This book was good, but not great. It dragged somewhat in the beginning before finally picking up speed - i think it was because so many people and places got mentioned that it was slightly confusing, and that slowed the story down somewhat. But overall a good story and I'm glad they found the killer. 3.5/5 stars

This book read like fiction, but it is nonfiction! The author’s writing style kept me engaged! Definitely recommend!

This was so well-written! You can't get any closer to the story than to have the victim's sister write it. I can't believe how hard that must have been, but I thank you for taking us on your journey to solve the deaths of your brother and his girlfriend. The storyline is intriguing. It is also appalling how difficult it was for the authorities to do anything about this. I realize that we were dealing across many different jurisdictions and in the era before internet, fax, and email, but still. I can only imagine the frustration you felt. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime (along with some international intrigue). Thank you net galley and Diversion Books for an advance copy in return for an unbiased review.

Publisher’s description: “In 1978, two tortured corpses—hooded, bound, and weighted down with engine parts—were found in the sea off Guatemala. Junior doctor Chris Farmer and his girlfriend, Peta Frampton, were still clinging to life when they were thrown from the yacht they’d been crewing.

“Here is the gripping account of how Chris's family worked alongside police, the FBI, and Interpol to gather evidence against the boat’s Californian skipper, Silas Duane Boston. Almost four decades later, in 2015, Chris’s sister, Penny, used Facebook to track down Boston. Following the detailed, haunting testimony of his own two sons—who also implicated their father in a string of other killings—Boston was finally arrested and charged with two counts of maritime murder.

“A story of homicide on the high seas, Dead in the Water is also a tale of a family’s fortitude and diligence in tracking down a monster.”

Penny Farmer’s “Dead in the Water” is a tragic story of a brutal double murder that took much too long to solve. Occurring at a time without the Internet and when long-distance, international calls were expensive and difficult, the author’s family waited nearly 40 years to understand what happened. The story is sad and gruesome. That said, I almost didn’t bother to read past 30% or so.

I don’t read true crime very often, but I will read a story that grabs me. I have read about Manson and the Zodiac. I love watching crime-solving television shows and movies. This had all the elements of something that would grab my interest, but the writing style was just too hard to get past. Understanding that this was probably extremely cathartic for the author, I had to force myself to finish. I get the sense that she really wrote it for herself, and I found it difficult to read because it was not written well.

I wanted to hear Chris and Peta’s story. While we got pieces of their correspondence, I think the book would have been better taken almost chronologically. Let the audience read the letters and “hear” the tapes they sent. It felt like we didn’t get to know Chris and Peta because the author just told us what they were like. She broke the classic rule of writing: show, don’t tell.

I’m giving this two stars because it is an interesting story about a case where no one in law enforcement took control. It’s mind-boggling to me how much this case was bungled over the years. But the writing just blew it for me. I had a very hard time staying on track to finish this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Books for an advance digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

A young couple is brutally murdered while island hopping. Forty years go by before their family finds out what really happened. Horrifying, however the most chilling part is that the psychopath’s young sons witnessed the whole thing and many other horrors including severe beatings and threats to kill them. I don’t know how they grew up to be “normal”. The book was interesting but a little slow at times. I think it could be edited down a bit more. The passages in the words of Russell and Vincent (the sons) were riveting. I recommend this one to fans of true crime.

A quick, sad read about two people whose lives were cut terribly short, and the fallout from their deaths over the decades that have since passed.

Dead in the Water: My Forty-Year Search for My Brother's Killer

This is the new edition which has been updated for the US release. I read the original UK edition in August 2018 and you can find my original review for the first book below- 

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2660120064

I recommend this for real true crime readers as it is well written and researched since the author is an experienced journalist. Meet Penny and learn of her family's decades-long heartbreak and grief behind this incredible tale. Besides this being such a riveting story to follow, although gritty at points, there are still some things happening in regards to the story and you will find them added in this new edition. I don’t give many books 5 stars, so that’s saying something I hope. Thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penny Farmer along with the publisher for the eARC copy.

While reading this book, all I could think about is “this is a true story, and not fiction”. My heart goes out to the families of Chris and Peta. I can’t imagine the pain they endured over the years. It is amazing though the info they were able to collect before we had internet for research purposes. This book truly touched my heart.

Thank you to Netgalley, 88 and 88 for the digital ARC in return for my unbiased review.

Here the blurb as they write it better than I do! :)

In 1978, two tortured corpses—hooded, bound, and weighted down with engine parts—were found in the sea off Guatemala. Junior doctor Chris Farmer and his girlfriend, Peta Frampton, were still clinging to life when they were thrown from the yacht they’d been crewing.

Here is the gripping account of how Chris's family worked alongside police, the FBI, and Interpol to gather evidence against the boat’s Californian skipper, Silas Duane Boston. Almost four decades later, in 2015, Chris’s sister, Penny, used Facebook to track down Boston. Following the detailed, haunting testimony of his own two sons—who also implicated their father in a string of other killings—Boston was finally arrested and charged with two counts of maritime murder.

a true crime story of a family's fight for the truth, well written on the whole but very repetitive in facts that either could have been collated better or explain better from the outset.
still a story worth reading.


Follow my reading life and reviews in squares over on by Instagram @booksandemma
https://www.instagram.com/booksandemma/

Thanks to Diversion Books and Netgalley for the Advance Reader Copy of this true crime title. It was pretty good. It is certainly a captivating story and a sad one. The writing was fair I thought, with a lot of repetition of facts, which resulted in a book that was probably longer than it needed to be. It will be of interest to true crime fans.

: Dead In The Water
Author : Penny Farmer
Genre: Nonfiction- true crime
Netgalley ARC
pages 288
Book synopsis
In July 1978, two bodies were discovered in the sea off Guatemala. They were found to be the remains of Chris Farmer and his girlfriend Peta Frampton, two young British graduates. Having been beaten and tortured, then thrown, still alive, into the sea, their bodies had been weighted down and dumped from the yacht on which they had been crewing. For nearly forty years, no one was charged with these brutal murders.

This is the shocking and compelling story of how Chris's sister, Penny, and her family tracked down his and Peta's killer. For decades they painstakingly gathered evidence against Silas Boston, the yacht's American owner, working alongside police in the UK and the USA, as well as the FBI, until he was finally arrested and charged with two counts of murder in 2016. Astonishingly, Penny was able to track down Boston's son, whose bravery in testifying against his own father was the key to bringing down Chris and Peta's killer after so many years.

Dead In The Water is the story of a murder almost unimaginable in its cruelty and one ordinary woman's unwavering determination to find justice for her brother.

My thoughts
rating: 5
would I recommend it: yes
Why : because its a story that needs to be read
Feeling mixed emotions right now, sad that it took almost 40 years for this case to be closed and for the families to find out what happened and get the justice for their last ones, but also angry that instead of getting the justice the families deserved the killer took the easy way out and dead of natural causes even if he was in custody, its a story that must be told and read , with that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it in exchange for my honest opinion.

All the way through this book, you can feel the families pain and sorrow. Written by Penny Farmer, who is the sister of Chris Farmer, this book is a harrowing read. It stayed with me for a long time after I finished reading it.
The murders of Chris and Peta were so cruel and heartless, and it was such a waste of two promising lives.
A parent's worst nightmare.

Wow - written by the sister of a murder victim, this book documents the families search for the truth after a young couple mysteriously stops sending letters during their international travels in the 1970s. The case only concludes in 2017 and highlights the difficulties of interagency homicide investigations. I'm not really a fan of "true crime" but this book was impossible to put down!

dead in the water by Penny Farmer.
this was a great read it was very moving in places and I was close to tears in places too. very hard to put down. 5*.