Watery Grave is a book about a suspected murder investigation for a case that had been ruled out as an accident. A persistent family member of the deceased insists on finding out the truth when everyone else has given up.
This book has too many things besides the mystery itself. I wish for more suspects, more motives, and more natural investigations of the case. Still, instead, it focuses a lot on relationships and some unnecessary scenes and interactions that are distracting and bring down the story's primary focus. The characters and their interactions are unrealistic. In my opinion, they feel unnatural, and it's hard for me to root for them. The main characters are cheesy and horny most of the time, and it's confusing about which traits define them because they feel all over the place. Some mundane dialogues go on for a long time without getting anywhere or escalate out of nowhere. Even though there are enough backstories, they don't make me feel for the characters as they serve as mere backstories, and I don't feel the deeper story connections to them than grazing the surface.
A suspension of disbelief is needed for the case itself, and some information is contradictory. Is the case famous or not? Some scene mentions keeping it secret from the students but providing the place and time; some mention about eight thousand nosy reporters, but no one notices anything until the main character comes along.
The case itself is intriguing, and there are enough details as it is uncovered layer by layer. The effort to put in plausible, logical explanations is commendable, and I enjoyed the details. The early part of the book, when many supporting characters are introduced, could be much stronger if they played more significant parts and if there were more suspense. If only the story focused more on the case than other distracting things, it would have much more potential to be a strong mystery novel.
3 out of 5
