Water's Edge

Water's Edge by Robert Whitlow, 2011. 400 pages. Published by Thomas Nelson. Source: PR by the Book/Publisher.

Sometimes the smallest towns hold the biggest secrets.
Ambitious young attorney Tom Crane is about to become a partner in a big-city law firm. One final matter has to be cleared from his docket--the closing of his deceased father's law practice in the small town of Bethel. Killed in a tragic boating accident, John Crane didn't leave his son anything except the hassle of a bankrupt estate.
Then, within twenty-four hours, Tom loses his job, his girlfriend, and his cat. Job didn't have it much worse.
Returning to Bethel with his pride ground to powder, Tom's plan to quietly shut down his father's practice and slink out of town runs into an unexpected roadblock - two million dollars of unclaimed money stashed in a secret bank account. Tom follows the money into a tangled web of lies, theft, and off-shore financial transactions manipulated by powerful men who will do anything to stop him from discovering the truth.

First Sentence:

Chiseled deep into the rock face of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a football field-sized carving of Jefferson Davis. Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson.

Water's Edge is a solidly written book that has left me wanting to slowly read it so that I could fully take in every little detail. 
Sure, it has taken me about a week to read 400 pages, but I am not complaining or holding it against the book or Mr. Whitlow's writing, I've just been a little busier than usual.

I must admit that I was a bit worried shortly after starting Water's Edge because the plot was a little slow to take off, but once it did and things began to come unraveled I didn't want to have to put it down.  The most thrilling part in Water's Edge was the last 50 pages, which I could not put down even though I was tired because it was that good. The last fifty pages were definitely some of the best in the whole book because the tension and drama just had me at the edge of my seat, especially when it looked like Tom was going to jail for something he didn't do.

What really made Water's Edge work for me was the characters. I found them to be fascinating because they were flawed and with how much growth a couple of them went through before everything was all said and done. 

The one true downside to this book would have to be that I pretty much had the plot worked out a hundred pages in. It wasn't that the plot wasn't veiled to well, I was just able to deduce what happened. Plus I thought certain things said and done by a few characters (the villain) were either too convenient to be true or just complete bunk.
While I may have figured things out pretty early on, that doesn't mean that you should pass this one up.

What I liked best about Water's Edge was, for lack of a better word, Tom's conversion. While faith and belief in the Lord plays a pretty big role in this book you shouldn't run for the hills. Why, because even though Tom Crane goes basically from putting himself before others to being a man of faith, Mr Whitlow manages to write it in such a way that it doesn't come across as preachy but is done in a brilliantly subtle fashion that just caught me up in what was happening and was such a pleasure to read about.
    The one problem I had with Water's Edge was that the beginning was, well, a bit slow. It felt like it took a long time for Tom to actually realize that there may be more to his father's death then he had first thought. even though it was a bit slow, the pace didn't detract any from my enjoyment of this book.

Content: For being  targeted at adults, Water's Edge, is surprisingly clean. Like squeaky clean, with no swearing, no pre-marital sex or fooling around. I am absolutely in love with the fact that I could read Water's Edge from start to finish without having to skip a single or skim a single page.

Final Verdict: Water's Edge a thoroughly engrossing read, especially the metamorphosis that Tom went through throughout the book.

Water's Edge earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.