In the Deepest of Waters Book Review

In the Deepest of Waters by Ryan Mullaney

Click here for the Amazon product page.

Blurb:

Down to her last dollar, former Miami Beach lifeguard Libby Pritchard needs to make something happen, or find herself living on the streets. She doesn't want a fortune. Just enough to make a fresh start. It doesn't seem fair that she can't make ends meet within the law, yet people like her ex-boyfriend Josh are dealing drugs and prospering.

Pushed to the breaking point, Libby must make a choice: continue on her current path and hope everything works out...or take what she feels should belong to her. A chance meeting with an Iraq war vet sends her on an inescapable downward spiral when a plot to rob her ex-boyfriend doesn't go according to plan.

Review by Brittany:

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the second book I've read by Mullaney, the first being Calm Before the Storm. (Click here for that review.)

I enjoyed this one a lot more. This one was more focused on Libby and her point of view of things that were happening. The Iraq vet, Mark, also gets a bit of the story, but most of the focus was on Libby. The book opens with her getting attacked by a shark, the incident that changes her life for the worse. Most of the story takes place two years later, after Libby has had numerous surgeries and is struggling to make ends meet, living in a the motel where she meets Mark.

I felt incredibly sorry for Libby. Here's a woman who wanted only to be a lifeguard and was permanently injured from doing her job. At twenty-six, she works two crappy jobs and has a limp and scars to constantly remind her of what happened to her. Her lovely ex-boyfriend left her while she was in the hospital after the attack, and seeing him one night with lots of money pushes Libby a little over the edge.

Mark was also a character that I felt a bit sorry for. He had his own demons he was battling, the full picture of which the reader doesn't get until the very end. His desire to help Libby comes from a sense of needing redemption for a simple mistake that still haunts him.

Without giving away any spoilers, all I can really say is that this book is a great example of getting an idea that goes way wrong. Libby's plan to rob her ex isn't exactly a great idea, but the ways in which it goes wrong forever alters every character's future.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The pace was perfect, Libby and Mark made for some interesting, real characters, and the ending made me happy, in a weird way. There was some violence, but it wasn't anything too graphic and fit with the theme of the book. I definitely recommend reading this one!

Notable quotes:

Libby tried telling herself that she wasn't afraid of what was happening to her, what she was capable of doing if pushed far enough.

Good times and bad times had been shared, as with any relationship. Nothing in life is ever totally pure or wholly foul.

How could she think she knew someone so well, yet not know them at all?

That wasn't what bothered her. It was her own forgetfulness, that human moment where she realized just how much she sucked at life. A simple task such as remembering a calendar date had got the better of her.