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Something in the Water  By  cover art

Something in the Water

By: Catherine Steadman
Narrated by: Catherine Steadman
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Publisher's summary

A Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine on Audible Pick

"A psychological thriller that captivated me from page one. What unfolds makes for a wild, page-turning ride! It's the perfect beach read!" (Reese Witherspoon)

A shocking discovery on a honeymoon in paradise changes the lives of a picture-perfect couple in this taut psychological thriller debut - for listeners of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Shari Lapena.

If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you?

Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water....

Could the life of your dreams be the stuff of nightmares?

Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events....

Have you ever wondered how long it takes to dig a grave?

Wonder no longer. Catherine Steadman’s enthralling voice shines throughout this spellbinding debut novel. With piercing insight and fascinating twists, Something in the Water challenges the reader to confront the hopes we desperately cling to, the ideals we’re tempted to abandon, and the perfect lies we tell ourselves.

©2018 Catherine Steadman (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"With unreliable characters, wry voices, exquisite pacing, and a twisting plot, Steadman potently draws upon her acting chops.... A darkly glittering gem of a thriller from a new writer to watch." (Kirkus Reviews)

“Captivating...daring... The threats and increasingly bad decisions accelerate with Bourne-like velocity.... Steadman [is] a newcomer worth watching.” (Publishers Weekly)

“An unbearably tense debut with a knockout premise, Something in the Water had me hooked from the very first sentence. Thrilling and thought-provoking, it’s the perfect beach read. I devoured it!” (Riley Sager, best-selling author of Final Girls)

What listeners say about Something in the Water

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    26,831
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    12,336
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    5,019
  • 2 Stars
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Performance
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    547
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Story
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    22,751
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    11,289
  • 3 Stars
    5,237
  • 2 Stars
    1,956
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    1,281

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No Thrill Here

This book joins the unenviable style and genre of the books which for me include The Girl on The Train, The Woman in The Window and He Said/She Said just to name a few. All of these titles work to spike or stimulate the reader's fear of a life spiraling out of control, whether by poor choice in spouse and friends, trusting the untrustworthy, or living life fueled by impairment secondary to chronic alcohol or prescription drug abuse.

This title taps into main character Erin's lack of insight and preconceived belief systems that allow her to see people only as she wishes them to be, not as they actually are. Reality is lacking, insight is gone and all is replaced with a series of idiotic choices. It is as if Erin, attractive, smart and successful Erin, is transformed into a cow being led around by a ring in her nose. Erin is willingly led, choosing repeatedly to be led as apposed to the poor cow that has no choice in the matter.

I'm afraid that I knew the trajectory of this book once I hit chapter 11 or 12 and understood that the story was based on one stupid decision after another. These decisions, I'm afraid, have disastrous impact and outcomes on bystanders--both innocent and not. As I listened I kept having that scene from the 1987 movie Moonstruck where Cher slaps Nicolas Cage twice and shouts "snap out of it" at him. The whole book was filled with, or really based on, snap out of it moments. For me, much of the plot was ludicrous. That makes for almost 12 hours of ridiculous, preposterous, asinine and farcical (all synonyms for ludicrous) decisions and behaviors.

For a book to be engaging and terrifying (if scary is the goal) it needs to be solidly based in reality and plausibility. It needs to be reasonable or probable and grounded in what might actually happen in life. To me, the scary parts of a story come from slight deviations from what is considered normal. Nothing in this story felt reasonable or probable. Thus the thriller aspect was nullified. I won't offer examples here because I don't want to spoil the plot. Believe me when I say this whole story could be ruined in two or three simple sentences as the plot is that thin.

If you choose to go ahead and listen to this title be aware that suspension of disbelief is a required skill. Maybe this genre is written or really cranked out with the intent to be simple entertainment not requiring any thought or reasoning on the part of the reader. For me, this was a complete waste of time and left me resolved to avoid this style of book in the future. I'm afraid that the actual weeding out of this sort of one dimensional book will be the difficulty. Can't recommend unless you are a fan of the books mentioned in my opening paragraph. If you by chance loved those titles then I think you will love this book too.

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1,189 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Look at the numbers, not the reviews.

This was a very good book. If you look at the numbers in the ratings section, you will see that despite some bad reviews floating to the top, an overwhelming majority of people who rated this gave it high marks. At present, almost 7,000 people gave it five stars overall, and 2,800 gave it 4. Only about 500 gave it either one or two stars. I think sometimes it helps to look at these numbers rather than focus on the few reviews we happen to see.

I have over 1,000 audiobooks. I don't give out five star reviews often, and the number of ALL fives (in all three categories) I can count on one hand. But this book was exceptional. I knew I loved it within the first few paragraphs, when the author said she couldn't bury a body the requisite 6 feet under because she was only 5' 6" and "would literally have dug herself into a hole." Ha, how true! And then we start to find out the plot, and it gets about a thousand times better.

The narration is stunning. Perfect. The prose is insightful and introspective without overshadowing the plot. Steadman's phrasing is elegant and cuts to the core of things, but never, ever at the expense of the story. The story is always immersive and entertaining.

I have seen a few complaints that the main character does not make perfect decisions and is therefore unrealistic. I have to disagree. I thought her actions were totally reasonable given the circumstances. It was the circumstances that were out of the ordinary, and that is what makes it interesting!

Furthermore, the expectation that an individual should always act perfectly, particularly in instances when the stakes are high, is itself unrealistic. People in high stress situations sometimes make mistakes. They act without thinking things through. They miscalculate. In short, they act like human beings rather than chess robots. I found the behavior of the main character to be totally realistic, intelligent, and true to the situation. Not once did I want to kick her.

I'm not really into book clubs and I bought this without knowing it was Reese's pick, so believe me, this isn't about the hype. It's just a phenomenal, witty, suspenseful story that I didn't want to put down.

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1,081 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Give this a HARD PASS

I don't think I've ever audibly said "what the hell are you DOING?!" so many times while listening to a book. The main character's decisions are so infuriatingly stupid that it makes you want to just toss your ear buds (with only two hours of the book left I almost did that). It wasn't suspenseful, it was grating. I'd never recommend it. I give it a C- at best. Waste of time imo. Naration was fine, nothing terrible there but the story itself was just....no.

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Awful.

To be honest, I think Sara's review titled "No Thrill Here" best summarizes how I feel about this book. I couldn't handle the stupid decisions made by main character Erin, so cringeworthy and frustrating that I actually skipped chapters. This was a waste of 12 hours, and I considered returning this book halfway through, but stuck it out because I'm a curious person. I think this book would have been more interesting if the big reveal came sooner and the events that followed took up more of the storyline. Just a thought. *shrug*

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356 people found this helpful

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Thought it must be self-published

First, I have to confess that I did not finish this book. I was so confused by the good reviews that I looked up the author to see how she could possibly have gotten this published. When I saw that she was already a successful actor, it all made sense.

This is so badly written and plotted...I don't even know where to start. I read "Behind Closed Doors" and, while I didn't think it was a great book by any means, I was pulled in by the story. This book is on a totally different level. Instead of plot, you will find a 10 minute description of a woman charging and turning on an iPhone. Nothing comes together, and no detail is of any value to the story. It reads like the random assemblage of facts Catherine Steadman found on the internet in an afternoon. Lists of names and sizes of sharks? Check. Bizarrely detailed descriptions of mundane activities? Check. Ludicrous and borderline offensive discussions of how much 2 million pounds means to a woman whose most valuable possession in this world is her 1.5 million pound house? Yup.

It shouldn't make me so angry when bad work gets published, but this takes it too far.

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Awful!!

I am an avid reader and this is the first time I felt compelled to write a review. This might be the worst story line I've ever read/listened to. The main character is not likable because she is incredibly stupid. Stupid decisions, stupid actions, just stupid and the twist was eh but the time it comes you really don't care anymore you just want the book to end!!

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It’s hard to root for the stupid.

It definitely difficult to be invested in a main character whose mantra is “god I’m so stupid and irrational and Wreckless... but F it I’ll keep being this way cause I’m a petulant child”. I stoped reading with 4 chapters to go because I realized:
1) I don’t care what happend to any of the characters.
2) the narrator’s breathy, sigh-filled style was getting on my nerves (it’d be like listening to a lifetime movie on the radio)

I think as an author you can create a complex character who doesn’t “fit the mold”, (which is probably what the author was trying to do) without leaving your readers dumbfounded and with no one to care about or like at all. Also neither of the main characters are developed enough for you to get why they are both so equally petulant, entitled, Wreckless and arrogant. Overall, terrible.

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Puttytat

I found nothing in a story , new, original, interesting or gripping about a wildly obtuse woman who over and over again admits to being stupid yet continues to prove herself to be right and does not seek professional help. I actually found myself disliking the author because of the book. Please Please pass this book by.

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Enough w/Dumb-Damsels in Distress

First, I listen to A LOT of books and RARELY write a bad review. Like less than a handful. But this dumb-A stereotype of women was so infuriating, I'm writing one now.
I was really looking forward to listening to this. While the production & narration was splendid, the story had me throwing stuff out of frustration. We had a female protagonist CONTINUALLY making stupid decisions w/no frontal-lobe activity, then acting like a victim of circumstances and finally falling prey to a predictable gas-lighting relationship. I felt I was listening to a 1940's crime thriller w/2D stereotype characters. Really? This had SO MUCH potential. But I guess we have yet ONE more book about a woman who "loves a man so much" she tells herself again and again she doesn't want to know any other reality other than the charming prince.

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Why didn't I pay attention...

Why didn't I pay attention to all those awful reviews. I gave up on this one with 6 hours left so I don't know if eventually the woman hears a noise in the basement and goes to check on it in the dark, or looks down the barrel of a shotgun to see why it didn't fire, or puts a fork in an electric outlet to see if it is working.

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72 people found this helpful