Thanks @netgalley for the opportunity of reading this book.
At first I thought it was a bit slow and there were a lot of characters to get to know. I even said "this isn't too scary" at one point, well Famous last words!
From about halfway through I read with eyes wide open and unblinking. I even had to put it down at one point because I was reading it in the dark and I am a huge wuss. But I knew I had to finish it today because I needed to know what was going to happen.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @LittleBrownUK for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Give me some broken characters each with their own closet full of skeletons and put them on a tiny Scottish island on the edge of civilization and I'm sooo in for the ride. Especially if the ride involves ancient curses and guardian crows.

Dead Water is a very slow story. It doesn't rush the plot but rather lets you observe how its characters cope with the horror as water starts walking and turns against them. Some readers might find the pace too slow and possibly even boring, but I delighted in Fletcher's character building and the gradually growing suspense and isolation that builds up throughout the book. It made me absolutely thrilled with every development and turned this novel into an unexpected page-turner.

The plot itself reminded me very strongly of that waters of Mars episode of Doctor Who, but to be fair, the plot doesn't seem like it's that important. It's still good even if not entirely original, but the focal point is on people. Every character in this book has a story, and in all honesty, while there are definitely a handful of "main" characters, Fletcher gives so much attention to pretty much everyone in his story that you actually care when something bad happens to side characters, and something bad does happen to pretty much everyone.

In a way, reading this book was like watching a movie. The suspense is tangible and the writing is just so good. Although it's a horror story, the horror element in it is very subtle and while it's definitely eerie, the horror element comes from the general sense of isolation seeping out of every page rather than any typical horror scares.

Read this if you want to see incredibly well written, relatable characters struggle with PTSD, survivor's guilt, suicidal thoughts and a whole cocktail of trauma and haunting mistakes from the past all while trying to fight for their lives and make amends.

Hi and welcome to my review of Dead Water!

I absolutely adored A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by this author, so the second I heard of Dead Water, I knew I had to read it.

I added the blurb to this review because I always add the blurb, but I do feel it sort of misrepresents Dead Water. If you’ve been looking at reviews for this book, you may have noticed some lower ratings, mostly by readers who were waiting for all the stuff in the blurb to happen and felt it took too long to get there.

They’re not wrong, Dead Water does take its time setting the scene on this remote Scottish island, allowing its reader to get acquainted with its main characters by alternating points of view. So if you’re a reader who wants to be thrown in the deep end without any sort of warning, this is not that kind of story, it’s far more insidious than that.

I know they’re big shoes to fill but I’m going there anyway: as far as build-up and atmosphere go, Dead Water could have been written by Stephen King. We’ve all read at least one King novel that made us think: well that could have been a lot shorter. Should it have been, though, would we change it if we could? Of course we wouldn’t, it’s that build-up of suspense that makes the action that follows hit us even harder. You watch the clouds gather, hear the distant rumble, and wait for the storm to hit.

Dead Water is an understated, atmospheric, psychological kind of horror novel. If you’re in it for the gore and/or in-your-face horror elements, odds are this won’t be your cup of tea. However, that doesn’t mean there is no action. The pace increases along the way and in the second half there are quite a few on-the-edge-of-your-seat scenes that had me clasping my e-reader in suspense.

I had a great time with Dead Water. While I do enjoy a bookish gore fest from time to time, I also very much appreciate a more slow-burning and subtle horror novel and Dead Water is an excellent example of the latter. I won’t go into details concerning the plot, I went in with little information and few expectations because I honestly didn’t know what to expect, and it worked out brilliantly for me.

For readers who enjoyed A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World and are hoping for more of the same, I can only say that they do share that dystopian feel, but they are completely different books. I, for one, can’t wait to find out where C.A. Fletcher will take me next, but wherever he goes, this reader will follow.

Dead Water is out on 19 July in digital forms and on 21 July in hardcover and audio.

Many thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a gothic, haunting and atmospheric story that I couldn’t put down. It was gripping and engaging the whole way through with a level of suspense and unpredictability that added an extra layer to the storytelling. It was a chilling read that has stayed with me since I read it. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Fletcher is new to me, and whilst the beautiful cover drew me to this novel under the horror category on Netgalley, I did something I seldom do with ARCs and checked a few reviews before requesting.

Immediately I disagree with a frequent opinion here. People have said the pace was slow but whilst there are a lot of characters in Dead Water, Sig being the lead, I found every one of them interesting.
Something evil and unnatural has been unleashed upon the island, and showing this in third person from multiple perspectives- including the personification of a pair of ravens- gave the evil a far-reaching, unstoppable quality.
The residents go about their daily lives tied up in their own dramas with no idea of the creeping, insidious danger.

The prologue and a few intermittent italic chapters concern the story of an emissary bodyguard in the Viking era, weaving the origins of the evil to come. I struggled a little to follow exactly what was going on here but understood enough to link it to the present time events, though I did finish the book feeling like there was maybe a few connections others will see that I've missed.

I loved everything about Dead Water, the pacing was great, the remote setting heightened the tension, the character arcs were well written and I cared for them all come the end.
I thought the disability representation was done really well and it was refreshing to read a book where survival is the one and only goal.
There's no romance, no revenge plots, no prejudice. Just a tiny community fighting to stay alive.

I read this novel by the water whilst staying at a lakehouse in the middle of nowhere, perfect.

My Rating: 1.5/5 stars

From the author of the beloved dystopian novel A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World comes a new, folklore inspired horror story, that unfortunately left me as cold and dead as the waters it centres on...

Synopsis
A water-borne blight hits an isolated community on a remote island on the edge of the Northern Atlantic. When ferry-services fail and all contact with the mainland is lost, a sense of paranoia and claustrophobia sets in. what is this strange affliction that is picking their community apart from the inside? Is it a biological illness, an ancient curse or something else entirely? And more importantly: can our cast of characters figure out the answers to these questions in time to escape this thread enclosing all around them?

What I liked:
On paper Dead Water had all the elements to be a new favourite. Isolated island setting: check. Folklore-inspired horror: check. Prioritising low-building psychological suspense over gore: double check. There’s even representation of a heroine with a physical disability and chronic pain, something I didn’t even know about before starting this read. There’s a nice sense of setting that is accentuated by the authors descriptive writing style.
Overall, here was the inspiration and set-up for a wonderful novel. Unfortunately that was all this story felt like to me: a set-up that asks a lot of investment from the reader, to ultimately never get completely off the ground.

What I didn’t like:
This books overall downfall was its pacing, that ranges from pedestrian at best, to glacial at its worst. It takes the story about until the 60% mark to really get to the advertised plot and suspense, which for a 500+ page novel is too much time to take for a “build up”. While I’m usually all about the slow burning stories, I actually found myself bored and unmotivated to pick the book back up. My thoughts began to drift whilst reading and my investment in the characters and the mystery dwindled the further I got. Even the atmospheric descriptions I loved to start with became repetitive over time: there’s only so many times you can read about ravens before feeling like you get the point by now. Still, I was hoping for a phenomenal ending to make it worth the investment. Unfortunately; the ending was even less to my liking.
At about the 90% mark, the story start to pick up in pace, feeling very unbalanced when compared to everything before it. We end with a reveal that is a (admittedly quite cool) twist on a familiar trope, followed by a deus-ex-machina solution that felt like the author didn’t know how else to get their characters out of this mess.
Considering this author’s talent for creating atmosphere and the previous success of A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World, this story felt a few edits short of the version it could have been.

Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group & Orbit UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a wonderful folk horror inflected literary novel which takes time to establish characters. I love the work of Andrew Michael Hurley and Lucie McKnight Hardy, and this book feels like a real find in the same vein.

I really enjoyed this book. Its set in my home country of Scotland which I loved. Although slow to start, it does build up the characters and a sense of dread for what's to come. I wouldn't call it a virus, it's a curse but it's very well done.

This was one of those books that was a little hit and miss for me. I loved parts, but not others. One of my major issues was that it was slow burning, and it didn’t have me hooked or turning the pages. I found myself not wanting to pick it up to get back into the story.

However, the author did a fabulous job of setting the scene and invoking the atmosphere. It was creepy for sure, and the characters were interesting and are ones I’ll remember.

Overall, it wasn’t quite for me but I’m still glad I read it. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4807572442

I don’t know how to get the review posted here but the link should take you through to where I hope it is located in Goodreads.

As much as it pains to give up on books, this will have to be a DNF. It took me days to read just about 40 pages. I cannot warm up to the witting style and so far most of the characters are very annoying. Top it up, I've skimmed a few reviews and it seems that the core story features the supernatural and/or even zombies....something that I really don't have head-space for.. I am really sorry.

I love a British horror and this being set in Scotland was no exception. While the book admittedly starts off slow, the sinister little scraps we're fed throughout the dialogue and scenery description was well written and kept me wincing whenever a character unknowingly put themselves in danger or when something bad was clearly about to happen.

I loved the third person narrative, switching between narratives. There were several POVs which was a bit confusing at first but I feel like that added to the general feel of the novel and I found each character's personality and troubles were cleverly written and the way the whole island was tangled in each other's lives was really interesting. Sig and Kathleen were particular favourites and their perspectives were beautifully flawed and strongwilled and I would have loved to read entire novels just in their perspectives as I felt their characters were really fleshed out.

I did find myself skimming the italicised parts of the book at the beginning of each of the four parts as I found they were a bit long-winded and didn't interest me - the book read fine without me reading these parts and if anything added a bit more of an uncertainty as the plot unfolded. The ending wasn't particularly for me as it appeared to veer off from your typical horror vibe and more towards a fantasy ending, whereas I had been more reeled in to read a book on horror folklore.

Overall, this book had just the right unsettling atmosphere that I have always loved. While a bit slow at times, Fletcher's writing style kept me interested throughout and I tore through the last few chapters because I was desperate to find out the resolution. I will definitely pick up their future books and could see this as a gritty British horror film.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really creepy book that snatches you up slowly. Admittedly, I had a hard time getting into it because it took a longer time to start off, with so many characters. Some characters were likeable, some were not, but all of them were well done and intriguing to follow. The premise of the book made me think that one thing was going to happen but it turned out to be a different thing. I don't really mind it that much though. I still really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely recommend.

I am afraid to say I did not finish this title.
I was enticed by the folk horror label but I became quickly disenchanted by the prologue which seemed to be fantasy and then as the different characters were introduced I felt like I couldn't invest the time. Having read the other reviews on here I decided that the slow build and length meant I had to give this a pass.

Almost a 5 star read for me but I felt the ending let it down. I loved the multiple pov’s, it started slow but it really worked so you get to know the characters and the setting, it was a nice level of creepy and atmospheric and kept me hooked. As I say though the ending for me got a bit silly and lost some of the magic that had built up throughout sadly.

When I first started reading this book, I did wonder if I was reading something that I'd selected, as the first part of "Dead Water" by CA Fletcher is in italics and of the fantasy genre. However, when the story gets going, it's quite enjoyable. I enjoyed reading about the characters who lived on the island and those visiting the island. However, I must admit that I skipped most of the italicised sections as they were quite dull to me. There is obviously a tie-in and this is where my interest in the book probably peaked and I was also lost as a reader... the whole "horror" scenes weren't doing it for me and I did skim read towards the end. I don't doubt the plot would make a great film, but I'm just not that interested in reading it as a book.

Sadly I didn't really like this book.
I was just constantly bored and found not very much happened for over half the book.
I know some people will enjoy this book but it just wasn't for me.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I was interested to read this as I loved Francine Toon's Pine and Dead Water has been compared to it. I can see why it was suggested to fans of Toon however, the writing isn't up to her standard and the narrative feels alot longer than Pine. That said Dead Water has a sense of unease about it and it places at it's centre a character who is grieving and uses that to push the narrative along. There are multiple characters some more likeable than others so you have to be on your toes when reading each characters narrative as you can get confused at times. It is a slow burn of a novel, so you have to have some patience, it maybe would have had more power if it had been slightly shorter, getting the reader to the action and so giving them a punchier read.

Enjoyable novel that brings together traits of folk horror with what I felt was an almost Stephen King style focus on the majority of residents and visitors to a remote Scottish island. And in a traditional Stephen king manner not many of them are destined to make it…

The ambition is there, but the delivery can’t quite sustain the page count for me; a shorter book would likely have been a bit punchier and benefitted from honing in on the core narrative. Overall I would recommend as the sense of atmosphere sees it through.

Unfortunately this book fails to deliver on the promise of the plot. Water zombies on a remote Scottish island? Yes please! 3/4 of the story being endless introspection and backstory from about twelve different POV characters? No thank you! It didn't even succeed in making the zombified characters tragic- it just made me relieved as that meant it was one less person to keep track of.

I can't fault Fletcher's narrative ambition, but honestly, it made the book a bit of a slog and not nearly spooky enough.