I was approved to receive an early copy of Saltwater. The blurb said it’s “Succession meets The White Lotus by way of Lucy Foley’s The Guest List. Rich people behaving badly, family secrets, the sunshine of Capri…. There’s so much to sink your teeth into here.” I haven’t gotten around to watching Succession yet but I love White Lotus and Lucy Foley so I had to accept.

I think the story had potential but it was quite slow, which made it hard for me to get into the story. It’s only 336 pages but it’s seemed way longer. It didn’t get interesting until the end.

Once it’s published, I’ll give the audiobook a try to see if it’s any better.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC.

It took me a while to get through the first half of Saltwater but only a couple days to read the second half. I was quick to say yes to the option of getting to read Saltwater before release via NetGalley, because the plot sounded intriguing- family drama, lavish vacation on a beautiful island, a decades old murder mystery reopened... sounded great. The first half of the book just went really slow for me. I kept going because I did want to know what would happen but the build up just wasn't moving enough for me for a while. That being said, once I hit about the halfway point, I couldn't put it down. It got twisty and turny and I found myself never wanting to pause at the end of a chapter. The twists at the end were awesome. Even though it started slow for me, it ended so well I give it four stars, because I would read another book by the author, Katy Hays.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the digitial ARC.

Such a fun twisty thriller. Saltwater is filled with family drama, love, and the mystery of a death. As the secrets unravel and the truth is revealed! This book had me hooked from the beginning wanting to know what happened and what was next. I never expected the twists!

Saltwater by Katy Hays immediately transported me to Capri and the Amalfi coast! The food, wine, villas and yachts had me hooked!

Lorna is working for the Lingates. A wealthy family riddled with secrets— especially surrounding the mother’s death years ago. Was it murder or an accident?

I loved Katy Hays debut— and couldn’t wait to pick up Saltwater. This is the perfect summer read to keep you turning the pages and also transported to Capri and the Amalfi coast (which I think is the most magical place on earth)! I can’t wait to read whatever Katy Hays writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy of this book!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"Saltwater" by Katy Hays was a slow burn mystery that was told in dual timelines from multiple characters. This book will keep you guessing until the very end.
I would definitely read another book by Ms. Hays.

A mystery set in Capri, where the Lingate family vacations every year. It’s also where Sarah Lingate died, and now her daughter is trying to find out what led to her mother’s death.

The premise is interesting but I felt it meandered for the first half and I struggled to keep reading. Some of the details were easy to figure out and there are a couple twists at the end that keep things interesting.

It’s a solid 3/5 stars for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the arc.

Give me a good thriller or mystery, and I can generally just rip right through it. This started off so slowly that I had to drag myself to finish it. The characters, for the most part, were entirely despicable, spoiled and unrelatable. Helen, whose mother died when she was a child, is somewhat sympathetic because her rich family cordoned her off so thoroughly from reality, yet she doesn’t really rebel. Her friend, Lorna, is hired as an administrative assistant, had a rough upbringing, and so she generates a bit of sympathy as well. Mostly this is simply rich people behaving poorly.

I didn’t care for the style of the writing. The voices of the four main female characters were basically identical. Even with each chapter labeled with the character whose point of view it is in, I sometimes couldn’t tell the POV had changed. The time frame bounces from past to present which usually is intriguing, but since the voices were so similar, it seemed pointless. The beginning was slow, then it ramped up quickly. The plot twists at the end seem just too far-fetched. Hays managed to capture some of the essence of Capri but missed the mark on Milano and Napoli.

SALTWATER by Katy Hays is a tense and twisty thriller featuring family secrets and Rich People Behaving Badly, with a strong sense of place transporting the reader to the glistening shores and plummeting cliffsides of the Italian island of Capri.

The Lingate family is Old Money with a fixation on maintaining appearances, even when this means closing ranks when one of their own dies suspiciously. As an adult, Helen, the daughter of the deceased, just wants to live in the present, but her family seems tied down by the past. She would do anything to escape the bonds of her overly controlling family in order to experience true freedom for the first time in her life. Lorna is similarly ready to free herself from the life she is forced to live in the shadow of the rich and powerful. The two women plot together to free themselves from the unwanted constraints of the Lingates and other families like them.

This was a decent thriller with conspiring, betrayal, and murder, all set in enticing locales such as an Italian villa and on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Who can trust whom? One aspect of this story that didn't work so great for me was that the chapters alternating amongst three timelines, but each occurring in the same locations with almost the exact same characters present, got confusing at times. "Okay, so this chapter picks back up with Helen on a boat with Ciro, but is this the time Freddy was there with them, or Lorna? Was this before or after that other event? I can't remember!"

Things get a tad bit convoluted and farfetched as truths are revealed, but overall I enjoyed this bracing story of suspense.

I plan on posting my review to my blog at jessicacrawfordwrites.com on March 25, 2025, and to my Instagram account @shelfesteem101 around the same time.

This was a suspenseful and tragic novel. How far will a family go to protect their legacy of fortune? What happened 30 years ago when Helen's mother disappear and then was found dead? Was it suicide, an accident, or murder? Why won't her father, uncle or aunt discuss Sarah's life? Who really know what happened and why does the family return to Capri every year?

Helen is ready to find out what her family knows of her mother's death and she has a new friend to help her, her uncle's assistant. What happened all those years ago and what is going on when the assistant Lorna goes missing?

This is a story full of secrets. Helen's secrets, her families' secrets, Lorna's secret. Who will be the first to crack and who has the upper hand? Lots of twist and turns in this fun novel. My heart went out to Helen who was basically a prisoner in her own family. Only 3 when her mother died she longs to "know" her mother. And Lorna is going to to help her. Lorna has almost as many secrets as the Lingate family.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend to all

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for the ARC of this ebook. All opinions expressed are my own.

In the mystery aspect and backstory, I liked it. The island of Capri and a wealthy family with dark secrets? Absolutely for me. And it was a good story, truly. The only reason I’m docking a star is the chaotic ness of it. It felt TOO chaotic, and for all that chaos, it wasn’t as suspenseful as I wish it was for what the setting gave, If that makes sense? The start was slow, but it does pick up and redeem itself the further we get into Helen’s story. The family drama was a nice touch and even there wasn’t a wedding or anything, it gave me Elin Hilderbran vibes. To sum up my absolutely chaotic thoughts, I would recommend it if you want a quick and fun little mystery!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. What will people do to preserve a family’s reputation? How far will they go to maintain the status quo and to protect an appearance of wealth and stature? What drives people to the actions they take and the apparent lack of remorse they feel? These are all questions i asked as I read Saltwater. “I used to think people like you didn’t get jealous.” “No. We get it the worst, actually. When you think you have everything, it’s impossible to imagine someone having more.” Successful playwright, Sarah Lingate, goes missing and is subsequently found dead, on the Isle of Capri while vacationing with her husband and family in 1992. Fast forward to present-day Capri. The family returns for a week each year to commemorate Sarah. Her daughter, Helen, just a child when her mother died, is now grown and feeling smothered by the family and looking for a way out. “Isn’t that what family is? A cult you can never leave, a set of behaviors that are burned into you?” The stage is set for great family drama and a peek at how the rich live. “That’s the worst part about rich people; they want to give you things, but only so you can acknowledge their generosity. Every kindness is a reminder that you exist in their world out of pity or usefulness…They’re all the same.”

There are twists galore that come at you quickly at the end. I liked the last part of the book but felt it took a while to set the stage. What contributed to that, for me, was confusion presented by the story going back and forth between 1992 and the present, voiced by so many different characters.

Told in alternating POVs and timelines, this slow-burn mystery keeps you guessing until the very last page. All of the characters are morally ambiguous, nobody is as they seem, and the plot winds slowly through family drama, betrayal, and deception, all while treating the reader to a beautiful and opulent setting on the Italian coast.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters in this story, and the slow pace made it difficult to hold my attention. The setting and the mystery were enough to keep me interested through the finish, and I'm glad I pushed through because the twists at the end were so unexpected! Even though they seemed a little far-fetched, they definitely redeemed the story for me, and I found myself much more invested in the last 25% of the book.

Thank you to @RandomHouse and #NetGalley for the DRC of #Saltwater. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Could not put this book down! If you like books about the rich behaving badly, this is the book for you. Would make a great beach/vacation read.

The story revolves around the Lingate family. In 1992 while vacationing on the island of Capri, Sarah is found dead on the rocks below their villa. While people suspect her husband or his family were involved, no one is ever charged and her death is ruled an "accident". 30 years later, the Lingates return to Capri and Helen, Sarah's daughter, is determined to find out what really happened to her mother.

Told in dual timelines from multiple characters, this book will keep you guessing until the very end. While I found a specific aspect of the story hard to believe (no spoilers), I still really enjoyed this.

For the first 85% the book fell right in the middle of the road for me. It wasn’t so much of a mystery/thriller as it was a family drama story. A rich family story at that. The last 15% was a surprising twist I didn’t see coming. Keep reading for the end!

A thrilling mystery that takes place in beautiful Capri, Italy! A family mystery that spans across different characters and timelines - it kept me guessing and the author captured the essence of Italy as the backdrop beautifully.

Saltwater by Katy Hays ⚓️🥂💶

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow!!! This book had me on the edge of my seat with its family drama, lies and deception, and unreliable narrators. The wealthy, Italian vacation atmospheric aesthetic that this book was giving off, made me want to jump on a plane to Italy and be a fly on the wall, sipping an aperol Spritz while watching this family crumble from within. That being said, this book was so well written that I felt like I was watching a tv series! This book would do so well with an on screen adaptation, and I’m already hoping for it to get picked up by a production company even though the book hasn’t even been published yet 😂. I can truly say I never guessed all the twists and murders that this book provided, and my jaw was on the ground multiple times.

If you want a fun, flashy, and jaw dropping domestic murder mystery…pick this book up on March 25th, 2025!!

Thank you to @netgalley and @ballantines for an ARC for this title in exchange for a review!!

This book was a perfect popcorn thriller read for the upcoming summer. I enjoyed my time with it but I am not sure it will stay with me for a long period.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

This is a slow burn mystery about an old money family that just couldn't seem to capture my attention. I just didn't "get" it or the writing style.

This is a slow-burn mystery/thriller that follows Helen as she begins to discover the truth behind her mom's death.
This would be a good summer thriller, but it is very slow moving. The writing style took me a while to get into and it was hard for me to stay focused on the mystery due to it moving so slow. I think people would like this book if they enjoy more of a slow-building drama.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Saltwater by Katy Hays

"Saltwater" by Katy Hays has awakened my love for murder mysteries. This thrilling and suspenseful novel will leave you on the edge of your seat. I never saw any of those twists and turns coming.

It was insane to learn how each character played such a pivotal role in the story's outcome. I can't express how much I enjoyed this book. I was eating up every last word on the page. The pacing was perfect—absolute perfection.

The story is set on the island of Capri. The Lingate family returns to the island to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a tragic death. Following the lives of the Lingate family, you learn how flawed every character is, and how far they will go to protect their own.

Hays has written a captivating and suspenseful thriller. "Saltwater" is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a complex thriller that will keep you guessing at every turn.

Thanks to Netgalley for this free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.