- Title:
- Dead in the Water
- Author:
- S.C. Merritt
- Release:
- July 27, 2021
- Format:
- Kindle
- Series
- Bucket List Mysteries Book 1
This book is a prime example of why I finish everything that I start, no matter how I feel about it. My very first impression of this book was the feeling of reading Desperate Housewives: Retirement. The first 30% (according to my kindle) is just two old retirees in their gated community gossiping about things that nobody outside of their community could possibly care about.
It feels like this book goes from 0 to 100 in an instant. One minute they’re going about their lives and the next minute somebody is dead. It wasn’t until the scene after this that the book sunk its hooks into me. As the two women were sitting around, they began thinking back over all the conversations and encounters they had. Everything that had been saying was now a clue and when I felt like the story went from 0 to 100 with the dead body, I realized that’s exactly how it was for the characters as well.
It feels like a Scooby-Doo-style mystery to me. This really is a good mystery novel and I think it’s worth a read. It seems at first like it’s not going anywhere, but it’s really just masterfully laying down clues for the eventual murder mystery.
Even when I first started reading and thought this book wasn’t going to be for me, I was pleased with how realistic the dialogue was. I feel I’ve said that in a handful of my reviews recently. I’m just not used to reading books where the characters feel like real people. Where they talk like normal human beings and don’t cease to exist the moment they exit the stage.
I finish everything that I start and I had the benefit of seeing this book being praised on Twitter constantly as a motivator. Sometimes you just have to push through your apprehension and see how things turn out.
NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.