Deep Water – Shadows of Camelot Crossing: A Haunting in Stillwater, Book 2 by Lisa Courtaway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Birdie has lived her whole life cleaning up after her younger sister, Wren, taking the brunt of the consequences of her actions, and trying to keep her parents blissfully unaware of just how much trouble Wren can find herself in. When Wren leaves home one day, without her young children, without even saying anything, she leaves Birdie once again picking up the pieces. When Birdie starts seeing her sister in reflections, hearing and feeling her presence as she goes about her life, she’s not sure what to make of it, but eventually the truth of what happened will come out, and Birdie will be the one to make things right.
Having read and really enjoyed Red Water, the first book in the Shadows of Camelot Crossing series, I jumped at the chance to read and review the second entry, Deep Water. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as Red Water, it was still a good read. The characters were realistic and flawed, though I wouldn’t say likeable (not a necessity, of course), the ghost was suitably tragic, and Camelot Crossing is still a nice, increasingly surprising neighbourhood.
Characters first, shall we? The character we follow throughout the majority of the story is Birdie, older, more responsible sister to Wren. Birdie is self sacrificing to a fault, putting her entire life on hold to pick up the pieces every time Wren disappears, or relapses into drug addiction, or just seems to get bored of her life and children. I am glad that the children are looked after and loved, even with their flighty mother being such a disappointment, but it became somewhat frustrating how much Birdie complained. She made her choices, and seemed to revel in the chance to tell everyone how much she sacrificed, and how unhappy she often was. It became repetitive and difficult to sympathise with her.
Wren was even worse, treating her parents and sister like garbage, and frequently endangering her children, neglecting and disrupting their care, and ultimately leaving them behind to begin a new life. Unfortunately, this new life is quickly extinguished, and the haunting begins. However, due to how terrible Wren was in life, which we know about from the start, I didn’t feel a strong need for her spirit to be put to rest. I have read many stories about ghosts of terrible people, but either we uncover their story throughout the haunting, not before hand, or they are the kind of ghost that is supposed to be feared and detested. I felt like I was being pushed toward sympathy here, which I just couldn’t feel. There were definitely tragic aspects to her, but I was left feeling rather ambivalent.
Speaking of the ghost, Wren was kind of a disappointing haunt. All things considered, she barely plays a role in the story, though when she did appear, she did some really interesting things. However, there was little tension in the story or the haunting. Which is a shame, as I know that the author is capable of writing a spectacular ghost story. So of course, I am very excited for the third book set in Camelot Crossing. There was a plot twist at the end that I really liked, which I feel added an additional layer to the story thinking back on it, which added a lot.
Once again, I enjoyed the setting of Camelot Crossing. We are following a different family than in the first book, and their house was nice, though not described in extreme detail. I loved that they lived next door to the first family. The shared universe is something that I find fascinating and wish there was more of in the horror genre. I believe that Lisa Courtaway is doing a fantastic job with this. I also find a certain amount of catharsis in reading books set during the Covid outbreak, and I like that these books don’t shy away from addressing the difficulties of living amidst Covid.
Overall, this book wasn’t the strongest I’ve read, but I ultimately enjoyed it. I would recommend it if you want to keep up with the local news in Camelot Crossing, and if you want to follow Lisa Courtaway’s development as an author, which is exciting to support. You can even read this if you haven’t read Red Water since it is a stand alone!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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Rebecka O'Malley 