer curiosity of what was in the water kept me going. Well, once that was revealed, I couldn't put the book down and read the remaining 3/4 of the book in an afternoon! Everything was snowballing and I had to know the answers!

★2 / 5 ★

Something In The Water starts with a pretty gripping prologue. Straight up, it sets you up to believe the whole book is going to be this super thrilling and interesting story—and it’s just not. I enjoyed the prologue on how difficult it is to bury a body at night (creepy and intriguing, right?) Well, that’s pretty much the only part that's exciting. The rest, to me, wasn't. Therefore, I give the prologue a rating of 3.5 stars and the rest of the book 2 stars.

Since this is an ARC, I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just focus on the writing and pace of the story. Two things that weren’t as good as they could've been. Again, the writing in the prologue was fine, however once the actual story began I didn’t like it anymore. In simpler terms, the prologue felt like it was written by someone else entirely; that’s how different it felt. Meaning the writing (after the prologue) wasn’t polished and I couldn’t connect to anything or anything—making me not too interested. That, in addition to a predictable plot and predictable pace and everything predictable … well, obviously didn’t help the rating.

Also, the whole story of finding this money and gold wasn’t as interesting as I thought it could’ve been… though, I will say some parts were OK (where the writing felt smooth and the dialogue was good), which is this wasn’t a 1 star. That, and how I didn’t DNF this—so it held my attention somewhat.

Overall, this is a poorly written review (sorry) … I feel like saying this is a “me thing,” because I’ve seen lot of good ratings for this book. So I guess, if you like thrillers maybe give this one a shot?

A tense entertaining read about how life choices have domino effects.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2391329715

Enjoyed this fast paced read. Just what I needed for a new thriller fix. Crime, betrayal, unexpected friendship and lines in the sand you didn't know were crossable. Wow. Good read!

Unfortunately, Something in the Water did not work for me. I really didn't enjoy the characters and the narrative structure. I know many people will enjoy this thriller, especially if you are drawn to narratives that move along non-linearly and relationship based conflicts.

This was a really good read. I enjoyed the mystery, the twists, the psychological terror.
I hardly find a psychological thriller that actually makes me worry, bite my nails, and tremble in my seat. This book was all of that. It really had me is some horrible suspense.

Erin and Mark are on their honeymoon. They have planned their wedding and honeymoon for months now and things fell apart a bit for the wedding. Things had to change when money became an issue. They decided to take their honeymoon as planned. While on honeymoon many things happen, the most important is what they found when they were scuba diving. This can change their lives forever. The only issue, danger comes with it. A danger that can kill them. This event that happened on their honeymoon seems to put stress on their new marriage and things just seem to go all wrong.


This was a very good read. It did start off a little slow for me. Maybe not slow enough to keep me uninterested. The story was building around Mark and Erin. The kind of life they lived, the way the felt for each other, the worries that seem to surround them. The mystery was a bit to take off. It seemed to take a bit to get to their honeymoon and the thing they find. The entire premise of the book is wrapped around this event, to me, it seemed to take longer than I would want to get to this event. That is okay though because once it did the story just took off and I couldn't put it down.

The story was interesting, the mystery riveting, but really had me on edge was the suspense. I just didn't know what was going to happen. To be honest for the second half of the book I was just always on edge waiting for something to jump out at me and scream BOO. It's been a while since a book has done this to me. The author did an excellent job of freaking me out for sure.

I didn't quite connect to the characters as I would have liked. I liked Erin well enough. The story is told from her point of view and I was able to get to know her. She made some bad choices and seemed to have some deeper issues, but I liked her and I was rooting for her.

Mark, I didn't really feel at all. I guess I just couldn't because I couldn't get into his head. I couldn't understand him or get a good feel for him. He seemed to just be there at times. In the end, I guess this wasn't an issue since the story felt more like Erin's story really.

The only issue besides the slow start that I had a hard time with was the ending. There were some things that just weren't wrapped up for me and I had so many questions at the end. I feel there were loose ends. I needed to know who the bad guys were and what they wanted. I didn't get this. But there was closure for Erin and Mark's story. So that was good.

I can say the ending was exciting and I was panicky and shocked and everything I like to feel in an ending to a thriller. So that was good. The story was also full of twists and turns. This part of a psychological thriller was fulfilled.

Really this was a very good read and it hit all the major points for me.





Loved It!

Wow… just wow is how I would describe this book. From the first opening page to the very last page of the book, it held my attention. I really loved this psychological thriller and I would label it a true psychological/suspense thriller for me. I loved the opening of the book… as it starts off going to almost the ending of the book, then jumps back to the beginning of Erin’s story right before she married Mark. There are so many different twists and turns in this book. The main character Erin (was very likable) and her husband Mark (he was okay, but not so likable). As you got deeper into the book, I kept saying to myself “no, no don’t do that, how naïve/stupid can you be?” The story was unique, flowed great and kept building up and getting better with each page. I read the eBook version, and because I didn’t have a lot of free time to read, I decided to buy the audible book so I could listen to it when I couldn’t read. The Audible narrator was absolutely perfect, I can't believe it was the author reading it herself. The ending blew me away… I so didn’t see that ending coming!
So far this is my favorite book I’ve read this year. I got lost in the story, and I was sad when it came to an end. (It left me wanting more, and that’s a good book for me).

This is the first book I’ve read by Catherine Steadman, and I look forward to reading more of this same genre from her. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good psychological/suspenseful thriller. It’s great to read or listen to the audible version. It’s definitely one credit worthy, and I would buy the book for a friend that enjoys psychological thrillers. I thought it was that good.

*A very special thank you to Random House–Ballantine via NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review*

This has the potential to be a great novel but the characters were undeveloped, unbelievable, and unsympathetic. It’s so hard to love a character who’s actions are just continuously unrealistic. That, coupled with some of the weird twists in the plot line, made it more difficult to digest this book. The idea is great and the writing is good, but the direction the story took as well as the unlikeable characters made it hard to read.