3.5/5 stars. Saltwater by Katy Hays was a quick and compelling murder mystery book set in Capri, Italy. The story line jumps between different timelines and follows two murders associated with a wealthy American family.

As I said, this read was intriguing largely because it was quick, easy, and fun to read. For the bulk of the story, I believed I had solved the murders, but little did I know I was wrong.

This book was almost 4 stars when a huge plot twist occurred at the end. However, Hays included yet ANOTHER plot twist to finish the book which I thought was unnecessary and drew from the original plot twist. I understand there was a dire need to tie up a loose end, but I thought the way in which she did lacked some creativity.

Further, I think the largest issue with this book is that many of the main characters lacked depth. With the exception of 1, maybe 2 characters, it seemed that they were solely driven by money, status, and looks. Evidently, it's very real that people do shady things, including murder, for worse reasons than money... but I was hoping that there would be more complex histories given to these characters that make them more empathetic.

Overall, I would still recommend to friends and followers as a quick palette cleanser; this just wasn't a mind-blowing 5 star for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for gifting me this ARC.

Oooooh! An island, a rich family, and a 30-year-old murder that comes back into play. This was all I needed to hear to want to get right into this book!

It started off a little bit slow and took me a while to get into. Once it got to 70% it really picked up and I finished it quickly! The premise was intriguing and I formed a love-hate relationship with each character. I didn't know who I could trust and found myself second-guessing all of my theories.

I could not believe the ending. There were some gigantic twists that might not have been realistic or plausible, but still made for a great read. I will be thinking about this book for a while.

The cover is also stunning.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

3.5 - I got an ARC copy of this as this book comes out in March 2025. This felt like a season of The White Lotus. I thought the last 30% was awesome but the beginning felt slow and it was a little hard for me to keep track of each character and what was going on. Overall, a decent thriller filled with lies, murder & secrets!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Saltwater by Katy Hays is a mixed third and first person multi-POV mutli-timeline thriller. In 1992, Sarah Lingate was found dead in Capri and everyone assumes someone in her husband's family had something to do with it despite it being ruled as a suicide. On the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah's death, her daughter Helen is back with the rest of the family for their annual trip to Capri, but not everything is what it seems.

What I really liked was how we went from Lorna's POV, a family assistant, to Helen's POV, and then all the way back to Sarah’s POV when she met Helen’s father. The multiple timelines (Lorna's POV is from before she went missing and Helen’s is afterwards) are conveyed quite clearly and quickly with a countdown at the top of Lorna's chapters and several newspaper articles detailing what the public and police know about what happened to Sarah. The newspapers called back to how we used to convey news more often via print than we do now while also feeding tiny bits of information that help set the stage without giving anything away.

I really felt for Helen. While I'm not sure she was my favorite POV (that might be Sarah because I love an ambitious female character and she is an ambitious playwright), her history is incredibly heartbreaking. Sarah died when she was three.and since the whole world thinks someone in the family killed her, Helen has essentially been telling everyone her whole life that she doesn't know anything. There's references for her knowing at age six to say ‘No comment’ instead of ‘No comment, please’ because the ‘please’ is often seen as an invitation. It made me think about how we often poke children of celebrities or public figures way too young and keep asking them to revisit tragic moments in their lives. It's not very compassionate towards them and Helen being so young when it started really brings that home.

The other main POV, Lorna, is really interesting to me. She’s an assistant to the Lingate family and is sleeping with Marcus, Helen’s uncle. When she disappears, everyone seems to be wanting to just forget that she had even been there or that there is an investigation. Helen’s fiancee, Freddy, is particularly willing to brush it aside in favor of his own interests. The way she was integrated in this family and was vacationing with Helen, Freddy, and Helen’s childhood friend and first love Ciro, enjoying Capri, and yet is tossed aside by most of the family the second she disappears shows how this ultra-rich and privileged family view people who aren't’ in their social class.

Content warning for mentions of suicide and depictions of alcoholism and infidelity.

I would recommend this to fans of thrillers that explore the lives of the rich, readers who prefer works with multiple timelines, and those looking for a female-led story that deals with heavy themes of infidelity.

This is a slow burn of family drama in a rich family. Sarah Lingate is found dead in 1992 in Capri leaving behind her 3 year old daughter, Helen. While her death was ruled suicide others seem to disagree. The family returns to the same rented villa in Capri on the thirtieth anniversay of Sarah's death. This is where Helen and her best friend Lorna plot their escape from the family. That is until Lorna disappears which in returns reopens the investigation to Sarah's death. Old secrets come to light and the ending has some shocking twists.

Pub Date March 25, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and the author for the invite of this ARC in exchange for my review

Saltwater is a soapy mystery about a wealthy family who will go to any length to keep up appearances. I really enjoyed the dual narratives. Getting little snippets from characters’ past was a fun way to handle reveals. I think the last 25% seemed a little bogged down with exposition which stalled some of the momentum that had been building. Overall though, a solid murder mystery with enough intrigue to keep you reading. Thanks to Ballantine Books/Random House for the ARC through NetGallery.

This book gives you a beautiful sense of place on the island of Capri. I'm ready to go! The descriptions and imagery were spot on and allowed the reader to really step into the story.

This intense family drama is full of death, secrets, money, past history and more drama. No real likable characters, but it didn't stop me from binging this well thought out plot. The amount of bread crumbs was perfection, leading you to an ending that was satisfying and a real thrill to read. There was a point in the book where I felt like all the secrets were "out", but lo and behold, there was a lot more to the story and it was such a fun read.

An easy one for me to recommend for readers who enjoy rich people behaving badly and getting away with more than they should.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the advance e-copy of this book.

This will make a perfect beach read!! Multiple disappearances and multiple timelines in the atmosphere of Capri. The story started a bit slow but ended really well. I wasn't super surprised by the ending, but it was still an overall enjoyable read. Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC and I will recommend to anyone looking for a good summer mystery.

Absolutely love the cover, its what made me look into the book. Started out slow and took a while for me to get into. Good beach summer read if you can get interested.

I loved the setting and the story’s concept, but it just moved along too slowly. The narrative got a bit tedious, too. I guess this one just wasn’t for me.

This book had a slow start as the author was worldbuilding, but the last third of the book had lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I highly recommend this book. Just have patience to get through the first 2/3 of the book.

thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book for my honest opinion

This book has all the ingredients for a perfect thriller - beautiful setting in Capri, rich family, suspicious deaths, etc. But I really slogged through it. I didn’t mind the constant change in storytelling from current to past and character to character but it just didn’t keep me engrossed. Even with all the plot twists and unexpected turns it never hooked me in. It didn’t help that I disliked almost all of the characters. I found the ending to be a bit unbelievable as well. I can see where many people would enjoy this but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The setting of Capri is what drew me into this twisty novel. Although the large cast of characters lost me a bit and the mystery centered on the necklace sometimes felt contrived, this was a fun read for fans of the rich-people-behaving-badly genre. If you're waiting for the next season of White Lotus, this book might fill the void.

Too slow moving for me personally. Loved the setting in Capri. I did enjoy the final twist, but it felt like it took a lot to get there. I also felt like Lorna’s POV was a little underdeveloped and I would’ve loved to learn more about her. Thank you for the ARC!

The number of unexpected twists and turns in this book will blow your mind! We start this story learning a bit about the mysterious death of Sarah Lingate as the family travels back to the place she died (as they have every year). There are a number of POVs throughout the book, each weaving a varying perspective of what happened 30 years prior along with the haunting troubles that the Lingate family currently face. Everyone in the family holds a dark secret – which will have you wondering who can be trusted and what really happened? Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing – Ballantine for the eARC.

This was a pretty good entry for my “rich people problems” shelf. I loved the setting, it was very vivid, and I liked seeing the different POVs and time periods. I guessed the big twist right before it happened and it worked for me but the second twist…idk it seems a bit convenient that literally the exact same thing happened twice unless [redacted] knew what happened and did it on purpose. I wasn’t particularly rooting for any of the characters though; that’s not a requirement for me to enjoy a book but it did make my reaction at the end be like…okay? Sure? Idk It wasn’t SUPER gripping, but I had a fun time.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

If you liked her first book, The Cloisters, I think this one is better. The writing is good and very readable, and I think this author really excels at capturing the sense of place and atmosphere. Capri is described in a way that really draws you in and feels very specific. There were some points where I felt frustrated with the plot, with a lot of convenient coincidences and twists that didn't feel necessary to me. However if you like an over the top twisty read, they might work for you!

This novel brings readers along through the web of generational lies and manipulations by a family with wealth and power. The reader will be captivated by the timeline counting down to certain events as shown in the titles of each chapter making you race through to find out what happens next. Can’t wait to recommend this to fellow drama readers.

Thank you NetGalley for this free advance copy on exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this one and was intrigued at the premise - a murder from 30 years ago that still haunts a wealthy, powerful family, an island setting (Capri, Italy), and lots of twists and turns.

However, this book fell flat for me. I didn’t like any of the characters and felt like I never truly got to know them. They all felt superficial and two dimensional. Also, holy annoying internal dialogue! My god, the internal machinations and constant thoughts of the main character made my eyes roll into the back of my head! And the ridiculous twists and turns were so insane and completely unrealistic that by the end, I was so over it. I feel like this book could have been great - the overall concept and setting were good - but the execution just wasn’t there.

I was thrilled to receive a copy of this ARC, as I really enjoyed The Cloisters in 2023. When thinking about this book, right off the bat I found the pacing to be perfect. I love a thriller that isn’t too fast in the build up, and I think Hays did a really great job in building up suspense to both of the deaths that the story centers around. There were a few moments that left me scratching my head that I don’t think ever got resolved. One of them being Ciro, and the other being Lorna’s pregnancy (was she actually pregnant? Was it it Helen’s pregnancy test? I wasn’t quite clear). Half the time I felt like Ciro was untrustworthy and I would’ve liked a bit more fleshing out of his character. I really loved the multiple twists at the end! But I did have to suspend reality pretty hard to believe that Sarah would seamlessly become Renata and that Lorna would actually kill someone to get away from her life. Overall, I really liked this. I love rich people behaving badly and this book nailed that on the head.