It's what Sarah Ellsworth dreamed of. Marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Martin. Living in a historic mansion in Pennsylvania's most exclusive borough. And Finn, a teenage son with so much promise. Until...A call for help in the middle of the night leads Sarah and Martin to the woods, where they find Finn, injured, dazed, and weeping near his girlfriend's dead body. Convinced he's innocent, Sarah and Martin agree to protect their son at any cost and not report the crime.
But there are things Sarah finds hard to reconcile: a cover-up by Martin's family that's so unnervingly cold-blooded. Finn's lies to the authorities are too comfortable, too proficient, not to arouse her suspicions. Even the secrets of the old house she lives in seem to be connected to the incident. As each troubling event unfolds, Sarah must decide how far she'll go to save her perfect life.
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I reach for my phone inside my purse slung around my neck. CHAPTER 1
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(Thomas & Mercer, 1 January 2021, 259 pages, ebook, bought from @AmazonKindle, #AmazonFirstReads)
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This is my first time reading the author. I knew I was going to really enjoy the book within a few sentences when the book opens in dramatic fashion, Sarah and Martin stumbling around in the woods looking for their son, stumbling across his unconscious girlfriend and eventually finding their son, on drugs and out of it. Sarah wants to call an ambulance to help the girlfriend. Martin wants to protect their son, his single minded obsession with this, protecting the family name and making it all go away set in motion a series of tragic and life altering events. When the girlfriend is found dead, Sarah realises she doesn't know who or what she married and starts to dislike Martin's rich, privileged family and the decisions they had made now, to cover up what happened in the past and the shocking decisions they made in the past. Sarah wants to do the right thing and is concerned about what they're teaching their son. Martin wants to keep the truth hidden no matter the cost. I found Sweet Water riveting.
