From the bestselling author of The Butterfly Garden comes a suspenseful new series for the #MeToo era about vigilante justice, close friends, and getting away with murder.Florida journalism undergrad Rebecca Sorley is like any other college student. She tries to keep up with her studies, her friends, and her hot-tempered roommate, Ellie, who regularly courts trouble with the law.When a male … the law.
When a male student’s remains are found in alligator-infested waters, the university warns students to stay away from the reptiles. But then a second body shows up, and the link is undeniable. Both men belonged to the same fraternity and had a reputation for preying on and hurting women.
Ellie has previously threatened to kill men who don’t take no for an answer. Rebecca and her friends thought Ellie was kidding. But now a vigilante killer is roaming campus—someone who knows how to dispose of rapists. Someone determined to save female students from horrible crimes.
With each passing day, those who know Ellie become more convinced she’s responsible. But if she is, stopping her might not be in everyone’s best interest…
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Twisted, but nothing like The Butterfly Garden, Dot Hutchinson’s wildly popular first novel. Some readers will find this one a bit too much of a feminist rant–college guys being killed (by alligators) because of their record of raping and intimidating coeds. Their means of death become central to the plot involving five suitemates–one of whom declares getting eaten by ‘gators is too merciful for the vics. Part of her rage is personal, stemming from her roommate’s brutal attack the previous year that has left her a vegetable. The main character is likeable and empathetic and not so secretly “in love” with one of the town’s cops. She holds the group together and manages to make sense of the killings for most of the campus with an op-ed piece she writes for the Washington Post. Lots of threads woven neatly together, but readers of the genre will quickly figure out who the killer is. Question is: should the killer face legal justice?
Grossed out by alligators in Chapter 1 then went downhill in Chapter 2. Sorry, but could not finish.
Really great story! I had figured out the who early on in the book. The clues where there. Then I became unsure, all of a sudden there are possibilities pointing to another culprit. I was surprised by the revealing of Gemma. That was brilliant!
Let’s address the elephant in the room first, Deadly Waters is from a woman college student’s viewpoint. It’s skewed. Looking through the reviews you’ll see there’s a lot of people not digging the man-hating side of this story which is a HUGE background in the story. Yes, it gives the impression that there are zero decent men or college boys around. It sets the stage that date rape drugs run rampant and happen extremely often. The story also mentions that this imaginary college is one of the college’s rated low on safety. I think one word in that last sentence bears repeating… IMAGINARY! This is just a fiction story. You shouldn’t be basing facts on fiction because it isn’t all true or even some true.
With that all said, this was a truly excellent story! Yeah, if there ever was a sad look at rape culture in college, Deadly Waters is it!! What I think stories like this do is open up a dialog for people to tackle the big topics and to look up factual information. There is also some aspects that are really significant and I really was proud Dot Hutchison shined a light on. No one owes anyone anything for help, for a date, just because. As a society we need to reevaluate the way we accuse the victim because of how they dressed or how drink they were. People need to own their control over themselves. We are currently in a time where young girls cannot wear tank tops because it’s too distracting for young boys. That’s plain inexcusable in my opinion and well past time we taught young men to control themselves and to own their problems and shortcomings. Ok, ok… I’m now off my high horse…
So while I see the ‘man-bashing’ side of this story, I also see it as a story meant to entertain and to strike a nerve during the #MeToo movement. I was entertained and by the looks of my review, it hit a nerve.I couldn’t listen quickly enough. For a thriller/mystery there was plenty of murders spaced evenly throughout to keep you interested and wondering. The narration by Sarah Naughton was done quite well. Naughton has a pleasant speaking voice. I felt like she definitely added to the way the audiobook felt so intriguing.
Thank you Brilliance Publishing for the complimentary copy of this audiobook with the hope that I would leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… my opinions.
I didn’t love this book mostly because it seemed like a really extreme version of reality. Every female in this book was a victim of either rape or assault and every male (except one) was a predator. I do think the author wrote about an important topic – young males who assault women and then are categorized as “boys being boys” or who are just given a slap on the wrist because it would a shame to ruin the rest of their life because of one incident (while the unfortunate victim is left scarred for the rest of their life).
Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.
5 stars
Sexual assault is endemic on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville in this novel. Someone has taken it upon themselves to deal some justice. While I don’t necessarily agree with vigilante justice all the time, it seems there is place for it. The women in this story are completely unable to get anyone to listen to them, let alone to prosecute the offenders. Okay, enough soapbox.
This book is difficult to read because it deals with the sexual assault of young women. Having gone through the experience myself, I could really feel for the characters in the story.
While a mystery/police procedural (in some ways), I was fascinated with the subject matter. I must admit that I was rooting for the murderer (“insta- gator”), all the way. I am embarrassed to admit that and perhaps my reaction is heavily colored with my memories of my experiences.
This book illustrates clearly what the victims of sexual violence must face if they report it. The writing is most excellent as was the plotting. Despite the content of the story, I was both entranced and engaged with Rebecca, Ellie, Hasfeh and all the other women in the book. The men who committed the heinous acts were deplorable and I disliked them intensely. This is my first Dot Hutchinson book and I will certainly go to Amazon to look at her other novels.
I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review.
A good story, with an entertaining theme for killing, but occasionally a bit predictable. I did enjoy reading it however.
This book is so well written and gripping, it’s hard to put into words how disturbing the fantasy revenge is; both a thrill ride and a horror played out before you. Like not wanting to look at the horrific accident you pass on a highway, and being highly ashamed that you can’t tear your eyes away. This will not be for a lot off people.