Something in the Water
Catherine Steadman’s mystery explores obsession, self control, identity, and trust in a way that sneaks up on the reader and keeps them guessing all the way to the end. The start is quite dramatic and mysterious before heading to the ups and downs of a couple who are about to get married. For a while the story toddles along innocuously enough, till the newly wed couple finds something on their honeymoon that drives one spouse to behave impulsively and the other to spend time cleaning up mess after mess. Throughout the story there is constantly ratcheting tension surrounding the unseen owners of the thing that the couple has discovered as well as some everyday tensions of marriage and life, which drive the couple to cling even tighter to their discovery. The story is interesting and suspenseful throughout, though in the end things are a lot less complicated and elaborate than one might imagine. Honestly, I’ve read about real life conspiracies that were more involved than this. But that may be one of the brilliant choices that Steadman made, to keep the story realistic and down to Earth. Still, it was a fun read and qualifies as good entertainment.