.
. . .
.

Dead Water has all the ingredients for a thrilling read, with its remote island location and folklore-inspired horror. I appreciated the representation of a heroine with a physical disability. But despite the promising set-up, I was let down by the book's pacing. We were immediately introduced to a large cast of characters that I had a hard time remembering, and it took a long time for the plot to get going.

I liked the closed-off atmosphere in the book, and there are some high stakes for the characters. But I found myself struggling to stay invested in the story. I think this could have been shorter, with more sustained pacing rather than everything going haywire at the end. The conclusion feels too neat. Not my favourite but this might work for other readers.

This took a couple attempts to get into I must admit, but once the plot develops it moves along at a better pace. Not the normal read for me, but a character driven atmospheric book, a bit if a slow burn, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not what I normally go for. I'd definitely have a read of more of the authors work.

This book is a gargantuan, dark, heavy and terrible train that begins to move at an almost glacial pace, but gathers momentum - unstoppable and undeniable, until it is a roaring force of nature that had me unable to sit reading the final pages.

I'd call it folk horror. Based on a Scottish island, characters are hewn beautifully and drive this slow burn perfectly. Vikings. Curses. Ravens. Heroes and bastards and dogs and water.

I really don't want to give too much away, but please - if you have patience for a slower, creepy and dark horror book - give this beauty a spin. But leave the lights on and the door locked when you do!

This was a slow burn and ominous horror set on a Scottish Island and predominantly focused on the characters, and I really enjoyed it. For most of the first half of the novel, we are introduced to a variety of characters and spend time living their lives with them, all the while knowing that something bad is coming. This created a really great sense of impending doom and I spent a lot of time worried about the people (and dogs) I had grown fond of. When the horror hits, it has all the more impact for this reason. The action sequences were tightly woven and fast paced and there was enough down time to catch your breath before the next one. This book won't work for everyone - it is definitely slow and quiet for the most part - but it definitely worked for me.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Surprising and satisfying.
I read this without revisiting the blurb, and wasn’t expecting the slow creep of dread that spread through the story (and island). But I really enjoyed getting to know the island and islanders, lightly but clearly sketched. I wanted to see how it could become right, and what the day would look like when it did.

It's time to tidy up my shelf and I have tried several times to read this book but, sadly, I am just not feeling it. Not every book works for every reader and I guess this is not one for me.
Thank you for the chance anyway.
3 Stars as picking the middle one!

Slow burn psychological folk horror with great characterisation and gradual creeping dread. It suffers in places with a plodding pace but the payoff is well worth it. Anyone who likes a slow build creepy read should enjoy this one. Great setting too.

This book was a fantastic, tension building, Dark and thrilling horror. It isn’t an instantaneous horrific, in your face scare. Dead Water is more a slow burn folk horror which has an underlying tension running throughout the novel. Due to the nature of the novel i won’t discuss any particulars so I don’t give anything away.

However what i will say is that the short chapters and undercurrent of tension made me read through this book so fast. I completely devoured this book in a weekend and really enjoyed every minute of it.

From the prose to the character development, C.A Fletcher’s ability to unnerve the reader is impressive.

I loved the interwining of mythology/folklore and the whole small town, or in this case small island vibe just adds to the tension and is always a winner.

It is a chunky horror but I didn’t realise just how long it was until I checked the page count at the end as the time sped by for me.

If you are looking for a dark, unnerving folk horror book this October I highly recommend this.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – a chunky, slow burn folk horror which will unnerve you and you may not know why until you get further into the book.

C.A. Fletcher is another completely new name for me. It wasn't until the rather brief author bio at the end of the book that I even knew he was a he. There are no previous publications listed so I assume this is a debut novel.

On a remote Scottish island, trouble breaks out when an ancient curse is released. The water becomes a source of terror, and the islanders are pulled into a struggle between life and death,

Stated that way this sounds like standard fare, but Fletcher is a damned good writer, and this feels like a totally fresh, original and frankly, bloody terrifying, read.

This is packed with set pieces and action sequences that left me reeling. Some of the imagery is dredged from the scariest of nightmares.

The plot takes a while to build and become clear, but it's never slow paced. He switches viewpoints between each of the characters in alternating short chapters. The tension builds from the first pages. Events may start slowly, but there's a clear set of dominoes that he topples one by one, each time raising the stakes and thinning out the cast still further.

It's all told in a perfectly rendered present tense, which gives everything a sense of immediacy and ratchets the sense of unease even more. He uses the opening chapters to put flesh on the bones of his characters, giving them all good backstories and motivations. The location is perfectly painted and is almost a character in itself. The sense of isolation from the rest of the world is palpable.

I loved the way that he credits the reader with enough intelligence to put the pieces together, particularly in the first half of the book.

The power of the writing raises what could have been a very generic story into something new and brilliant. There's even space for some of the blackest humour I've seen in a good while.

It's a fantastic book. If you like deeply chilling tales of remote communities getting being destroyed by unstoppable supernatural forces, this is the book for you. I would give it six stars if I could

3,5* upped to 4
I loved A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World, an unsual dystopia novel that is still amongst the best dystopia I read in the last years.
I had high expectations for this one but, even if I liked it, I struggled as the pace was very slow and it took ages before some action too place.
That said the author is a talented world building and this folk horror story would have been excellent if a bit more fast paced.
Recommended if you love folk horror.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I have a not so secret love of a good zombie book sometimes they are just what I want to read .i loved this author’s previous book The Boy his dog and the end of the world and was excited to see this book on NetGalley Uk
The format of this story is not typical for the zombie genre it states with us getting to know a selection of interesting characters quite well and the remote Scottish island they end up being stuck on when storms prevent the daily ferry crossing .it’s a small population made even smaller by the fact that most islanders are off ok the mainland for a music festival .The claustrophobia this creates is helpful to the story and means that ultimately you know both healthy and afflicted islanders well enough to be affected by their outcomes
The underlying story of a Viking curse isn’t quite as strong as the naturalistic sections of the book but do serve to explain the turning of some islanders to water zombies .
There are some very amusing sections one which I particularly enjoyed was the old man and his gentle dog both of whom are turned
Personally I thought the book ended too suddenly and the way the story ended was rather unsatisfactory.
I enjoyed the book but not quite as much as the boy his dog and the end of the world which I loved
I would recommend to lovers of zombie books who might enjoy the differences this story has from the standard zombie fare
I read a copy on NetGalley Uk the book was published in the Uk on 22 July 2022

I loved Dead Water; I was sad when I got to the end.

I enjoyed the main characters, it is unusual to have a main character with a disability let alone 2 characters in the book. The story was atmospheric and creepy, it was a slow build at first, but I didn’t have a problem with that; it helped the reader really get to know Sig and the other characters.

I would love to see it made into a film.

C. A. Fletcher proves himself to be an auteur of the highest order in this cosy set piece horror. Confining his characters to a limited space on a small rocky Scotish island in the North Sea, the author brings us seemingly mundane slices of each life, before imposing his force majeure, which no one escapes untouched.

The island would sit comfortably in a Northern/Scandi noir. There are the leaden skies, the crash of the waves, rocky cliffs, standoffish residents, and the intrusion of the ferry from the mainland. The horror trickles in while we get to know the locals and the local fauna. There are clever corvids and canines, but when the bunnies start to go zombie, we know we're in for something special.

The author introduces a recollection of ancient history from the hand of an old Viking, cursed by Romans. By the time we reach the halfway point in the book, it is more than just a clever diversion, it's reference material. And I bought it. The story of the cursed Viking seemed credible and vibrant. While the author takes his time getting the backstories right on all the main and incidental characters, once the action starts it's cracking.

I have already recommended the book several times, saying, "I can't remember the last time I read a horror story, but you've got to have a go at this!" His YA writing (Stoneheart as Charlie Fletcher) establishes him as a clever master storyteller. And that's what I'm recommending to all of you. Read this cool and unique horror story that bends the mystery of Sheltland (Ann Cleeves) with the toe-curling psychology of Stephen King and creepy folklore of Susan Hill (Woman in Black) or Peadar O'Guilin (The Call).

Thanks to NetGalleyUK and Little, Brown for the eArc.

I am helpless in the face of terror on a Scottish isle. Promise me bad weather and a host of other mundane reasons to live cautiously; stir in an unexpected threat of choice (here, billed as ‘a waterborne blight’), and I am here to fear – and cheer – for the remote community that must rise to the occasion. Dead Water delivers all of this, packaged in an intimate story of personal trauma.

That said, it won’t be for everyone (in part because of a red herring in the blurb). If you’re seeking a creeping horror that may or may not have a supernatural source, this unapologetic Scottish folk horror may not be for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a story that charges out of the gate with all the scares, you may find Dead Water too slow for your tastes.

C A Fletcher invests the first half of the book in his cast and location. His all-the-POV approach – unafraid to switch POVs mid-scene – would not usually be to my taste, but he deftly establishes key characters with painful depths, creating an unexpectedly intimate atmosphere in spite of the head-hopping. The approach clearly conveys that this is a book about community, determined to convey the varied threads of island life before they get snipped out (although I admit I did reach saturation; I could have done with a couple fewer points of view in the first phase).

When things go wrong, it’s in a series of heart-stopping moments that alternate between false alarms, unexpected stomach flips (who knew a dog licking someone could be so chilling), the creeping chill of knowing more than the protagonists and the almost ludicrous progression of events that lead to the island being cut off. In the end, though, Dead Water is all ancient curses and water zombies. If the sudden escalation from mundane drama to supernatural carnage was slightly disconcerting - I was expecting a slower infection, where residents had time to look askance seeking mundane reasons for it - I thoroughly enjoyed it on its own terms nonetheless.

This is one of those reads that it is far too easy to stay up far too late reading just one more chapter of. I had some minor quibbles with the surprisingly uplifting ending – I felt it should have at least acknowledged the impact the awful events will have on the community – but overall this is a dark rollercoaster I can only recommend to those seeking spooky thrills.

Well I absolutely loved this book!
Beautifully written and wonderfully atmospheric. I read much of this during a heatwave yet felt chilled to the bone, brilliant! The characters were realistic and relatable, flawed and heroic. I cannot wait to read more by this author and I highly recommend this book!

"Dead Water" is one hell of an exciting story that takes place on a small island with a hundred inhabitants who live off fishing and a bit of tourism. For one weekend, half of the residents travel to the mainland. Those who find it difficult to move, who have to work and who have just come to the island to start a new life or to try their old life again stay on the island, stay on the island.
The story follows the actions of those left on the island and the incidents that happen to them. In addition, there are also a couple of ravens monitoring what is happening on the island, and they have noticed the malevolent darkness that has appeared on the island, which has affected both animals and people. Someone has broken down an old seamark, Viking cairn, and it seems that something has also been found under it, which should have been left alone. A vest is also found washed up on the beach, with a metal box in the pocket containing a folder made of a strange material, full of strange writing. Employees of a telecommunications company come to the island, which should improve the internet connection on the island, but due to a stupid mistake, they cut off the island from net altogether.
Even if the book has been labeled as horror by readers, it's more of a psychological thriller with horror elements, and although the beginning is slow, introducing all the main characters, their backstories, secrets and the island itself, and the suspense builds calmly until it reaches the climax and the whole story is very cinematic, it was seriously good to read. It was similar to how the main character thinks about diving, that at first the air in the divers lungs drags them back to the surface, and then from a certain depth, gravity grabs the diver and starts to drag them down - when you start reading, the story doesn't seem particularly engaging, but once it gets a hold of you, it's very difficult get out again.

When a water-borne blight hits a small community on a remote island on the edge of the North Atlantic, the residents are cut off from the rest of the world and trapped in an increasingly nightmarish ordeal from which they cannot escape.

The slow-burn nature of Dead Water is incredibly effective. The first half of the novel describes life on the island and introduces each character and their individual stories, but overall not much really happens. That is, until the second half when everything happens and absolutely anything that could possible go wrong, does. It was actually a very stressful read, and C.A. Fletcher has done a remarkable job of building the tension to an almost unbearable level and them somehow extending it out across literally half of the entire book.

I really enjoy Fletcher’s writing style, and the way the horror elements are quite subtle and yet entirely terrifying. I think possibly the scariest aspect of this story was the way that everything unraveled so naturally, to the extent that many of the characters didn’t even notice how horribly wrong everything was until events were reaching their climax.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of atmospheric, suspenseful horror, but readers hoping for another book similar to A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World are either in for a pleasant surprise or a world of disappointment. While the two books do share that haunting, dystopian feel, they are very, very different.

The book was atmospheric and definately did serve the isolated island setting it promised. But everything else fell flat.

The build up was excrutiatingly long, 50% into the book, it was still build up. With a book of 500+ pages, I'd want at least some decent hook by that point. The only one there was in my opinion, was a murky "is he her abuser or is there more going on and why did he come here, because it feels like he planned to kill her"? And I am so very not about that.

There were several secrets and mysteries of the inhabitants presented, but many of them got cleared up before the fantastical/horror elements even took hold. And I had issue with how they were cleared up. A lot of internal monologue triggered by a mostly random event. So it felt like I was just being told a lot about these characters and had no reason to really care about the resolution.

Even the curse aspect felt pretty explained before weird stuff even started to properly happen. The pacing was bogged down by descriptions from animal povs... I dont think this was for me.

If you want a slow paced read with heavy focus on personal struggle, grief, interpersonal complications with a backdrop of a curse unleashed on a remote island. Then this is a good read for you. I didn't have the patience..

I also have to say... For how much disability rep this book had, I don't think all of it was done well. Especially with the wheelchair using character, who got described as "stuck" "bound to" "prisoner to" etc to her wheelchair. A wheelchair gives people freedom... And I could see the author wanting to explore the trauma and downsides of disability, but he never really balanced it. Even characters with mobility disabilities described the wheelchair user as restricted to her wheelchair.

I didn't think this was bad. But it wasn't enjoyable for me. 1.75 star read for me.

After reading A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, I was very much looking forward to reading C.A.Fletcher’s second novel. I was not disappointed; his writing just gets better and better. I look forward to reading what he produces next.

This story is set on a small remote Scottish island at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean where the seemingly quiet, tranquil islanders who are plagued by a tragic past, when a treasure hunter unknowingly unleashes a series of horrifying events. How can you fight evil linked to the sea when you are literally surrounded by water? Who will survive and where on an island will be safe?

This book is described as a hauntingly, suspenseful tale of isolation and dread, and for the most part this story delivers. In the beginning you are introduced to a vast number of characters that can be a little overwhelming. Though I feel that this was done on purpose by the author to give the sense of islander life where everyone knows everybody and everybody’s business. I enjoyed Sid’s character most of all with her strong sense of knowing, her strength, given all that life had dealt her, and her unrelenting bond with Rex. I liked the constant flicking of narrators as I enjoy this writing style, though in my opinion some of the characters and scenes were not necessarily pivotal to the story.

If you’re after a gory, fast paced, jump scare horror then this is probably not for you. This is a slow-paced, character-building story, with a more eerie, atmospheric, supernatural horror element. Though the vivid descriptions do leave your spine chilled and goosepimply. I liked the Viking/Nordic themes and the past flash backs that give the story context and meaning, I would have liked more of this as parts of the ending left me a little baffled. In my opinion the story has good pace though the ending conclusion was a little rushed and I felt I needed to know more about what happened next.

Overall, I enjoyed this read and was left still thinking about some of its creepier elements after I had finished.