The book:
Under the Water by Paul Pen
Kindle Edition, 313 pages
Published October 1st 2019 by Amazon Crossing
The blurb:
From the outside, Frank and Grace seem to have the perfect family. He’s a loving husband, she’s a devoted wife, and together they have two happy children. But appearances can be deceiving. A strange series of misfortunes has left them reeling: an unexplained break-in, a catastrophic accident, and a bizarre poisoning that’s left Grace feeling especially unnerved. Packing up their RV for a move across the country, they’re ready for a fresh start, expecting to leave all their problems safely behind.
Then one night on the road to their new home, the figure of a young woman emerges from the darkness, causing them to swerve off the road. The injured stranger says her name is Mara. Miles from help, they invite her to stay. But Mara is hiding a secret. And she is not the only one.
Was it all just another inexplicable accident? Or have they opened the door to an escalating family nightmare designed to tear their perfect world apart?
My thoughts…
This book was very silly with ridiculous characters, yet I found I couldn’t put it down!
Frank and Grave are the perfect couple with two children, but things have started going wrong recently so they are moving across the states in their RV to start a new life.
But they don’t count on colliding with a scared (and scary) young woman called Mara.
There is a good twist around halfway through the book which sets things up nicely, but the book gets sillier and sillier, and the characters are all very unlikeable and over the top:
– Grace is utterly perfect and flawless and patient and amazing.
– Frank is a total arse.
– Mara is completely mad and seemed to me to be a very male portrayal of a very sexually available woman who then goes nuts.
– The daughter is really annoying, constantly spouting PC stuff (which I thought was supposed to be funny but maybe not?!)
– And the 9 year old is so sweet and easy going and never complains, despite recently being in a horrible accident which has left him blind in one eye.
The book gets increasingly implausible, but as I say I was unable to put it down so I guess the author was doing something right, and for this reason I give it five out of ten.
My rating: 5 out of 10
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