The blurb for C.A. Fletcher’s Dead Water refers to a waterborne blight, which led me to believe the story would center around a pathogen in the water. In reality, it’s a zombie-like horror tale with folkloric undertones. Despite the misleading blurb, and the fact that I’m not the target audience for a zombie apocalypse story, I found myself enjoying Fletcher’s writing. 

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Set on a small island off the coast of Scotland, Dead Water starts as a slow-burning character study, introducing nearly every island resident while little actually happens. Though the plot takes its time to emerge, the novel is well-written and atmospheric, with a haunting sense of place and a sinister undercurrent. 

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The zombie action doesn’t kick in until about halfway through the book (and at over 500 pages, that’s quite a wait). The island’s inhabitants gradually transform into the drowned undead, attempting to drag the survivors down into the depths of the surrounding sea with them. Interwoven with the action are shorter chapters referencing an old Norse curse, which (sort of) explains the supernatural events. 

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I probably shouldn’t have finished this book—I didn’t find the zombie storyline particularly convincing, I didn’t care for any of the characters (even the dogs annoyed me), and the ending left me unimpressed. Still, the eerie island setting was compelling, and Fletcher’s writing kept me turning the pages. 

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I'm not terribly familiar with the horror genre, so I don't feel like the best judge of this as a work of horror in terms of tropes, but I liked how the themes of loss/grief and responsibility were continuous through the story.  There are some reviews that I saw that said the ending feels like a deus ex machina and really out of nowhere, and while that makes sense if you are judging this as a zombie story, I personally feel like it was consistent with the themes I previously mentioned.

"...knocking her into a wheelchair, possibly for the rest of a life..." "...when she was younger, in the before time when Evie was normal..." "Now she's a burden."

Three strikes and I'm out. "Normal" isn't the opposite of disabled; disabled people (especially children!) are never burdens; and one is not trapped or confined to a wheelchair--a wheelchair, like all mobility aids, are freedom. 

55% in, it was still just build up. And it felt like the major mysteries were already cleared up. I didn't really feel like sticking about for the "people dying and chaos" that this was building up to. No hook was presented that I cared about.