Thicker Than Water
By: Brigid Kemmerer
Release Date: December 29th 2015
Publisher: Kensington Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
A copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
My Rating:
Summary:
On his own
Thomas Bellweather hasn’t been in town long. Just long enough for his newlywed mother to be murdered, and for his new stepdad’s cop colleagues to decide Thomas is the primary suspect.
Not that there’s any evidence. But before Thomas got to Garretts Mill there had just been one other murder in twenty years.
The only person who believes him is Charlotte Rooker, little sister to three cops and, with her soft hands and sweet curves, straight-up dangerous to Thomas. Her best friend was the other murder vic. And she’d like a couple answers.
Answers that could get them both killed, and reveal a truth Thomas would die to keep hidden…
My Thoughts:
Thicker Than Water was my first Kemmerer book to read- throughout my blogging career I have heard really wonderful things about her writing and books so I was so thrilled to receive a copy for review. This wouldn’t normally be something I’d pick up (that cover is not to my liking) but I was willing to give it a try due to all the positive things I’d heard.
This book started off very strong. The story was told in first person by two separate people- I love when books are set up this way because I feel we get to see things from several perspectives. This usually has me feeling more invested in the story and this book was no different. I formed an attachment early on to Thomas- this poor boy had been through so much so early and I could feel his sadness radiating from the pages. I was so sad for him and hated the way he was treated in this small town. It made me love Charlotte because she could look past the rumors and see (or try to see) who he really was- how brave of her to be able to look past society’s perception of him.
The chemistry between these characters was electric and kept me flipping the pages. I was eager to see who was actually responsible for the crime and see justice served. There was true suspense for the first section of the book and I was riveted…then things changed for me. I thoroughly thought this book was a mystery/contemporary but about 3/4 in things the tone and genre shifted. All of a sudden paranormal aspects started showing up. They felt abrupt and SO not in character for the book. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t expect it or if it really felt disjointed but it made the last section of the book feel completely different than the start. I was so disappointed (and confused) by this shift.
The ending felt contrived due to the shift in genre and things seemed to fall in place a bit too easy. I had expected something so much different- sure I didn’t see the twist coming but it wasn’t a feeling of ‘a-ha!’ it was more, ‘what book am I reading?’ Hopefully other readers won’t be pulled out of the story as badly as I was and can enjoy the strong writing and character chemistry- but for me, it lowered my over-all feel for the book a good amount.
Final Thoughts:
Thicker Than Water had a strong start for me- I felt the character chemistry, tension and suspense but the last section of the book threw me off and felt disjointed from the rest of the book. This was still an enjoyable read but it isn’t a favorite. I will want to check out more from Kemmerer because her character portrayals were done very well.
