Walking On Water

by Gemma O'Connor

As Garda Sergeant Francis Recaldo investigates the murder of American art dealer Evangeline Walter, who was found tied to a tree at the water's edge, he finds his private life called into question when his lover, a married woman, becomes the prime suspect in this crime. Original.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Ireland

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Pam Wakelam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wonder is Ms O'Connor's Thesaurus has fallen to bits yet? It's certainly been very well used. Nobody in this book can simply do or say something. Adverbs are at the end of everything. It does get a tad annoying after a while. There's a lot of padding, too. The police are portrayed as rather bumbling fools who don't seem to be able to organise or communicate properly. The way the damning evidence is uncovered near the end is both unbelievable and groan-worthy, as if that part of the story was rushed through due to embarrassment. The dialogue between Frank and Cressida is painfully twee and actually made me cringe. A slow and plodding plot (like the police within) really does this book no favours.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, it was difficult to start . But I perservered and caught the rhythm. Once I figured it out, I enjoyed the story. A woman is found dead , appearing to walk on water. So many people but who is responsible?

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow to develop. I craved more tension.

[Aline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibely suspenseful, beautiful location descriptions. A slow build up to the climax, but an enjoyable book to read, well written.

[Kristin Schmidt · Rating 2 out of 5]

It really dragged and the plot felt like something from the 1950's. All the actual action seemed to happen off the page. Dull.

[Patrik Sahlstrøm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not good at all. The only cliche missing is a guilty butler. Not badly written though, but the plot is inane and the characters are complete imbeciles, doing dumb stuff just to progress a contrived plot. I almost could have worked if it was intended as a parody, but it isn't. Don't waste your time on this book :-(

[Petra Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, good suspense book with principally a good story, but full of weird people doing weird things for weird reasons... Sorry I cannot give it 5 stars because I found the behaviour of some of the protagonists simply strange and irritating. I mean you would expect ANY policeman to tell his colleagues first thing that the body of the dead woman hand been moved... but Recaldo doesn't? Recaldo and McBride seem to go into some sort of strange competition to deal with the case, but they don't cooperate until the very end, why not? You could argue that Recaldo has some interest to shield his love, and McBride simply enjoys winding him up, but are these good enough reasons to delay solving a murder case by not pooling their information? I honestly wanted to smack them at some point, and just say get on with it, you are both interested in finding a murderer, aren't you? Still, it's a good read.

[Mim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book last year Dec.7 2007 to be exact, in Dun Laoghaire Ireland at a used book store. I left it in Paris in the atelier we stay in and this year decided to release it via BookCrossing.com registry. I remember it as a good book, though not the details. I also was at the time very in need of English reading material and was happy to be able to get a book in English at a used book store price. It was nice actually to read a book by an author that was new to me. I, in general, enjoy Irish writers.

[Janice Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried...I really did! But I have a three chapter rule (sometimes I will push it to four), and that is if the story has not grabbed a hold of me by then, it probably won't. This one, just didn't grab me and I gave it almost a full five chapters....sorry Gemma....I like some of your books, but this wasn't one of them.

[Yolanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt this book was a litle slow getting started but I like it in the end. It is a mystery set around County Cork Ireland.
I really liked the characters and I will read more by this author.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not that good. Convoluted and somewhat confusing. Slow start. As 'romancey' as it is mystery. I won't pick up more books by this author.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adequate though I liked her other books better.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an acceptable read but I think some of her other books are better.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overwrought Irish mystery. Not my cup of tea, but I did finish it so it wasn't all bad.