Synopsis
YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM ALL. WHO DO YOU CHOOSE? . . .
This year, for the first time, the high school prom will be held on a luxurious cruiser on the lake. Sisters Amy and Iris are thrilled to chaperone, watching their sons step into adulthood in pressed suits and shiny shoes. It's a night of pride, celebration - and promise.
Until the boat sinks.
As darkness falls and the air begins to run out, buried secrets surface. Trapped beneath the lake, one of the sisters is forced to make an unthinkable choice: sacrifice her own son - or let her nephew and twenty-one other teenagers drown.
One year later, a girl will wake up from her coma, ready to tell everyone what really happened at the bottom of the lake.
And someone needs to keep her quiet - this time, for good . . .
Review
This was a really gripping, emotionally tense thriller that took a little while to settle into, but once it did, I was completely invested.
The story moves back and forth between the lead-up to a tragic prom-night accident and the aftermath, with chapters counting down towards the murders in the present timeline. I really enjoyed the structure because it slowly lets the bigger picture come together piece by piece, and the multiple points of view helped build both the tension and the emotional stakes.
At first, it took me a little time to get oriented with all the different characters and timelines, but once everything started connecting, I found it hard to put down. The middle section in particular was incredibly tense and cinematic. The disaster elements surrounding the boat accident were vividly written and genuinely claustrophobic at times, and I could easily imagine the whole thing playing out like a film.
I ended up giving this four stars. The only aspect that didn’t fully work for me was the final stretch of reveals. Like a lot of thrillers, it keeps layering twist upon twist right at the very end, and I personally prefer a little more breathing room to process those final developments emotionally. That’s very much a personal preference, though, and it didn’t take away from how compelling and well-constructed the overall story was.
Definitely an engaging, atmospheric read with strong tension throughout.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
