Silent Waters by L.V. Matthews

 

Silent Waters by L.V. Matthews.

Published 14th September 2023 by Welbeck.

From the cover of the book:

Is blood thicker than water?

At five a.m. one summer's morning, police diver Jen Harper wakes to find herself submerged in the silt of a river with no memory of how she got there.

Forty-eight hours later, she's called to dive in the same river in search of a missing woman, Claudia Franklin.

But for Jen, this is no ordinary job. Her and Claudia's families were entangled for decades – there is unresolved resentment between them, unspoken secrets.

Jen hasn't seen Claudia for twelve years now. Or has she?

***********

Police diver, Jen Harper, awakes early one morning to find herself submerged in the river, with no memory of how she came to be there. Her childhood habit of sleepwalking has come back to haunt her in the wake of a whole mass of anxieties about her life and family, but her nightmares are only just beginning... Later that same week, Jen is called to the same spot to search for the body of a missing woman, Claudia Franklin. A woman she has not seen for twelve years... or has she? 

Unable to admit that her and Claudia's families share uncomfortable history, Jen finds herself caught up in a web of lies intended to protect herself, her son, and her brother. But before long, she realises that she might actually be protecting a murderer too... 

Silent Waters is a twisty tale that is part unconventional police procedural and part gripping family drama. It did take me a while to get my head around the story, as it is very fragmented to begin with, but once I settled into Matthew's writing style I really liked how she builds this tale around a group of almost entirely unlikeable characters with a bevy of family secrets between them. Threads of enforced silence, abuse of trust, obsession, and guilt thrum through the complicated chain of events that Matthews conjures up in these pages, and I particularly enjoyed how she plays with the notion of the lengths that people will go to to protect the ones they love from harm.

I think this is the first book have read that delves into the work of police divers, which Matthews brings to life in all its menacing and macabre glory. This adds a fascinating edge to the police procedural side of things. There are some great elements set around the highly competitive world of the sport of diving too, which provide lovely fodder for the parts of the story around dark deeds and betrayal, and make for a cracking climax.

This is not a book that grabs hold of you from the beginning, despite the unsettling scene that Matthew's forces upon you straight out of the gate, but it gradually gets under your skin - the direction it takes is intriguing, and once the reveals come, it sets you reeling. It is well worth diving into...

Silent Waters is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Ed PR for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

For over ten years L V Matthews worked both in domestic and international sales for major UK publishing houses, before leaving to pursue a career in writing.

SILENT WATERS is her newest thriller novel (out July 2023)

THE TWINS was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick.

Also available, Liv's debut, THE PRANK.

All published by Welbeck.