Dead Water
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3.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In a chilling blend of folk horror and twisting suspense, this modern masterpiece depicts isolation and dread within a small island community.
There's something in the water... On the edge of the Northern Atlantic lies a remote island. The islanders are an outwardly harmonious community—but all have their own secrets, some much darker than others. And when a strange disorder begins to infect them all, those secrets come to light. Ferry service fails and contact with the mainland is lost. Rumors begin to swirl as a temporary inconvenience grows into nightmarish ordeal. The fabric of the once tight-knit island is unnervingly torn apart—and whatever the cause, the question soon stops being how or why it happened, but who, if anyone, will survive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Both ancient history and the recent past trouble a tiny island off the western coast of Scotland in this meticulously plotted, if perhaps slightly overworked, tale of perseverance in the face of hardship and horror from Fletcher (A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World). While many of the remote island's residents come from families that have lived there for generations, others have chosen the island in hopes of escaping painful pasts. Young widow Sig is a blend of both: she and her husband moved to the island because he grew up there, and after his death, Sig appreciates the isolation the island provides. When a music festival draws half of the residents away, Sig is among the disparate and detached people left behind, a group that's forced to work together when communication with the outside world is cut off and some residents begin manifesting mysterious and terrifying symptoms of an unknown infection. Fletcher creates a sharply observed and finely crafted environment, but the setup begins to feel tedious long before the significance of each painstakingly established detail is revealed. However, once those revelations begin, the novel becomes a taut thriller, the tension and horror of which are inextricably linked to the seemingly rambling foundation. The end result—for readers who make it that far—is thoroughly satisfying.
Customer Reviews
Too long to develop
600 pages in and nothing of consequence to capture my attention. Perhaps I bailed out too early but too much building of Sig and characters that I don’t care about. Very faint flashes of something dark but not enough, early enough to be suspenseful. I gave up on this one.