Audiobook Review: Dead in the Water by John Marrs
Dead in the Water
Author: John Marrs
Narrators:
Will Watt
Elizabeth Knowelden
Debra Michaels
Published: January 20, 2026
Audiobook: 10 hours 10 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 29- February 6, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
A chilling tale about life flashing before your eyes—including terrifying scenes you don’t remember.
When Damon survives a near-drowning, his life flashes before his eyes. Every memory is crystal clear—except one. A dead boy. A face he can’t place. A moment he doesn’t remember living. At first he tells himself it’s a trick of the mind. But everything else he saw was real. So why not this?
With his waking life stalked by the disturbing scene, confusion quickly turns to obsession. Desperate for answers, Damon digs into his fractured past, and becomes convinced that the only way to remember…is to die again. And again. And again. When he meets a perfect stranger who’s all too willing to help, the stage is set for his dice with death.
But if this is what it takes to uncover the truth, maybe some memories are better left buried…
Jessica’s Review:
I have to say this: Read The Good Samaritan before reading Dead in the Water. It is not necessary, but I felt it would have added to my enjoyment while listening to Dead. We have is a crossover character from Samaritan who plays a big part in Dead. Once I realized this crossover, I made it a point to listen to The Good Samaritan immediately after finishing Dead in the Water.
Dead in the Water is dark and as messed up as it could be and I enjoyed every bit of it! What does that say about me as a reader, but more importantly what does it say about the author himself: Mr. Marrs!?!?! How does he come up with these stories?!?!?!
We have short chapters that keep you pulled in and you find yourself saying “Just one more chapter”! Marrs really knows how to keep his readers/listeners coming in for more! We have Damon who survives a near drowning and as he very nearly dies his life flashes before his eyes and he sees a dead boy. But this is a boy he did not know. Damon falls into a web of the unknowing and obsession. He MUST find out who this boy was and just what happened to him. And Damon believes the only way to find out these answers is to keep dying, and then being brought back to life. Damon then starts on a dangerous journey into his new world of obsession.
There are trigger warnings: Obviously we have a dead child, and suicide attempts. There is also a bit of supernatural that comes into play.
Oh, Mr. Marrs, I must read all of your books! This was one dark and messed up novel I gave five stars too. Keep on writing these novels for us!
Audiobook Review: The Quiet Neighbor by J.D. Barker and Adam Roach
The Quiet Neighbor
Authors:
J.D. Barker
Adam Roach
Narrator: Morgan Hallett
Published: January 27, 2026
Audiobook: 9 hours 16 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 15-21, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
A heart-stopping tale of family secrets, buried trauma, and the lengths a mother will go to save her child, even when that child might not want to be saved.
Cynthia Burrows thought she’d built the perfect life—successful law career, loving husband, beautiful daughter. But when eighteen-year-old Tori vanishes without a trace, Cynthia’s carefully constructed world begins to crumble.
The school says Tori was excused by family. Security footage shows her leaving with an older man. And the boy she was supposed to date? His name sends chills down Cynthia’s spine—Alexander Beaufort.
That’s impossible. Alexander Beaufort is the serial killer who destroyed Cynthia’s childhood, murdered her best friend, and forced her into witness protection twenty years ago. He’s supposed to be locked away forever.
But someone is playing a deadly game, leaving clues that drag Cynthia back to her darkest memories. With only three days to find her daughter, she must confront the monster from her past and the shocking secrets Tori has been hiding.
In this quiet suburban neighborhood, everyone has something to conceal. And some neighbors are more dangerous than others.
Jessica’s Review:
J.D. Barker is an author I follow and when I hear he has a new book coming out, whether solely written or co-written, I will look to see what it is about. The Quiet Neighbor is co-written with Adam Roach, and the description of this one intrigued me.
This book has multiple povs and dual timelines: Cynthia’s past and the present. We also have a journal written by an ‘anonymous author’. It’s a race against time as Cynthia only has a few days to find her daughter, and while searching she is learning more about her daughter. How well or little does she know Tori?
There were twists throughout the novel, but the final ‘doozy’ I called very early on. And even though I called it early I still was in for the journey. I know this is fiction, but parts of the novel were far from realistic. Cynthia has a friend who is investigating the case and she all but let Cynthia basically take over. This happening just caused a high lack of believability as time went on. Other than that issue, I did enjoy the novel!
The narrator Morgan Hallett did a good job with her narration. She was extremely creepy when it came to narrating the journal entries.
Thank you to the publisher for granting me a copy to listen to and review!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Engagement Ring Killer by Franklin Christopher
The Engagement Ring Killer
Series: The Killer Series #1
Author: Franklin Christopher
Published: February 1, 2026
Kindle: 252 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: February 3-19, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
28 Days. 28 Chapters. 28 Women.
One killer hiding in plain sight.
The night of her engagement party, Mya’s engagement ring finger is severed in a violent incident. She staggers into the street covered in blood and is thrust into the spotlight. But as Valentine’s Day approaches, she’s not the only one, women across the city begin turning up mutilated—and murdered.
As fear spreads and secrets surface, Mya starts questioning every man in her life. One of them could be the Engagement Ring Killer. Things take a turn for the worst when one of the mutilated women turns up dead on Valentine’s Day, Mya realizes she didn’t just lose a finger, she could possibly lose her life.
This year, Valentine’s Day is all month long.
Jessica’s Review:
A couple of things from the book description that actually aren’t:
- The novel seemingly appears to be an ‘advent calendar’ that lasts the whole month of February: 28 chapters in 28 days. But the novel does not take place as one chapter equals one day. Being it wasn’t actually one day per chapter I saw no point in reading it as an ‘advent book’ even though I started it on February 3rd. I also ended the novel on February 19th.
- The book description also gave this reader the impression that we are going to have a death per chapter, which is a death per day. That doesn’t happen, so I was disappointed. In fact, the first death does not happen until several chapters in, so my expectations were not met and the title wasn’t fully accurate for me. Even in the novel the news calls the villain ‘The Engagement Ring Chopper’ as the first victims were maimed, not killed.
There were also grammar errors and possible formatting issues on my kindle. Normally I won’t let this bother me, but the significant number of these issues took away some of my enjoyment of reading the novel. I even debated on DNFing the book. I decided to continue it since it is shorter and I am glad I did as I overall enjoyed it. I wanted to know what was going to ultimately happen.
The chapters were short which made this a quick read. It was fast paced and I was intrigued with the directions the novel went. There was also a character named Franklin and being that is the author’s name I was debating on if the author was including himself in the novel. There were twists throughout the novel that changed directions for me so many times. There was one open door sex scene. I was not expecting that and for me it wasn’t necessary.
Despite the issues mentioned, I would give the author another chance. It just seemed like he was in a hurry to get the book to readers when it could have used some more editing/proofreading/ advanced readers.
The Engagement Ring Killer receives a strong 3 stars from me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK