The Water Keeper by bestselling author Charles Martin is Book 1 of A Murphy Shepherd Novel duet this far.
The problem with reviewing a Charles Martin novel is knowing where to start and what to say. The high praise he deserves for creating his unique, very often hurting deeply, some multi-talented but humble characters, or for the incredible way he writes with both elegant and common words creating beautiful or horrific pictures with accompanying emotions to match either description, present the awkward decision of what part of a complex story to focus on when composing the review.
I guess I'll start with the ugly plot of this story. We don't know anything about Murphy Shepherd, aka "Murph" to friends, as the story begins with an exciting but tragic scene. Next thing we know, Murph, alone on a small island he owns and maintains, has two urns of ashes from very special people in his life. He decides to take his Boston Whaler boat (Gone Fiction) and one urn at a time to spread the ashes as designated. On the way, he rescues a dog, a woman, and aims to rescue her daughter who it turns out he's met in a not-so-great brief encounter on his island.
From that point on, we begin to learn something about Murph's "occupation" and his satellite phone's contact who keeps him as up to date as possible on the whereabouts of the missing teen daughter belonging to the woman he's taken onboard. From there on, a hyper madness of sorts continues to bring passengers onboard, heartache, and matters of the heart.
The Water Keeper is a story depicting the sordid well-rehearsed practices of human trafficking while the undercurrent of a love story touches everything past, present, and future in Murph's soul. The story develops several relationships while tapping into the pain of everyone involved.
On page 282 of my softcover copy, Charles writes this:
The trouble with stepping into the ring with someone bent on evil is just that. Evil. And there's no way to get around it. Don't negotiate. Land for peace never works. Never has. If they step into the ring with a baseball bat, you don't meet them with a spoon. Evil is not interested in peace, and no amount of conversation will lessen its intent.
There's no going soft on the evil portrayed in this story, no lessening the horrors or shortening the pure pain enacted on unsuspecting people of all ages and genders. The cruelty is nothing short of demonically enhanced and enacted at all levels. Murph and his satellite contact "Bones" are sold out to rescuing these victims, but somewhere along the way, Murph begins to realize he's tired, weary, hurting, and restless from all the extended pain in this life.
At his lowest point, he finds betrayal, excruciating pain he can't reconcile. The closure he gains won't balance the weight of what he's lost. And yet, there's one more job to do. Always. One. More. Job. To. Do.
There's real sorrow in this story, tears, relief, and more pain. Another unique and meaningful story from a master storyteller.
Father, you know what's in all of our hearts. You know it all. And yet you love us. Thank you is never enough. Thank you for your authors who write the truth in fiction. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.