A wealth family, luxurious living, the island of Capri, secrets, keeping appearances, death- should make for the perfect thriller.
But…. Saltwater is a dual timeline mystery/thriller with lots of surprises. It begins with the unsolved death of Sarah Lingate in 1992, while vacationing with the family on Capri.. The reader also meets her daughter, Helen, 30 years later in the current timeline. Helen was only three when her mother died. The details of the beautiful island and people that live and vacation there were so vivid, I almost could see it all.
The LIngate family is full of secrets- how did Sarah die, why don’t they talk about her, why has Helen been secluded her whole life and where does their money come from? The big question is why do they return every year to the same place Sarah died, and not even talk or celebrate her?
The family is back on Capri for their annual holiday. Helen brings her friend/ employee Lorna with her. Their plan is to find out what exactly happened to Sarah on the night she died. But then Lorna goes missing.
This book had so much potential, and I loved the ending!!! However, I was so confused in the first half or so. I was constantly going back to help clarify timelines, characters, etc. Dual timelines usually work for me, but not in this case.

Thank you to Random House, Ballantine and NetGalley for this digital ARC.

Sarah Lingate’s family have their hands full years after her body was discovered. New lies and twists unfold with the family as they try to uncover what really happened to Sarah. The writing held my attention captive as it navigates through different point of views of past and present. If you’re looking for a crazy thriller that takes place in the most beautiful setting of Capri, this is the book for you!!

Requested this book for the beautiful cover and location. It did not hit for me the way I wanted, sadly. The family drama was an interesting saga, but I didn’t love the narrators.

The cover (and all the chatter about this one) drew me in, unfortunately it just didn’t keep me interested at all. I love a good vacation setting, but I just didn’t care about the characters at all. I would read a chapter and then have to read it again because I forgot it all. I ended up DNFing at about the 40% mark. The reviews seem to be mostly positive, so I may go back and try again, but it wasn’t for me right now.

3⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for an advanced copy of Saltwater.

In 1992 Sarah Lingate was found dead on the island of Capri. Everyone thought her husband murdered her but they were never able to prove it. The family still goes to Capri every year to remember her. Her daughter Helen has been very sheltered by her family since then and even now as a woman in her 30s she still does not have a life of her own. She is determined to learn more about her mother but when another body is found that has ties to the Lingate family they may not be able to get out of this one.

I was really enjoying the book and the plot and the characters up until the end of the book it just seemed way too ridiculous for me.

I love a good dysfunctional rich family murder mystery/drama. It kept me on my toes and would have never guessed the end! I really enjoyed the multiple POV’s, which is always fun!

When I first started this book, I got a few chapters in and couldn't get into it. Picked it up a week or so later and it still felt draggy and I don't know...stilted might be a good description for it. I love a good family drama and a psychological who done it but this wasn't grabbing me. I put it aside again. I am no quitter and don't like to DNF a book so I picked it up again yesterday when it was at about 10%. I kept going and it finally started to click and I couldn't stop reading until I finally knew who did what. The author did a great job of leaving the tiniest of breadcrumbs that allowed you to figure things out (I'll be honest, I missed them lol until I went back to re-read certain portions. What I felt, in the beginning, was much too wordy or too much "background" turned out to be more important than I thought and several twists and unexpected outcomes had me truly happy and cheering at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House – Ballantine for providing an ARC for review.

Saltwater is a mystery novel surrounding the immensely wealthy Lingate family. The disappearance of a family friend/assistant (outsider) named Lorna is juxtaposed against the death of Sarah Lingate from thirty years prior. The story focuses on how wealth and social status can be both liberating and restraining, particularly when the power of generational wealth is leveraged against other family members to maintain posterity. For instance, Helen has lived a very privileged life filled with private education, expensive holidays and luxury shopping. However, her family weaponizes her inability to access her family funds and keeps her on a tight leash. She goes only travels where and when she is given permission to do so. Her partner was chosen and approved for her by her aunt. The story further explored how people with power and privilege will close ranks when their resources are threatened, particularly by those that the family considers as ‘other,’ such as Lorna and Helen’s mother, Sarah.

There’s a lot I enjoyed with this book. The setting feels rich, and the family dynamics are realistically messy and complicated. I will say that the number of plot twists at the end felt gratuitous, and the suspension of disbelief required at the end was too much. Also, I feel that there was a particular plot point that went underexplained, and it would have been satisfying to find out more. However, I would still recommend this and very much enjoyed myself while reading it.

Fell for the cover, stayed for the setting! I enjoyed this twisty tale of rich people behaving badly on the island of Capri with deadly consequences. The story centers around the Lingate family, who has been vacationing on the island of Capri for ages, even after the wife of the younger Lingate brother, Richard, was found dead on the cliffs below during a trip in the early 90s, only a few years after the birth of her daughter, Helen.

The family is back on Capri for their vacation and Helen is all grown up now, in her thirties, but the incident comes back to haunt the family in the form of the necklace Sarah was wearing when she died, thought to be lost at sea

The story changes between multiple POVs, starting with Helen and her uncle Marcus’ assistant Lorna in the present day, and flipping back to that fateful summer of 1992 in Sarah’s POV.

I found the beginning to be a bit chaotic and confusing, which is often the case when I don’t trust the narrator, but as the pieces started to come together in part two it got better and I blew straight through the latter part in a day as the twists started coming.

This escapist thriller with its lush cover would be perfect for the beach bag this summer! Quick and full of drama and intrigue.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballantine Books for sending this DRC for review consideration.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and suspenseful. The ending I would have never guessed. Overall, this is a winner and I can highly recommend it.

People with money who have skeletons in their closet are what this story is about.. Every year they go to Capri where Helen's mother died after falling over a cliff. Everyone thinks her father did it but it has been classified a suicide. Helen feels trapped within her family. When a necklace that belonged to her mother turns up, Helen sees and opportunity to escape her controlling family. What are the secrets that everyone in this family is hiding.
This is a book with many twists and turns. You will find yourself trying to figure out if this was a murder and has the same thing happened again. By the end everything is solved but some of it is a surprise for the reader. I enjoyed that the story kept the reader guessing even when I thought I knew what was going on. I would recommend reading this book.
Thank you to #NetGalley, @hetkatyhays, and #BallantineBooks for a copy of this book.
#SaltWater

As the daughter of the wealthy Lingate family looks for answers to her mother's death many lives will be changed. In her search,h she and a friend decide to blackmail her family as they suspect they know who killed her mom 30 years ago. One will lose their life and the other will lose everything in her quest for the truth and a way out. As the two stories years apart come together the secrets of the past collide with the secrets of the present. This novel started slow but as the characters developed it all came together. The characters are very well designed and the plot is very believable. The ending was interesting as I did not expect Helen to do what she did. A nice relaxing who done it novel by Katy Hays.

Saltwater by Katy Hays is a mystery drama with some thriller elements. This is a busy thriller about a rich and dysfunctional family with so much happening. Many twists after twists. But in the same book felt incredibly slow.

This story was presented from the past and present and some parts felt repetitive, too many incredibly similar characters to keep track off. I found it hard to seperate who was who.

Oh well, this wasn't my sort of book. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book, there is so much happening that you can get a head spin but I couldn't connect with the story or characters.
I had no interest in who and why someone was kiIIed and every twist came as "Oh well who cares". I tried really hard but it didn't work for me.

At the same time, I know there will be a lot of readers who will love it! As I said there is so much happening! You will love the gorgeous setting! Just beautiful! You will have a feeling that you have been there!

I definitely recommend giving it a go!

In 1992 Sarah Lingate was found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Every year the family returns to prove they have nothing to hide. On the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death mysterious things start to happen. Someone knows something but who and what?

I loved the Cloisters by Katy Hays so I was so excited to read this. Unfortunately it fell flat and I gave up around 30%. The multiple POVs across multiple timelines got confusing. And I didn’t feel engaged with any of the characters. Thanks Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC.

“There’s something romantic about the way Capri seems to be constantly falling into the sea. And perhaps something a little threatening about it, too. The ground always shifting.”

On glittering Capri, anything can be a mirage. And no one holds a grudge like family.

Italy and the island of Capri are some of my favorite places on earth, and reading this book was like revisiting it at times. But, unfortunately, that’s where the enjoyment ended. I pushed through but I could have dnf’d at about 30%.

The mystery only really grabbed my interest at the very end. For the majority of the book I wasn’t really connecting with the characters and thus I wasn’t rooting for them or even really concerned about what was happening.

Thank you anyway to Netgalley, Random House, and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A captivating, atmospheric, and suspenseful thriller! I did not want to put this down. Set on the beautiful and luxurious island of Capri, this book touches on the realities and dangers of family loyalty and wealth. For fans of Succession or White Lotus.

This is a well written story, but there isn't one character that wasn't conniving, and each had their own agenda. None of them were likeable. It is a dark story set on the island of Capri. There is a 30-year-old murder, and the family keeps coming back to the island just to show everyone that they were not responsible for the murder. This time they bring an assistant with them that has a few secrets of her own. It was a bit too dark for my taste, but like I said, it is well written.

Katy Hays’s latest novel, Saltwater, is a story about the Lingate family – they are rich, powerful, and manipulative family, and house a lot of dark secrets. Every year the Lingate family spend a summer holiday on the Isle of Capri but in 1992 tragedy happens, Sarah Lingate is found dead at the bottom of the cliffs leaving behind her three year old daughter Helen and husband Richard. Was it suicide or murder? On the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death the Lingate family along with Marcus Lingate’s assistant, Lorna, arrives on Capri and find a surprise waiting for them – Sarah’s missing necklace that she was wearing the night she died. In an attempt to resolve the mystery, surrounding her mother’s death, Helen engages Lorna to help but then Lorna goes missing guaranteeing another investigation .. on both Sarah’s death and Lorna disappearance.

Saltwater had a great premise; Katy Hays’s creates an interesting and atmospheric feel. What’s not to love - the Isle of Capri and what’s not to hate but a rich, pretentious and highly dramatic family where someone just might be a murder. What did not work for me were the multiple timelines – I found them hard to follow, very slow paced, making the first seventy percent of the book not entertaining. I did feel that Hays pulled off an ending not only I did not see coming but had multiple twist.

If you are someone that likes a slow paced murder mystery thriller with lots of family drama – you might enjoy this but it just was not my jam.

Thank you, Katy Hays, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on March 25, 2025.

Part family drama, part thriller, <i>Saltwater is a tale of rich people behaving badly. Set on the beautiful Isle of Capri, the Lingate family returns every summer to party. Underneath it all is a 30 year old mystery-what happened to Sarah Lingate? Her now 30 year old daughter would like to know. On this trip, she discovers the necklace her mother was wearing when she plunged to her death into the sea. Cue the mysterious music... it's too bad this wasn't as crisply written as it should have been. Instead, the narrative meanders through a word soup, taking its time to settle on a point. This has been a complaint of mine about a few books I've read this year! I loved the plot, the setting, and the twists. I didn't see that ending coming! It seems ready-made for a mini-series! 3.5 stars rounded up.

My first 5 star read of the year 🤩 SALTWATER is going to be the thriller of the summer! With its Italy setting on Capri, it’s got those summery vibes we all love 🫶🏻

Quick thoughts:
🇮🇹 Italy setting
🤯 completely unexpected ending
💰 wealthy family with unlikeable characters

I loved loved loved SALTWATER. I thought I had it all figured out & NOPE. Hays really left those twists until the very end. I always enjoy reading about the wealthy & this book was no exception for me. Thank you to Ballantine Books for the egalley! Highly recommend it for all my thriller lovers! 🏖️