The Water Keeper
Trigger Warning: While mostly tastefully handled (see below), this book deals with the trafficking of minors and is intended for adults.
Back Cover Description:
Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he's dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes.
When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida's Intracoastal Waterway, Murph's mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.
With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past--and the ghosts who tried to bury them.
With Charles Martin's trademark lyricism and poignant prose, The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story, a heartrending search for freedom, an exploration of the terrible cost of human trafficking, and an anthem to the power of love to create change when it shows up regardless of the cost.
What I Liked:
Murphy Shepherd is a fantastic, complicated hero. His strong moral compass guides the book as he goes on a journey on his boat down the Intracoastal Waterway of Florida to find a missing teenage girl. While battling inner demons, he initially refuses to open up to his companions, giving a tough exterior that is actually very wounded and broken. When he finally opens up, he is both vulnerable and heartbreaking in his honesty.
Along the way, Murphy collects diverse characters on their own journey. He meets Summer, a desperate mother who lost her daughter to traffickers, and after he rescues her from drowning, he makes it his personal mission to find her daughter Angel, who has been taken further down the Florida coastline by traffickers feeding her drugs and alcohol to lower Angel’s inhibitions. The relationship between Shepherd and Summer is a tender one, two broken people learning to love again.
Gunner, the Labrador who literally swims up to the boat and quickly becomes a close companion of every person on board, fiercely protective of everyone. Clay, an ex-convict, is a wise old man with nowhere to go who is given purpose again by joining Murphy’s boat on the journey. Both add layers of depth as Murphy continues on his journey down the Florida coastline.
The book contrasts beautiful descriptions of the Florida coastline, the gorgeous nature settings, the majestic mansions, with the brutal and stark reality of the trafficking of minors, whenever Murphy and co encounter a boat or place previously occupied by the traffickers. While almost never too graphic, the sobering treatment of the underage girls is chillingly depicted, and reminds the reader of a very real issue facing this country and this world.
The Christian elements are well handled without being preachy at all. Murphy Shepherd’s moral compass comes from his Christian faith and guides his every step.
Without going into details, the ending was very emotional, very bittersweet, and, given the subject matter, has layers of both hope and melancholy. Murphy’s journey was never meant to be easy or light, given the direction he chose to go, to save young girls from child traffickers.
What I didn’t like:
Most of the book is restrained and refers to its dark subject matter in more general terms, and does not get too graphic in its descriptions. However, there are two problematic scenes that must be pointed out.
The first almost made me put the book down, and while it’s an important scene, the description was way too graphic and explicit. Very early in the book, Murphy Shepherd, who is living alone on an island with a small church, encounters Angel, without knowing who she is. Angel, in various states of undress, tries to seduce Murphy, with the point of the scene being Murphy’s compassion for Angel while also resisting her advances. I get the point of the scene, but it could have been less graphic in its depictions of Angel’s seductions.
[Spoiler] Much later in the book, Shepherd convinces Summer (who was wearing a revealing two-piece) to walk down the street to attract the traffickers they believe have Angel. While Murphy later regrets it, I think the scene should not have even been included in a book about the exploitation of young women. Murphy and Summer should not resort to such actions in order to find Summer’s missing daughter.
Overall Review:
Despite a couple of problematic scenes, The Water Keeper is a beautiful and tough read, both powerful and emotional, featuring complicated, troubled characters with strong moral convictions.
