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Water Baby
OCEAN OF DEATH
Seven-year-old Kelly had always loved to romp in the surf of California's endless summer. Then tragedy struck—a sailboat accident which took the lives of her parents and her sister Melissa. Now Kelly felt drawn to the sea for a different reason. She knew her sister wasn't really gone. Not as long as she could still hear Melissa calling to her at the ocean's edge—and see her face where the sun glinted off the water…
SEA OF TERROR
Brooke Hutchinson worried about the young niece who had been put into her care. Kelly's strangeness since the tragedy had made her the victim of her schoolmates' cruelty. She seemed to spend more and more time simply staring out to the sea. Then the accidents began, a series of gruesome, water-related deaths. And Brooke realized with a chill of horror that someone was looking after Kelly—all too well…
Seven-year-old Kelly had always loved to romp in the surf of California's endless summer. Then tragedy struck—a sailboat accident which took the lives of her parents and her sister Melissa. Now Kelly felt drawn to the sea for a different reason. She knew her sister wasn't really gone. Not as long as she could still hear Melissa calling to her at the ocean's edge—and see her face where the sun glinted off the water…
SEA OF TERROR
Brooke Hutchinson worried about the young niece who had been put into her care. Kelly's strangeness since the tragedy had made her the victim of her schoolmates' cruelty. She seemed to spend more and more time simply staring out to the sea. Then the accidents began, a series of gruesome, water-related deaths. And Brooke realized with a chill of horror that someone was looking after Kelly—all too well…
301 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 31, 2021
Well, I got this at my used bookstore for $1.75, it’s selling online from $10 to $20 so I guess I’ll keep it in a box of stuff that may go up in price.
I picked the book because of the cool cover, but there is nothing to do with skeletal mermaids or mermaids at all unless I slept through that part. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but it was ok.
On to the next!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
I picked the book because of the cool cover, but there is nothing to do with skeletal mermaids or mermaids at all unless I slept through that part. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but it was ok.
On to the next!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
February 16, 2020
I can't even tell you how long this book has been on my TBR and how much I am in love with the cover. Sadly, all the good things end there as I forced myself to not DNF this. It was an easy read so I didn't think a DNF would be necessary but... nothing ever really happened. The cover is beyond misleading. And. Ugh. I just hoped to really be obsessed with this one after I finished it and could recommend it to all my friends who have been waiting to hear about it. Sorry, guys. 1.5-2 stars for me.
July 2, 2025
The back of the books description and cover art of this book sounds/looks very cool but that’s not what happened in the book? I’ve never seen that before?? It was still a really fun to read
October 29, 2023
1.5 stars
Spooktober 2023 Book 16
And here we are again, having finished yet another Patricia Wallace book that gives compelling evidence to the argument that Zebra novels pretty much always sucked (barring a few minor exceptions).
While Water Baby is far from dear old Pat’s absolute worst work, it’s still remarkably bad for a number of reasons. In typical Wallace fashion, this one is full of some of the most stereotyped characters you can ever find, ripped straight from the mid-afternoon soap operas. Hot doctors, horny housewives, evil kids, and pure of heart sisters who get stuck in family drama that really doesn’t even do much in terms of plot. Yeah…you know the kind I’m talking about. And even then, this wouldn’t be so terrible if it wasn’t the EXACT same kind of people we see in EVERY Pat Wallace Zebra.
The plot is mediocre at best, some kind of thinly veiled revenge story because…why not?
And perhaps Water Baby’s biggest flaw is just how unbelievably boring it all is. At 301 pages this ain’t even close to a long book, but nearly nothing of any importance happens for the first 200ish pages. In fact, I ended up skimming about 75 pages only to find out I missed not a single thing in terms of plot or story development. When things do start to happen, they’re so haphazard and just all over the place it’s like Wallace had some ideas but had no clue as to where to put them. When this book finally (and I mean FINALLY ends, it’s left with a massive question that wasn’t even really addressed or explained…once again, par the coarse for our dear old friend Patti Wallace.
As I said, Water Baby isn’t quite to level of garbage that was Children’s Ward or even the hilariously titled The Taint however, this is still a terrible novel, only worthy of populating your shelf if you’re a completist or sadist (though sometimes I wonder if that line is getting increasingly more blurred).
Spooktober 2023 Book 16
And here we are again, having finished yet another Patricia Wallace book that gives compelling evidence to the argument that Zebra novels pretty much always sucked (barring a few minor exceptions).
While Water Baby is far from dear old Pat’s absolute worst work, it’s still remarkably bad for a number of reasons. In typical Wallace fashion, this one is full of some of the most stereotyped characters you can ever find, ripped straight from the mid-afternoon soap operas. Hot doctors, horny housewives, evil kids, and pure of heart sisters who get stuck in family drama that really doesn’t even do much in terms of plot. Yeah…you know the kind I’m talking about. And even then, this wouldn’t be so terrible if it wasn’t the EXACT same kind of people we see in EVERY Pat Wallace Zebra.
The plot is mediocre at best, some kind of thinly veiled revenge story because…why not?
And perhaps Water Baby’s biggest flaw is just how unbelievably boring it all is. At 301 pages this ain’t even close to a long book, but nearly nothing of any importance happens for the first 200ish pages. In fact, I ended up skimming about 75 pages only to find out I missed not a single thing in terms of plot or story development. When things do start to happen, they’re so haphazard and just all over the place it’s like Wallace had some ideas but had no clue as to where to put them. When this book finally (and I mean FINALLY ends, it’s left with a massive question that wasn’t even really addressed or explained…once again, par the coarse for our dear old friend Patti Wallace.
As I said, Water Baby isn’t quite to level of garbage that was Children’s Ward or even the hilariously titled The Taint however, this is still a terrible novel, only worthy of populating your shelf if you’re a completist or sadist (though sometimes I wonder if that line is getting increasingly more blurred).
August 24, 2018
Oh jeez, this book...
There was a lot of unnecessary information and side stories that were not wrapped up in the end of the book. I was just kind of left sitting there wondering, well but why....? There were so many characters introduced in the book that might have been interesting but there was no time to delve into the bullied nerd kid turned jail-bait hottie because look! The gold digging nurse is doing something, oh wait no, now there's a jerk rich guy belittling his wife wait sorry no lets focus on the workaholic doctor but wait what about the drunk-wait no the cameraman-sorry lets jump back to .... it was a little exhausting yet at the same time I loved going to lunch and sitting there reading this silly little book that completely over explained medical procedures (because why not) and had no real mythos in place but still worked somehow?
In placing this book onto my bookshelves I had no clue where to put it. There were no skeleton mermaids as the cover might suggest (so no to the mermaid fantastical creature section) actually there were no babies to speak of at all... I think it can comfortably be called a thriller, maybe trying to be a horror, perhaps there was a ghost-honestly I'm not sure.
If you like a good nonsensical lifetime movie about the pretty damsel in danger and her dangerously odd niece go ahead and read this book-its fun and silly and probably coming to a Lifetime channel near you real soon.
(P.S: The author has got to have been a medical professional in her lifetime, otherwise what the heck...)
There was a lot of unnecessary information and side stories that were not wrapped up in the end of the book. I was just kind of left sitting there wondering, well but why....? There were so many characters introduced in the book that might have been interesting but there was no time to delve into the bullied nerd kid turned jail-bait hottie because look! The gold digging nurse is doing something, oh wait no, now there's a jerk rich guy belittling his wife wait sorry no lets focus on the workaholic doctor but wait what about the drunk-wait no the cameraman-sorry lets jump back to .... it was a little exhausting yet at the same time I loved going to lunch and sitting there reading this silly little book that completely over explained medical procedures (because why not) and had no real mythos in place but still worked somehow?
In placing this book onto my bookshelves I had no clue where to put it. There were no skeleton mermaids as the cover might suggest (so no to the mermaid fantastical creature section) actually there were no babies to speak of at all... I think it can comfortably be called a thriller, maybe trying to be a horror, perhaps there was a ghost-honestly I'm not sure.
If you like a good nonsensical lifetime movie about the pretty damsel in danger and her dangerously odd niece go ahead and read this book-its fun and silly and probably coming to a Lifetime channel near you real soon.
(P.S: The author has got to have been a medical professional in her lifetime, otherwise what the heck...)
April 13, 2023
Deadly Waters
Water Baby is one of those gems that most of us horror readers probably have never heard of. What drew me to read it initially was the amazing cover art of a skeletal mermaid holding a baby. First, let me tell you that there are no mermaids in this book and no merbabies either. Instead, we get the story of Brooke and how she handles the tragic death of her sister, brother-in-law, and niece. With her is her other niece Kelly, who miraculously survived the boating accident. But soon Brooke feels as if something is wrong with her small niece.
I love a good horror story that takes place in and near the ocean. There's something chilling about the open sea and all the mysteries it holds. With this book, I was definitely not disappointed in that aspect, and there is lots of watery action and death for everyone.
Water Baby is one of those gems that most of us horror readers probably have never heard of. What drew me to read it initially was the amazing cover art of a skeletal mermaid holding a baby. First, let me tell you that there are no mermaids in this book and no merbabies either. Instead, we get the story of Brooke and how she handles the tragic death of her sister, brother-in-law, and niece. With her is her other niece Kelly, who miraculously survived the boating accident. But soon Brooke feels as if something is wrong with her small niece.
I love a good horror story that takes place in and near the ocean. There's something chilling about the open sea and all the mysteries it holds. With this book, I was definitely not disappointed in that aspect, and there is lots of watery action and death for everyone.
February 2, 2016
I bought this book because of the cover. The cover is amazing. The book itself, not so much. There are literally no skeleton mermaids with flowing blonde hair in this book. There's some dead kids and watery deaths, but really not enough to make up for the lack of skeleton mermaids with flowing blonde hair.
April 16, 2018
It had a decent start but the ending sort of fizzled out. Quick and entertaining, but with a nonsensical and misguided plot.
December 15, 2020
Highly disconnected tale about a seven year old girl named Kelly who lost her sister named Mellisa at sea in a tragic accident. From here, well, I'm not quite sure. If this book had an actual story line or a plot, I must have missed it. Boring, very boring. The problem with the book is that it never wants to steer far from the medical field, which means we have to deal with a dumb doctor, a dumb nurse, and for no reason at all, they want to run an ECG on Kelly! I think if anyone needs a brain scan, it should be done on the one who wrote this book! So if you're misled by the clever book cover design, oh well, Wallace is good for that. Almost all the deaths are bizarre drownings, gee, might have something to do with her dead sister she lost at sea...maybe she's not fully dead? Dreadful, silly, and just a complete flat line, Water Baby is not one of Patricia Wallaces best, try Only Child by Patricia Wallace, it was released I think a year before this one, and it had a much better story line then this. It's sad, because this had an interesting concept, just no real story to back it up with. Shame. Move along, nothing to see here.
January 7, 2024
This is my first book of 2024 finished with many more to come.
I looked into more books by this author but they are mostly out of print, all have wicked cover art like this, and I cannot find even a deep cut Geocite with any information about the author, Patricia Wallace. This was a pretty movie quick read, that had a decent story with not a ton of depth but I liked it. It was a fun little horror read.
I would seek out other books by her if I could find any.
I looked into more books by this author but they are mostly out of print, all have wicked cover art like this, and I cannot find even a deep cut Geocite with any information about the author, Patricia Wallace. This was a pretty movie quick read, that had a decent story with not a ton of depth but I liked it. It was a fun little horror read.
I would seek out other books by her if I could find any.
July 22, 2025
Yikes. I had high high hopes for this book. The cover is GORGEOUS, and the synopsis was very interesting. Not only did the synopsis on the back not really match the actual story, but the story just was all over the place. There were so many characters and I see what the author was going for with all the different POVs together to make a story and to connect it and make it make sense. But it just was very confusing, clunky, and a CHORE to get through. This took all my strength to finish it.
August 14, 2026
Seven year old Kelly survives a family boating accident and ends up living with her aunt Brooke. Soon Kelly finds her deceased sister calling to her from a watery grave. Can Kelly resist the lure of the mysterious deadly sea? Expect a slow burn, a gradual build, and frequent POV shifts before the supernatural elements become the focus. A tight suspenseful plot this is not but what this novel does offer is a solid aquatic atmosphere and the last 50 pages or so are decent
October 15, 2025
To avoid spoilers, I would try another Patricia Wallace novel. It is not a perfect book. There are things in it that makes me go "Uh?" But overall I like it. I am almost tempted to keep it for it's cover. The cover is fantastic.
November 2, 2024
Should actually be "Water Babies" plural, also they're not babies they're, like, seven years old, and there are absolutely zero skeleton mermaids in this book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews