Today I’m joining the blog tour for Blackwater. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

London, Christmas 1999. The world is on edge. With the new millennium just days away, fears of the Millennium Bug are spiralling – warnings of computer failures, market crashes, even global catastrophe. But fifty miles east, on the frozen Blackwater Island, a different kind of mystery unfolds. A child’s body is discovered on the bracken, untouched by footprints, with no sign of how he died. And no one has come forward to claim him.

At the International Tribune, reporter Jonny Murphy senses something is off. Police are appealing for relatives, not suspects. An anonymous call led officers to the scene, but no one knows who made it. While the world fixates on a digital apocalypse, Jonny sees the real disaster unfolding closer to home. With just twenty-hour hours before the century turns, he heads to Blackwater – driven by curiosity, desperation, and the sting of rejection from his colleague Paloma.

But Blackwater has secrets buried deep in the frozen ground. More victims – some dead, others still paying for past sins. And when Paloma catches up to him, they stumble onto something far bigger than either of them imagined. Something that could change everything. The millennium is coming. The clock is ticking. Can Jonny stop it? Should he?

And what if Y2K wasn’t a hoax, but a warning…?

Review:

I have enjoyed all of Sarah Sultoon’s work so far, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to read and review Blackwater. Her writing is incredibly compelling and her knowledge of the journalism industry shines through and enables her to create an engaging and realistic story. 

We’ve met Jonny Murphy before in Dirt and Death Flight. He’s a really interesting character and I love his tenacity. He also has a level of compassion that I haven’t often seen in journalists in literature, and this really helped to keep me invested in the story. He has a fascinating background that has provided an arc throughout the series and this definitely has an impact on the way he approaches his work. I am really keen to see how this develops as the series continues.

The location of Blackwater and its story is fictional, although the novel is based on true events. Sarah Sultoon has imagined the location in brilliant detail and I was entranced by the concept of an isolated island so near to such a well populated city.

As the story gathers pace, particularly towards the end of the novel, there is a lot of tension. There is also a definite sense of danger which totally crept up on me! I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how everything would work out!

I am looking forward to seeing where the author takes this character next!

Blackwater is available from Amazon.

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