Read with YA Circle Book Club for their May 2020 BOTM

Now THAT'S how you write a mystery!

I've been through it all. I've read New York Times Bestselling mysteries and award winning ones too. None of them captured my attention as much as Deep Water did. This was wonderfully layered and I was constantly intrigued by the mystery of Henry Weaver and even more so, his brother Mason who was even more mysterious than the actual kidnapping case itself.

The book follows Chloe Baxter, a young girl trying to discover what happened to her best friend Henry Weaver and if he really was kidnapped. She sleuths with her friend Raf and as they did deeper they discover secrets that could change everything.

I found the characters wonderfully crafted and I fell in love with each and every one of them. Mason especially who just needed the biggest hug I could muster. Although I loved the characters, it wasn't what made me give the rating I gave this novel. In fact it all came down to the narrative structure that beautifully intertwined different perspectives together to make a coherent and readable mystery that was mesmerising and completely un-put-downable.

Everything came together and I was kept constantly in suspense until the very last page. I would absolutely love a sequel novel to this to see what happened to the characters after that ending. I also hope Mason finds someone who's got his back in more ways than one and that Chloe ends up becoming a detective or something just as reputable.

My only negative is probably Chloe's characterisation. Whilst she was interesting to read from, her narrative voice was dissimilar to other YA characters I read about. I wanted something to show her uniqueness rather than what I was given.

Nevertheless a gripping mystery that I would recommend to everyone!

ACTUAL RATING: 4.3 STARS

Great pace and great characterisation; even though there’s a number of secondary characters, I didn’t feel lost of confused as to who was where and when. The writing is incredible and the plot is well developed - hints are dropped at exactly the right time to keep the reader engaged. My favourite favourite thing about this book is the multiple perspectives. They were different enough to be good on their own but together formed such a strong narrative, contributing to the suspense and pace in the best way. You will have a hard time putting this one down.

It's not often that a book makes me want to keep reading until I find out the ending, but this book did. Once I got near the ending I just had to keep going so I found out what happened, and was thoroughly engrossed with all the twists and turns along the way. Yes, some of the characters annoyed me at times, but that probably because they are so true to the teenagers I deal with on a daily basis!

So good! I almost feel like I know these characters, or certainly understood how they feel. Great depiction of a small country town from a teen point of view. Even better, I did not pick the ending.