The Water Keeper

By: Charles Martin

Narrated by: Jonathan K. Riggs

USA TODAY Bestseller | ECPA Bestseller

A riveting story of heroism, heartache, and the power of love to heal all wounds by New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin that combines the intrigue of John Grisham with the heart-wrenching emotion of Nicholas Sparks.

Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he's dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes.

When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, Murph's mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.

With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past--and the ghosts who tried to bury them.

With Charles Martin's trademark lyricism and poignant prose, The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story, a heartrending search for freedom, an exploration of the terrible cost of human trafficking, and an anthem to the power of love to create change when it show up regardless of the cost.

"Martin excels at writing characters who exist in the margins of life . . . Readers who enjoy flawed yet likable characters created by authors such as John Grisham and Nicholas Sparks will want to start reading Martin's fiction." --Library Journal, starred review

"The Water Keeper is a wonderfully satisfying book with a plot driven by both action and love, and characters who will stay in readers' heads long after the last page." --Southern Literary Review

"Charles Martin fans rejoice, because he's done it again . . . a multilayered story woven together with grace and redemption, and packed tight with tension and achingly real characters." --Lauren Denton

The Murphy Shepherd series--with more than half a million copies sold!

Book 1: The Water Keeper, Book 2: The Letter Keeper, Book 3: The Record Keeper, Book 4: The Keeper

Injustice

This is a novel that I added to my list based on a recommendation from Annie F. Downs, who is an author/podcaster/influencer my wife follows. Considering the source, I didn’t expect the action/adventure/rescue/masculine side of this book. The book is about Murphy Shepherd, who is the water keeper. He finds the lost or stolen or missing. He rescues them when he can. He has considerable training and resources and still struggles against those criminal types who make tons of money exploiting those less powerful. Murph is headed south along the coast of Florida to scatter the ashes of his mentor, Fingers. As he travels, he attracts those who need help like a magnet. By the time he makes it to his destination, his boat holds a desperate mother searching for a lost teen daughter, a teen girl looking for her past, an old man headed south to say goodby to his past, and the smartest dog he’s ever met. Most of the story takes place on Murph’s boat as he travels down the coast, which makes this desert kid nervous and self-conscious about all the boat skills I never learned. Here are some of the lessons I pulled out of this story: Water absorbs all kinds of abuse and heals quickly- in people this type of resilience and healing is only possible with love. People have an unbelievable capacity to harm, abuse, and objectify others (trafficking, drugs, greed, flesh, fear, neglect). This is the world we live in. All darkness and evil need to thrive is for good men to do nothing. This book tells stories of injustice in a way that is easy to emotionally relate to. It goes with Just Courage (reviewed below) in a powerful way.

I recommend this book to adventurers and those wanting to learn about injustice.
(Rated PG-13, Score 8/10)

Best read in a long time!

Great story! Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Narrator is perfect for the tone of the book.

Exceeded expectations

Bravo bravo bravo. Why does it ever have to end??? I could listen to Charles Martin 24 hours a day. The little things he brings out and the characters are wonderful. This was a hard listen just thinking about the sex slave traffic and how many girls are destroyed and sold as a result. Charles handles this delicate situation very well. Thank you for another book well written without cursing, sex and other junk so many authors think they need to write a story! And Jonathan Riggs is perfect as narrator. Highly highly recommend

Shockingly Consistent Excellence

Charles Martin does it again and again and again. He turns your life upside down and into full view as you turn each page (or play it in your app). His words expose your own battle with life and death and pain and hope. And you leave washed and filled. Phenomenal book about family and past and hope for a future. Starts and ends craftily. And all the in between is right on the money. You are ready to read this one again immediately after finishing. Well done Charles.

Speechless

I don't know what to say. I really don't know what to say. It made me feel more emotions than I've possibly felt from a book.
And the narrator did a fabulous job tho, cannot imagine anyone better for it.