Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

Whispers of the Story 

One perfect couple with a perfect life, or at least as long as nothing exciting happens and money is not an issue. What if they are unfortunate enough that the one who provides loses his job? Agitation, attempt to cut back the costs. What if they are even more unfortunate that they find a bag full of money and diamonds that would make them extremely rich? Chaos, mistrust, and a dead body in the woods!

Erin and Mark Roberts are a newlywed couple young and deeply in love. That is until one of them is more greedy and the other one has connections in the mafia. 

If you are in a relationship, then take a moment to kiss your partner before reading this book, because it will make you question your relationship and your love!

Review of Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

Something in the water by Catherine Steadman is a modern novel, perfect for the present times. A nice couple finds a bag of money and diamonds and decides to apply all the lessons they have seen in the movies, in order to cover their tracks. By tricking people, erasing their print from computers, smuggling, disguises, they suddenly are rich beyond their dreams. As the story usually goes, at least one of them wants more money, Mark, and goes behind his wife to get them. By luck, she makes some mistakes and discovers her husband’s betrayal, which leads to question their love. A fun novel, full of mysteries, drama, a little drop of mafia, thriller, and a dead body in the woods.

Erin and Mark are the type of couple that love each other deeply, the lucky ones who parade their love to everyone until their friends are tired of the perfection displayed. They never got to experience each other at their lowest. When Mark loses his job, their world crumbles, leading to a series of events that show the type of person they are. Even if in the beginning Erin seems to be the gold digger, marrying a man who can support her and her dreams even if he has to work longer hours, in the end, Mark is the gold digger, not being satisfied with the money they have in the bank. Right after securing the money, he insisted on trying to sell the diamonds, even though they could have waited at least a couple of years, and betrayed his wife in order to get the ransom money, without thinking of the dangerous position he was putting himself in. I think that we all have seen so many movies in which the one who is supposed to get the pay is killed because he is of no use, he is only a witness who needs to be silenced. Erin was the ultimate winner. She remained with the money and her career just took off with her documentary. Honesty, I would have probably done the same as Erin, bury the man, and keep living as a grieving widow in a very comfortable life.

Catherine Steadman is a British actress mostly known for her role in the TV Drama Downton Abbey and I think that it is obvious. The scenes and the descriptions seem more appropriate as watching a movie, the events happen at a rapid pace, which I liked, and there are not so many descriptions, which, again, I liked. From the beginning to the end, I could imagine this novel as a movie, not just a book, all the scenes were playing vividly in my imagination. Even the mystery builds up with the first scene depicting Erin burying her husband and asking a rhetorical question about how long it takes to dig a hole in the ground. I think that somehow I associate Something in the Water with Gone Girl because I could hear Rosamund Pike’s voice in my head narrating the story, even though Erin is nothing like Amy Dunne.

I recommend this book if you like a good intense thriller, a fast-paced book with a twist at the end, proving things are not as you might imagine in the beginning, Catherine Steadman keeps you on the edge until the end of her debut novel. Click on this link to see other novels by her and watch out for her future works, because it seems like she will write more thriller novels.

If you’re looking for books like Something in the Water with a strong female lead character navigating murders and mysteries, read my review of Rachel Hawkins’ The Wife Upstairs.  Filled with suspense, it offers intriguing twists at almost every turn, masterfully balancing simplicity and complexity in its events.

Happy reading!