SALTWATER by Katy Hays

5 stars

From the author of the wonderful novel The Cloisters, comes her amazing second novel set on the island of Capri. Hays has three women narrate this intense twisty story of possible murder, intrigue, uber wealthy society, and family loyalty drawn claustrophobically tight.

In 1922, Sarah Lingate, a fiercely independent playwright who has married into the Lingate family who made their vast fortune in oil, falls to her death below the steep cliffs of the Capri villa where the family is vacationing. Her death sparks endless societal and journalist rumors of murder, which continue to overwhelm her daughter Helen who was 3 years old then but now has reached her young thirties. There’s Richard, Sarah’s jealous and controlling husband, his older brother Marcus who serves as the family patriarch, and Marcus’ long-suffering wife Naomi who longs for more of Marcus’ attention. There’s also Renatta, the caretaker of the property who lives in a cottage next to the village and her now thirty-something son Ciro. The Lingates have been returning each summer to vacation at the villa on Capri where Sarah died, and this vacation have brought along with them Lorna, who serves as Marcus’s personal assistant, as well as Freddie, a wealthy cad-about who’s been dating Helen. Arriving before their trip from an anonymous sender is a gold snake necklace that Sarah was wearing before falling to her death but had never been recovered by her remains.

EVERYONE has profound secrets they’re holding on to laced with repercussive danger, and these secrets get slowly revealed as the book unfurls. You feel both enveloped in the suffocation of the family demands on secrecy and loyalty and rooting for Helen to find some independence of her own. Contrasting the lush and gorgeous setting of Capri are threats lurking around every corner

The whole plot emerges as sinuous as the encircled snake necklace that Sarah wore around her neck, with a body count continuing to rise along with myriad jaw-dropping revelations. The narrative mostly weaves in unique points of view from of the women connected to the Lingate family: Helen, Lorna, Sarah, Naomi. At the end as the adage goes, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.

Thanks to Random House, Ballantine, and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader’s Copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.