The Shallows

By: Holly Craig

Narrated by: Tamala Shelton

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Her best friend is dead.

Emma and Ariella, neighbours in one of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs, appear to have it all—perfect homes, perfect husbands, perfect lives. But they both know dark secrets lurk beneath the surface and shallow waters can’t hide Ariella’s. Now she has been found murdered.

Her daughter filmed the killing.

Not knowing what she’s filmed, Emma’s daughter Kiki innocently uploads footage of Ariella’s brutal death. Emma fears the worst—the killer will know what she and Kiki have seen. Their safe suburban lives no longer exist.

Her husband knows more than he’s revealing.

Emma’s husband Charles forces the family to leave their perfect life and escape on their yacht. His dangerous plan to flee means Emma is trapped and desperately seeking answers. What are they hiding from? What did Ariella have to confess? And who else knows Emma’s own secret?

Her secret isn’t safe and neither is she.

©2023 Holly Craig (P)2023 Audible, Ltd

Surprising and refreshing

A completely different storyline than most out there. Not too heavy but I found myself seeking time to listen.

Beautiful insight into our relational humanity

It took me a few chapters but then I was hooked. Eloquent yet real and deep insights into husband/ wife/ married life. When is the sequel?

Great Story Idea but fell flat

This was a great story idea! It started off great but got bogged down in the middle. I hung on hoping for a great ending but it just sort of fizzled.

Needed more twists

The first part of the book was interesting. But the end…I won’t spoil it but will say it needed more twists and turns.

Couldn’t stop listening

I loved this book it definitely entertained me and kept me excited to hear the next part. Looking forward to more from this author.

Enjoyed but main character could have been better

I did enjoy this book however I got a little irritated and did many eye rolls with the main character. I would have loved to read her defending herself a few times at least. The main character seemed overall a weak, privileged, and out of touch with her surroundings. Would have loved to see her defend herself at least once in all.
With all that aside I did enjoy the story line.

Meh.

I found the way things transpired throughout the book on many occasions to be far-fetched given who Mateo was. There was just no way he would've allowed things to get as far as they did. Then, there's the ending. I'm so conflicted. I'm having a hard time determining whether or not the ending was dreamt or if it was real.

Get inside a privileged woman's head

I have listened to both the audible titles currently available from Holly Craig. They were free. I am a 45 year old American upper middle class white male, The protagonist is a 40ish year old rich (by heritage and hard work) Australian female with 2 young children and one on the way. The plot is solid but it isn't really the driving force of this novel...the protagonists mixed emotions at her wealth and privilege, her terrible marriage and her desire for close female friendships which she has never had are the meat of the thing, set against a beautiful and exotic (to me) backdrop. I have always said to anyone who cares to listen and many who don't that Australian culture is the closest to the U.S. of any other country besides maybe Canada and that really holds true of this novel can be believed. I would love to know if the author gained this insight through her own life or by peering into the lives of others. I highly recommend both of her novels but if you read them for the right reasons they are not light reading. 4 stars rather than 5 only because like so many other books in the age of rapid publication and self publication about 25% of it is repetitious internal monologue simply restating things that were just covered. It could have been shorter or had more actual content...it is possible that this is a device that is actually sought after by the target audience (which I am clearly not a member of) or it could be publishers pushing for length or word count.

More suspense wanted.

This story became tiresome to me because of the main character. Emma was not very likable after some time. I was sympathetic of her plight, but it felt like she put herself in some of those situations. The last few chapters were good though. That was the suspense that I was looking for!

Excellent thriller!

I read and listen to a lot of thrillers and sometimes they all start to blur together - this one had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t stop listening.