Synopsis

Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he’s dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes.

When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, Murph’s mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.

With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past–and the ghosts who tried to bury them.

With Charles Martin’s trademark lyricism and poignant prose, The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story, a heartrending search for freedom, an exploration of the terrible cost of human trafficking, and an anthem to the power of love to create change when it show up regardless of the cost.

(via Amazon)

Review

*TRIGGER WARNINGS*
Due to the sensitive nature of human trafficking, there are quite a few moments in this book that showcase the depravity of those who buy and sell people to the highest bidder. Since this is ultimately an uplifting story, the details are modified as such to be more PG in rating. There are scenes of bloodshed and death again par for the course but nothing too graphic. If you find reading about kidnapping, suicidal thoughts/attempts, abandonment, and drug/alcohol use to be triggering, read at your own discretion!

I will say, I was blown away from Charles Martin’s writing. Going from reading pretty much exclusive women writers, the change of perspective was quite welcoming. One thing I noticed right away was how blunt Charles wrote the characters, versus the sort of dancing around of the female written characters. Basically, I enjoyed the writing and the quick no-nonsense of the main characters in this book.

The incredibly serious subject matter was handled really respectfully in the book. You get enough details to understand the gravity of the situation, while the more graphic details are not present. Along with the darkness of modern-day slavery, the overwhelming theme throughout the book was one of hope, forgiveness, moving away from the past and into a more promising future. Each character in this book entered with a traumatic or plain sad story and left a little bit more redeemed than they began. ‘The Water Keeper’ is a solid contemporary thriller with plenty of suspense and Christian themes spread throughout. There were countless times in which you could feel the tension and pressure Murphy was placed under and it could be stifling having that much responsibility on your shoulders.

The majority of the book takes place in Florida, mainly along the northern coast and intracoastal waterways. One interesting aspect of this book was how Murphy’s main mode of transportation was his boat ‘Going Fiction’. Now, I personally do not know anything about boats, except the few times I have been on the smaller fishing vessels, so I was a bit overwhelmed with all the boat and sailing lingo that is used throughout the book. Murphy, along with the rest of his crew spend the majority of the time in the water in some capacity, so I did enjoy the scenery that was being described. There are some exciting moments of boat chases in here that I am simply not used to feeling that level of excitement and adrenaline. Some of my favorite scenes included that of the lighthouse and the swampy areas with all the gators. I could fill the drenching humidity from here.

Murphy Shepherd is an interesting individual who has jumped to one of my favorite male protagonists in any book. He is everything I enjoy about a strong male character; resourceful, altruistic, a sucker for romance (even though he shoves that part of him down), dependable, masculine, etc. He is the type of person that attempts to hide his heart, while wearing it on his sleeves. He has truly seen so much depravity and loss in his lifetime, that I understand the apprehension of feeling vulnerable to anyone. Instead of using his loss as an excuse to cause more pain to others, he has decided to transform that hurt into something more productive, such as rescuing women and children who have been subjected to some of the worst trauma one can experience in this modern world. Throughout the book, he shows genuine compassion to those he comes across. He listens attentively to their individual stories and remains steadfast in his blunt honesty with them, as to not instill false hope where hope may be lost. He was always willing to put himself in danger, no questions asked if it means securing a prisoner or making sure the bad guys do not get away with their crimes. His brave exterior, even while facing down such a formidable enemy, was a testament to his strong character and moral compass.

There are a couple of strong plot twists that involve Murphy, one of which I saw coming. The other involved somebody whom Murphy has been close to for years. I will say, I struggled with some of the twists due to the circumstances feeling a bit too coincidental to feel realistic. This is the main reason why I am rating this book four stars instead of five.

Another main character in this story was Summer, the mother of Angel who is the main target of rescue for Murphy. She becomes a character when Murphy just so happens to spot her, trying to get her daughter back. She had to be dragged out of the water due to her believing she could not swim at first. Regardless of her fears of never seeing her daughter again, she held on to the mask of being a strong and resilient mother. Feeling as though she played a part in Angel deciding to leave home and go hang out with these strange people, she struggles a lot with her own regrets in her past. As the book goes on, she begins to heal those past traumas little by little as this story ends positively for her. I will say, she acted more of an older sister than a mom to Angel in my opinion. I began having thoughts of understanding of why Angel decided to get herself in this mess to begin with. There was this one point in which Angel was being rather flirtatious with Murphy, and Summer (who clearly had her eyes set on Murphy as well) did not bother saying anything to her daughter about her behavior and comments. I found it a bit odd considering the circumstance she almost found herself in.

The romance between Murphy and Summer felt more out of condition than actual love to me. They definitely had some attractions to each other without a doubt, but I could not get over how both mother and underage daughter were flirting with the same guy. This is definitely not a book to read solely for the romance, that is for sure. At one point, I was afraid there was going to be a bit of a love triangle thing going on, but fortunately, there was not. Murphy and Summer do share some tender moments with each other on the hunt for Angel but of course, not overtly sexual.

All in all, if you are in the mood for a suspenseful thriller and not afraid to be faced with a very dark truth, I recommend this book to you. This is the first in the Murphy Shepherd series and I do plan on reading the remaining books in the series.