Review: Thicker Than Water

Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Series: Standalone
Released: December 29th 2015
Publisher: Kensington
Length: 322 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: Amazon

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…

After her very successful Elementals series, which I loved dearly, I’ve been waiting for Brigid Kemmerer standalone project with bated breath. It promised to have everything I’ve come to love about her work: small town mystery, forbidden romance in dual point of view and plenty of excitement to go around.

Thicker Than Water started out wonderfully, though perhaps with an overabundance of negative feelings. It’s clear right away that no love is lost between Thomas and his new town. With his mother just murdered and literally no one on his side, Thomas’ anger and anxiety threaten to overwhelm right from the start. If there is one positive thing I can say about this book (and truly, the praises aren’t many but they are important), it’s the intensity of Thomas’ feelings and how well they came across. Based on my experience with Kemmerer’s work, this seems to be one of her strengths. She knows how to bring forth and amplify whatever her characters are experiencing.

Aside from that, however, there aren’t many positive things I can point out about this book. While I thoroughly enjoyed Thomas’ character, despite his propensity for incredibly stupid behavior, I truly can’t say the same about Charlotte. Her emotions never reached me at all nor did I feel the need to try and relate, but what I did see and understand about her, I didn’t like very much at all. She struck me as selfish and uncaring, spoiled on the one hand and willing to let everyone walk all over her on the other. Aside from finding just a tiny bit of sympathy in an otherwise uncaring environment (which could be seen as a mild form of Stockholm syndrome), I simply couldn’t understand Thomas’ attraction to her.

I was pleasantly surprised by the paranormal plot twist in the last part, which I didn’t expect at all. However, by that point I just didn’t care enough for anything but Thomas himself and I wasn’t at all immersed into the story. The abrupt ending didn’t much help matters and I ended up feeling disappointed. I can sum this up in four words: excellent idea, lousy execution. I trust Kemmerer to do better next time, though.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.