About Amy Hello, I'm Amy, an aspiring motorsports writer and former blogger. If you dig deeper enough, you find some very old blog posts, as this started as a book blog, but that's really where I got my start in writing: book reviews, hot book topics and as well as the odd personal essay. After leaving university, I left the book blog behind, but continued writing and going in the world of social media, writing film reviews and promoting queer cinema, but after a tragic event in my personal life, I quickly discovered Motorsports. What started as a love for Formula 1, while finally watching the Formula 1 film, Rush, and discovering Formula 1 TikTok, this love soon expanded to everything Formula E, IndyCar, Formula 2, Formula 3, as well as F1 Academy. I soon found the itch to write come back, with the fast-moving news of motorsport, to the drama, the competition, and the journey of drivers trying to find a race seat. I found that it was the people and storie...
* I am reviewing this book for a blog tour but this in no way affects my review *
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Black & White
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Book Review Summary:
I killed the boy...
Jig loves football and his dog, hates school, misses his granda and knows to lie low when his ma's blitzed on the vodka and tablets.
He's just an ordinary boy on the mean streets alongside Dublin's Grand Canal. Streets that are ruled by Ghost and his crew. And now Ghost- inked, vicious, unprincipled- has a job for Jig.
A job that no one can afford to go wrong- not the gangs, the police, the locals, and least of all not Jig.
Jig loves football and his dog, hates school, misses his granda and knows to lie low when his ma's blitzed on the vodka and tablets.
He's just an ordinary boy on the mean streets alongside Dublin's Grand Canal. Streets that are ruled by Ghost and his crew. And now Ghost- inked, vicious, unprincipled- has a job for Jig.
A job that no one can afford to go wrong- not the gangs, the police, the locals, and least of all not Jig.
Book Review:
When I received an offer to join the blog tour for this book, I was quite intrigued as this is not a genre that I typically reach for but I knew that I wanted to push myself out of my typical reading comfort zones and give this a shot. I am happy that I read Black Water having an intriguing story that has me wanting to know what will come next.
From the first line, Black Water draws the reader in wanting all the action in one go. This, therefore, makes it a fast-paced read that is unputdownable especially towards the end of the novel when everything comes to a head. The end of the book was definitely something that I really liked in the novel as by that point, the characters are very fleshed out and you don't want anything to happen to any of them.
This is especially the case with Jig as a character because putting a 10-year-old at the centre of the novel was a choice that allows the reader to have empathy for him really quickly. I think it also highlights how dangerous the setting for the novel is and how kind of evil the gang lords are.
The other character that you have to connect with is Tara or Crowe in the novel. Although I did like her a character, I feel like there was a mild disconnect especially as she is called Crowe throughout the novel and it just meant that I couldn't relate to her as I would have liked. This was similar to other female characters in the novel I just didn't like them very much.
I feel the setting is definitely the best part of the book as it definitely makes for a really gritty part of this. I have not often read a book set in Ireland so this makes for a really great and unique setting exploring something that I have not read before.
From the first line, Black Water draws the reader in wanting all the action in one go. This, therefore, makes it a fast-paced read that is unputdownable especially towards the end of the novel when everything comes to a head. The end of the book was definitely something that I really liked in the novel as by that point, the characters are very fleshed out and you don't want anything to happen to any of them.
This is especially the case with Jig as a character because putting a 10-year-old at the centre of the novel was a choice that allows the reader to have empathy for him really quickly. I think it also highlights how dangerous the setting for the novel is and how kind of evil the gang lords are.
The other character that you have to connect with is Tara or Crowe in the novel. Although I did like her a character, I feel like there was a mild disconnect especially as she is called Crowe throughout the novel and it just meant that I couldn't relate to her as I would have liked. This was similar to other female characters in the novel I just didn't like them very much.
I feel the setting is definitely the best part of the book as it definitely makes for a really gritty part of this. I have not often read a book set in Ireland so this makes for a really great and unique setting exploring something that I have not read before.
The Verdict:
Black Water is an engaging crime novel using the setting of Dublin to create something new and interesting.
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