The Water Keeper

 by Charles Martin

Dakota County Library hardcover 339 pages

genre: Christian fiction

published: 2020

We had a great discussion on Monday night. Charles Martin is a fantastic author! He wrote about human trafficking without it getting graphic or lurid. It was gripping, though, and absolutely intense.

I tabbed a bunch of pages but I don't really feel like enumerating my reactions right now. Perhaps I'll just leave some general feedback and throw away all the post-it notes.

I was surprised and a bit disappointed that the only time I cried was when Gunner went overboard. A dog? That makes me cry but not these young women being victimized? Perhaps it was because I felt as though I got to know and care about Gunner as a character. We don't really get to know Angel, Casey, or the other girls that way. I felt better when Jean (at book club) also said she cried at Gunner parts!

Recurring themes: the needs of the one (sheep) outweigh the needs of the 99, redemption is possible for anyone, water and its properties (cleansing, healing, etc.), human trafficking and slavery, blood, identity, belonging, love, hope, sacrifice.

Martin is absolutely masterful with using the English language effectively. I love how Amanda (book club) said that his words "feel good to (her) brain." I love that Murph had the names of all the girls and women he'd gone looking for tattooed onto his back. He knew their stories and "carried" them with him. In addition to Gunner, I loved Clay!

I loved when Summer was talking about the books she was enjoying. "'There are a lot of women out there who think we're just forever stuck on the island of misfit toys, and yet here's a writer who causes us to think that maybe someone might love us despite the scars and the baggage. Someone who knows what I'm thinking enough to finish my sentences. And what's more, would know how to fix my coffee if we were stranded on an island. Someone who' - she waved her hand through the air in front of her - 'protects me from the world that wants to hurt me.'" 

Oh! I marked page 7 because that was the first place I cried! How does a book suck you in and make you care enough to cry when you're in the fist ten pages?! I guess the Gunner part wasn't the only place I cried.

I liked when I got confirmation about some dots I had connected . . . but don't want to write any spoilers here.

I looked to see if Charles Martin did any interviews or indicated what he thought about the Jeffery Epstein trial, but couldn't find anything. Not that it matters. I just thought about people like that when I read this book - wealthy, evil, using young girls for personal pleasure . . .