The Water Tower Club

by B.K. Mayo

From the author of the award-winning novel Tamara's Child, comes a story crackling with mystery and suspense.

The day after graduating from high school, Darryl Coombs fled his hometown of Grotin, Kansas, hoping to put the memories of his nightmarish childhood behind him forever. His only regret—he'd had to leave his beloved little sister, Libby, behind. Now, ten years later, Libby's arrest on a charge of attempted murder has Darryl reluctantly returning to his childhood home. He is desperate to save his sister from prison, but first he must survive the descent into the rabbit hole of his past.

When his efforts to exonerate Libby expose a devil's bargain so hideous as to be unthinkable, Darryl unwittingly takes action that leads to deadly consequences.

Beautifully written, artfully conceived, charged with moral complexity, this book will leave you wanting more from BK Mayo!

Praise for The Water Tower Club:

The Water Tower Club is full of snappy prose that captures the imagination, playing upon the heartstrings of emotion as deftly as a virtuoso violinist, conjuring bittersweet nostalgia, heavy regret, flickering uncertainty. Darryl has a philosopher's soul, and his problems, worries, and fears are ones we can all relate to- past regrets, family pressures, the desire to bury our hurts and wounds, a longing to find who we really are. I stayed up late reading, pulled deep into this world, eager to unravel the mysteries within, especially that of the title. This is a book you're going to want to read! J. Aislynn d'Merricksson, San Francisco Book Review

Mayo is a powerful writer and delivers with this gritty, sorrowful story. It reminded me somewhat of Dennis Lehane's early novels...Very good read. Pamela Johnson, NetGalley.com Review

Massively engaging thriller, the story kept me gripped and reading well into the night. Well written and will look forward to more from this author. Kendal Wilkie, NetGalley.com Review

Not only a fast-paced murder mystery, The Water Tower Club is also an examination of just how sordid small-town politics can be. This captivating read will hold you riveted all the way through the conclusion. Jo Niederhoff, Manhattan Book Review

BK Mayo's new book is another little masterpiece of mystery and character...Mayo's stories always grow from his characters, who are deftly realized with memorable and recognizable detail...Once again, as he did in "Tamara's Child," Mayo examines the complications that lurk beneath the surface and haunt the lives of very ordinary people. Michael Hall, NetGalley.com Review

Thrilling plot full of twists and turns, would recommend to others. Erinne Carey, NetGalley.com Review

In The Water Tower Club, BK Mayo skillfully intertwines sleuthing and mystery with a good deal of self-reflection on the impact of unexamined memories and secrets...that haunt the soul...I highly recommend The Water Tower Club—a clever and well thought out whodunit... Jean Sheldon, author of the Nic & Nora Mystery series

This is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat... Judith Baxter, NetGalley.com Review

Genres: Fiction

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 15, 2019

About the author

On his way to becoming a writer, B K Mayo worked as a fire alarm salesman, a college bookstore manager, a steelworker, an IRS auditor, a park caretaker, a school bus driver, a library aide, a special education teacher, and a high school detention room supervisor.

His short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies, including "The Wordstock 10." His first novel, "Tamara's Child," inspired by his experiences working with at-risk youth, won the 2011 Eric Hoffer Award in the Young Adult book category and was named a Finalist in the Popular Fiction category of the 2010 National Indie Excellence Book Awards. His latest novel, "The Water Tower Club," was awarded a Bronze Medal in the Popular Fiction category of the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Although he writes mostly fiction, Mayo's newspaper column "Now That I Think About It," which appeared in Roseburg, Oregon's The News-Review, was widely praised. Mayo and his wife live in an area of southwestern Oregon known as the Hundred Valleys of the Umpqua. Learn more about the author at www.bkmayo.com.

Reviews

[Linda Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Darryl Coombs wiped the dust off his pants, and left his hometown without looking back for the past ten years. His only regret was leaving his much younger sister behind.

And she's the only one who could make him come back. A call in the middle of the night has him leaving his girlfriend of several years and heading back to Kansas.

His beloved sister, Libby, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder. It was all caught on camera in front of 40 witnesses ... but she won't talk about it. Her lawyer is beside himself and she's going to spend a long time behind bars unless she speaks up about why.

Darryl is desperate to save his sister from prison, but first he must survive the descent into the rabbit hole of his past. And when he finds the reason why, he takes action that can only lead to a deadly outcome.

This is a riveting and moving with cleverly drawn characters that will remain unforgettable. Darryl is a sympathetic man, a man who has demons in his past. Secondary characters are as finely written as Darryl. The book is more mysterious than suspenseful. It's well-plotted and a real page turner.

The ending didn't stop with the resolution of Libby's crime. It continues on .....

Many thanks to the author / Fir Valley Press / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this gripping novel. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

[Susan O'Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found a new favorite author. Let me introduce you to B.K. Mayo, author of "The Water Tower Club," a fascinating fictional story about small-town secrets.

Darryl swore he'd never return to his birthplace after leaving the Kansas town in his rear-view mirror. It's only when his little sister is jailed for attempted murder that he feels compelled to return to the place that holds horrible memories. Why did she stab a commissioner in the neck with a nail file? Libby isn't talking. Darryl feels that he is the only who might be able to help. It certainly won't come from their mom who lives alone with her own demons.

As Darryl seeks answers, he has to face what drove him away in the first place. And as he says, his quest is like an extended game of whack-a-mole. For every answer, up pops two, or more, questions.

The author brings the town's characters to life, including those who would prefer to keep their secrets hidden. His writing style is smooth, yet carries a voice of experience and life in a small town.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for a honest review.

[Dana-Adriana B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darryl Coombs has to return to the small town he grew up to help her sister. He meet again with the small town prejudice, that he left behind. Nice story.
Thanks Netgalley for this copy.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Water Tower Club is a good story, with good plot zig zags. Darryl Coombs had a rough childhood growing up in a tiny town in Kansas. He moves away the day after he graduates from high school. He ends up in San Antonio, Texas and works hard to go to school and lands a good job in accounting.

Ten years later his younger sister is in jail for attempted murder and he feels he has to go back to help her. Returning is not easy for him – he must face many adversarial, nasty people from his past. In the end, he helps his sister, figures out the mystery of why she did what she did and learns to start letting the past go. The twist at the end was a little predictable, not the exact result, but I knew something weird was coming. I don’t want to ruin the end for anyone, so I will leave it at that. The book is entertaining and worth reading.

[Michael L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been thinking again about The Water Tower Club (2019). It's already had a pretty good reception from Amazon reviewers, and is a Kindle bargain at only $2.99.

A few year's ago, when I discovered BK Mayo's first book, Tamara's Child (2011), I was surprised by how good it was, despite knowing it had already won awards. His new novel is different, but just as compelling. Mayo has a knack for telling stories that seem to grow naturally from the complications of ordinary life. While his characters are struggling with the problems that arise as they are trying to find their way, the seeds of his plots are planted and begin to grow into the story that is now unfolding. This is especially true for Darryl Coombs, the rather reluctant hero of The Water Tower Club. From the first page, the opening sentence, Darryl can't believe the news he's just received that his younger sister has been arrested for attempted murder back in his hometown of Grotin, Kansas. Darryl has spent the last decade fleeing Grotin, but not just fleeing, more like suppressing his memories of what we eventually learn was a traumatic childhood. Now he has made a new life for himself in San Antonio, Texas, working as a successful accountant and dating a beautiful and equally private young woman who is also a co-worker. The last thing he wants to do is return to Grotin and have to confront his mother and recollections of a childhood he has been trying not just to escape but to bury.

This much we learn very quickly. Darryl is no private investigator. He has no desire or motivation to stick his nose into the mystery that surrounds his sister's arrest, other than his love for her and a nagging sense of guilt for having left her behind when he fled Grotin. But from this seed the story grows with a compelling inevitability; Darryl is drawn further and further into the something rotten lying at the heart of his hometown. The way Mayo describes Grotin itself is masterful. This sleepy little town seems to be stuck somewhere in the last century, but references to laptops, cell phones, and wind farms remind us that the Grotin of Darryl's past is now very much a part of his and his sister's present. Darryl notices that not much has changed, except the kids he went to school with are now grown up and, with few exceptions, not particularly pleased to see him return.

There's a lot about this mystery novel that subverts the usual expectations of the genre. There doesn't even appear to be a murder. And as I said, Darryl is at best only a reluctant investigator. But driven by his desire to get to the bottom of his sister's seemingly unprovoked attack on one of the town's commissioners during a town meeting, all captured live on closed circuit TV and recorded on DVD, he starts looking for answers. And the more he learns, the more he remembers about his own childhood. One of his tormentors, Bobby Hobson, is now the commissioner that his sister has stabbed with a fingernail file in full view of the camera and the audience attending the meeting. Darryl remembers Bobby all too well, and his memories are anything but pleasant ones. Gradually he begins to realize that there is something very awful his sister is trying to keep from him, but it turns out to be even more complicated than he imagines. As with Tamara's Child, the moral dislocations and transgressions that lie at the center of The Water Tower Club are both distressing and familiar. And once Darryl begins to confront them in the present, he discovers he has found the moral courage to confront them in his own past as well. But his newfound compulsion to be open with himself about his past brings further complications and leads to more painful truth telling than he anticipated.

Well, as I said, this is a very good book, and a very well written one. I'm still in awe of these two fine novels that Mayo has written. I know how hard he works at his craft, and how much earned knowledge about life and writing has gone into these novels. I hope he will write more, and I hope he'll continue to find readers who enjoy his work.

[Stanley McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A miserable childhood and many regrettable experiences suffered as a youth in small-town Grotin, Kansas, leaves young Darryl Coombs scarred. It's probably not a big surprise then, when soon as he graduates high school, he flees the town and seeks a new life as far south as his meager Greyhound ticket will take him. Having applied himself wholly in his new life, new state, and education, he has now become an accountant with a solid firm and enjoys the close companionship of his lady.

Unfortunately, ten years down the road Darryl is called back to help his beloved little sister after she inexplicably stabs one of his former classmates, now a city councilman. All those memories he'd worked so hard to crush and forget come flooding back and most in the little town do not help to squash the depressing atmosphere into which he's immediately immersed.

Continuing to dig, he finally gets enough of a story from his sister to piece together how the whole scenario came about and it's ugly. Far more horrid than he could have imagined, but he devises a way to ferret out the truth that will free his sister, Libby.

This well-plotted and fast-paced narrative follow a sympathetic protagonist line throughout the development of the plot. Darryl is a well developed sympathetic individual as are most of the support characters including Libby. But there can be no redemption for the morally bankrupt and this conclusion offers none.

I received this ebook from the publisher and NetGalley and appreciate the opportunity to read and review. This is a solid, page-turning novel with an obscured but scintillating message recommended for those who enjoy a different style of suspense and thought-provoking circumstances.

See my full review on https://rosepointpublishing.com/2018/...

[Jean Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a panicked late-night call from his mother alerts Darryl Coombs to the arrest of his sister Libby for attempted murder, he knows he will be returning to the last place on earth he wants to be—Grotin, Kansas—home.

“I relegated my life in Grotin to a time and place as remote and recessed as the Roman catacombs. The last thing I wanted to do was to return to my hometown and roam those ancient burial grounds. But now my beloved little sister was in trouble, and I could do nothing to help her from seven hundred miles away. My mother was right—I had to go home.”

In The Water Tower Club, BK Mayo skillfully intertwines sleuthing and mystery with a good deal of self-reflection on the impact of un-examined memories and secrets, among other things that haunt the soul. I was touched by his observations, and reminded of my own struggles unearthing and facing past experiences. When an author can do that for me, I am grateful. Another, less emotional measure of my enjoyment and interest, was several nights of reading past my bed time. I did not want to put it down.

It seems awkward to say I liked a story of struggle and pain, but one penned thoughtfully and with care, as this one was, makes it enjoyable and worthwhile. I highly recommend The Water Tower Club—a clever and well thought out whodunnit and a satisfying and heartwarming read.

[Judith Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten years ago Darryl Coombs left the town of Grotin vowing never to return. And he doesn’t, that is until he receives a call from his mother telling him his young sister is in jail charged with attempted murder.

Against everything he believes, he returns to see what if anything, he can do for his sister. He finds that nothing much has changed in the intervening years – the town and its inhabitants have just grown older.

His sister, Libby will not talk to him about why she stabbed a prominent member of the community and it is up to him to try to piece the story together, bumbling and stumbling from one place to the next,

What transpires is a horrendous tale of abuse and cover-up; immoral exchanges for promises made and a resultant murder.

This is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat feeling for this bumbling protagonist who alone, succeeds in finding out the truth behind his sister’s apparent attempt at murder.

[Gena - My Book Reviews for You · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Water Tower Club was an interesting look at how secrets and deceptions can affect people. I enjoyed the way the different events came together to connect the past to the present. Darryl finds out from his mother that his little sister has been arrested and is now in jail. He goes back to his home town to find out what has happened and to help her. He left his home town ten years ago and never looked back, escaping the traumatic events that occurred when he was younger. The only regret he has had since then was not being nearer to his sister. Most of the characters throughout the story have a connected past and knowledge of their youth. The story is about a small town and what goes on during the years. But there is also a dark sense that something different is now going on. Soon things will spiral out of control, and Darryl will be forced to face his past as he ends up in the middle of everything.

[Bailey (Myveinsbleedink) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darryl Coombs is heading back to the small town he ran away from 10 years ago. What could possibly bring him back to the place he has done everything to forget? His younger sister Libby has been arrested for attempted murder.
The storyline is easy to follow and the characters are mostly likeable. Some parts of the book are a bit frustrating or not what I felt they should be. A big one for me was the relationship between Darryl and Libby for two people who haven’t seen each other in 10 years I didn’t find the ease of their relationship as believable as real life.
This book has a lot of heavy topics that the writer incorporates fairly well. I always like a story about a small town that is full of corruption and criminals. Definitely recommend.
Received a complimentary copy for review from Netgalley.

[Clazzzer C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayo's latest instalment is a read page turner. This mystery involved Darryl who having had a very troubled childhood, fled as soon as he graduated high school, wishing to get as far away from his past as possible. He did regret leaving his little sister behind however. He worked har and made a success of his life, doing his best to forget his childhood until his little sister needs his help. She is in prison for attempted murder and Darryl must return home to Kansas and revisit his past. This story is told from Darryl's point of view. The language is well chosen and descriptive yet a lot is inferred so that we don't need to suffer hugely graphic content, which I much prefer. This was a really good read.. The characters were well chosen and likeable. I give The Water Tower Club 4 stars.

[JamiesBookNook | Jamie Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish goodreads gave you half stars because this is a solid 3.5-4 star book. This was a suspense novel without gore or horror. I kept wanting to read just one more chapter to get the whole story. Why did Lily stab him? The characters developed a bit slowly but I think was in part to how the storyline was revealed. I did find myself skin reading through paragraphs at a time as it did tend to get wordy in some spots, but I did enjoy the writing style. And that ending 😲 SHOOK I did NOT see that little twist coming. It was a fun, quick little mystery read and right in my genre wheelhouse. Thank you to Netgalley for a digital copy of this book for my honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a decent quick read, a depiction of what lurks in small towns and why someone might leave, or stay. Enough going on to keep it interesting. I have to say I didn't feel very attached to any of the characters, but the bad guy sure is bad and I hated him plenty! A good read if you are looking for a topical whodunit.

[Florence Fales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

Libby stand Bobby with metal nail file. Once in jail she refuses to tell her brother, who came home from Texas, the reason why she did it.
Back in his home bad memories come back him. He does a lot of digging. He confronts her again. She starts to cry. She then tells him the story.
A town board member gives a certain vote for a special rendezvous.
This starts the ball rolling to bring the truth out.
The last two chapters really weren't needed.
Good story.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the main story, which was very twisty in a good way. But the author threw in some red herrings in the middle that were more confusing than anything else.

Also, the ending of the main story was satisfying but I thought the author’s choice to end the book was odd. I couldn’t have cared less about Charlotte. Why make the last few pages about her and her backstory? A little would have been OK, but this was too much.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried hard to enjoy this one. It had all the elements I typically love in a good book, but I just could not get into it. The characters seemed boring to me, and the story seemed to drag on and on and on. Four days in, and I had only made it halfway through the book. Had to put it down. Sorry. *I received a NetGalley copy of this book*

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5
The Water Tower Club is a quick, compelling story of small town secrets. The mystery of this story unfolded nicely and left me heartbroken and furious. Would definitely recommend for a quick afternoon read.

*i received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my review

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this as a e book for my i pad from Net Galley. I enjoyed reading it. It had a good story to it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author. It took longer than normal to read.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me The Water Tower Club was neither a great story nor bad one, it was simply an okay reading experience. 3 stars.


My thanks to goodreads and the book's giveaway sponsors for the opportunity to obtain and read a copy of this book.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable Read

This was a decent and easy read. It wasn’t something I couldn’t put down because I did - over & over again - but I did always eventually come back to try to finish it. Personally, I would’ve preferred a different ending but again, it was good!!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend

[Luxe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It's a myth that life is what you make it. Life is what makes you."

Darryl Coombs has traveled back "home" to the town of Grotin in Kansas upon learning about his little sister getting into trouble and ending up in jail. Grotin isn't a place that Darryl ever thought he would go back to but his sister Libby is more important, so he faces his demons and heads back to the town he grew up in. As he tries to uncover the reason why Libby assaulted a commissioner, putting him in the hospital, Darryl uncovers some dark and ugly truths about the place he had never planned to return to.

This book took a long time to get into. I mostly just felt frustrated with his sister Libby and how petulant she was about not talking about what had happened to make her stab the commissioner. I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book that much, my 2 stars might also indicate this, because it didn't really grip me and I found the characters hard to deal with.

There are some good life lessons that Darryl learns in his story but overall this wasn't the book that I thought it was going to be, I suppose that's my own fault for having expectations and hoping they would be met.

[Jessica Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Water Tower Club is a wonderfully written novel full of emotion, redemption, and resolution. Even though the description clearly lays his out as an adult book, I felt like I should be reading a Young Adult type of novel from the cover and the interior chapter head decor.
MC Darryl Coombs was relatable in his hesitation to come back home, his love of his sister, and revisiting his memories. His journey back home is one many of us probably experience when we choose to leave our own small towns in terms of reconnecting with people and remembering less than pleasant times.
Sometimes I felt the development was a little stilted, and there was a major childhood incident on the water tower that I felt was sort of glossed over, focusing on the events leading up to the catastrophe but not the actual incident. It just happened, and that was that.
The Water Tower Club was something that impacted Darryl as a child, and in the climax, but was overall relatively unimportant. I expected this to be a sort of bond, a brotherhood, or the fallout of Darryl's initial failure to be developed in to the story line a little more. I felt like it came up, and then only appeared again as the way to close down the novel.
Overall, I would read another novel from this author, I found the book satisfying enough to keep reading it on a flight without turning on a movie, and I'd probably recommend it to my reader friends who want something a little more substantial than YA, but not too heavy. It sits really nice on the shelf for quick and clean reads with a tidy and tied up arc.

[Sabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not bad, but is not the best I've read. The story is well written and starts with the issue straight away, in within the first 10 pages you already know the problem. I like books with good characters and plot but this book is character driven, and to be a thrillers is does a poor job with the suspense. I knew the resolution before the book ends and I found that all the back-story of the Darryl is interesting but it gives nothing to the story, at least for my taste. As mentioned before, the book is not bad but is not my cup of tea! Thank you Netgalley for giving the chance to read the book!

[Judy Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story dealing with small town prejudice and rich men holding power over town. Intriguing characters that provide life to the little people and prove that justice can be had.

[J. d'Merricksson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Water Tower Club follows Darryl Coombs back to Grotin, the town of his childhood, and a past he'd hope to erase from memory. His younger sister Libby has been arrested on a charge of attempted murder. With Libby not talking, Darryl has to play amature private detective. His searches dredge up all his miserable memories of humiliation at the hands of Bobby Hobson, of the accidental death of a young boy thanks to a stupid challenge, of the crippling of a toddler by gunshot. Now there are new torments to fill Darryl's mind- why did Libby stab a Commissioner? What, if anything, does the Tolliver Estate have to do with the stabbing?

I fell in love with this book right away, staying up way past my bedtime reading. Darryl is easy for me to relate to, given his personality. I had a fair share if verbal abuse and emotional neglect growing up. Like Darryl, I felt that my opinions and desires, or even needs, were discounted, devalued. It took a 3000+ mile move, coast to coast, to begin being able to emerge from my shell. The only thing I didn't quite grok was the need for Charlotte's story. That's one part that didn't resonate with me. It felt a little unnecessary. That was just a small part , overall though.

The Water Tower Club is full of snappy prose that captures the imagination, playing upon the heartstrings of emotion as deftly as a virtuoso violinist, conjuring bittersweet nostalgia, heavy regret, flickering uncertainty. Darryl has a philosopher's soul, and his problems, worries, and fears are ones we can all relate to- past regrets, family pressures, the desire to bury our hurts and wounds, a longing to find who we really are. This is a book you're going to want to read!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley, the author and Fir Valley Press for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. SF Book Review.

[Shawn]

Darryl Coombs’ past slaps him in the face when he is summoned back to Grotin in The Water Tower Club by B K Mayo. Darryl’s sister Libby has been arrested for the attempted murder of a Councilman and refuses to answer questions about the incident or her motives.

Darryl Coombs had escaped his life in the small Kansas town ten years earlier. Starting over seemed to be the only way to leave behind the bad things that had surrounded him all is life. Events of his past that shaped his life are woven throughout the story and are slowly revealed. At the same time, Darryl reevaluates his current relationship and its future.

Uncovering the truth about his sister’s motive provides the reader with lots of twists and turns. Some of which are more surprising than others. Just when you think you know all the answers; the ending will catch you by surprise.

[Alycia Canfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story which kept me turning the pages. Thrilling plot full of twists and turns, would recommend to others.Ten years ago Darryl Coombs left the town of Grotin vowing never to return. And he doesn’t, that is until he receives a call from his mother telling him his young sister is in jail charged with attempted murder

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exploring themes of dysfunctional homes and past trauma, B K Mayo takes an approach of present day combined with flashbacks to explore Darryl and his sister's past and present. This book definitely had my attention, but the ending seemed to come out of nowhere and to be very far-fetched.

I am giving this book a rating of 3 stars.

I received a digital version of this book from netgalley and Fir Valley Press in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.