This is the Water

Starred review from March 10, 2014
With her obscenely suspenseful latest, Murphy (The Call, named one of PWâs best books of 2011), who is known for her stylistic experimentation, tries out a second-person perspective and a continual âthis isâ structure that takes some getting used to, but that works thanks to the fact that the author breaks up the book into 48 short chapters. âYouâ are Annie, a New England mom driving your two daughters to and from swim meets, married to an emotionally aloof husband whose encyclopedic mind and frequent recitations of factual tidbits drive you crazy. But you, the novelâs protagonist, donât know everything that you, the reader, knowâfor instance, only the reader knows the identity of a serial killer scoping out potential next victims on the swim team. Therefore the bookâs real tension centers on which of the characters will uncover the killer first, making this inverted murder mystery a âwhogotitâ rather than a whodunit. Potential detectives include the beautiful Chris, a fellow swim team parent; her husband, Paul, whom Annie develops a crush on; Mandy, the facility janitor; and even the unlikely Dinah, one of the more amusing charactersâa villain of the judgmental suburban mom variety. Though the novel starts off galloping, it does slow in the middle as Annieâs thoughts become tiresomely repetitive (she dwells on Paul to distract herself from recurring memories of her brotherâs suicide, even after Paul reveals to her his secret connection to the ongoing murders). But in Murphyâs hands, the structure becomes almost hypnoticâand when the story hits full speed in the final quarter, the suspense becomes almost excruciating.

June 15, 2014
An offbeat thriller sets a serial killer loose among young swimmers in New England and tests the reader's tolerance for textual quirks.Countless sentences begin "This is," as Murphy (The Call, 2011, etc.) assumes the voice of a preschool teacher to detail the world of pre-college swimming, where hours of repetitive practice are distilled in seconds of competition monitored by anxious parents. Murphy also presents the thoughts of swim-mom Annie in what for this woman is the aptly self-conscious "you" of the second person. Stalking all the damp, dewy young flesh is a serial killer who has been on a break for many years when he suddenly decides to renew his slaughter. Revealed early in the book, he is craftily tied to a handsome swim dad's college fling. Other flings are mulled as Handsome's wife, Chris, suspects him of present-day dalliance. She seeks solace from Annie, who becomes infatuated with Handsome between bouts of revisiting her brother's suicide. As one slashed girl surfaces and more victims are expected, Murphy seasons the rising tension with humor, especially through a nicely sketched overbearing busybody who knows everything except how close she is to the killer. The author also manages to suggest with the repetition of "This is" the rhythm of bedside readings in childhood, reflecting innocence lost in more than one way for this unfairy tale, not to mention the constant refrain of all those laps up and down the pool. Even for readers who might still hear an annoying tic, the book's other, straightforward writing is often more than a cut above the thriller norm.Murphy sometimes recalls the exurban tribulations and titillations of Peter De Vries-albeit without all the puns-in a different sort of murder yarn that boasts twists in both the style and the plot.

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Starred review from July 1, 2014
This is the water . . . This is the swim mom . . . This is the facility. This is the cadence of virtuoso Murphy's latest propulsive, psychologically lush, witty, and unpredictable novel, a tale of young competitive swimmers and their parents. In her tenth book, Murphy deepens her immersion in Vermont family life, rendered so intriguingly in The Call (2011), and adds a chilling dimension. With two daughters on the swim team, wedding photographer Annie is versed in the finer points of practice and meet protocol (don't mess with the coach) and racing suits (impossible to put on, painful to wear), though she struggles with the relentless demands of chauffeuring, laundry, cooking, and cajoling. She is also grieving in the wake of her brother's suicide and worrying about her scientist husband's indifference to her. And she must contend with other swim moms: Dina, who is impossibly aggressive, andenviably beautiful Chris, who is worried that her equally dazzling husband is having an affair. Everything abruptly changes when a lovely and gifted swimmer is murdered. Will the terrified and enraged swim moms wait passively for justice? Murphy's evocation of feverish competition, stressed marriages, and the shocking banality of a serial killer's inner life coalesce in a novel of acute observation, penetrating imagination, and rare agility that is capped by a resounding denouement.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)