Dead in the Water

by Janice Kay Johnson

She saved an undercover agent's life
…only to find herself fighting for her own.

Claire Holland is terrified when her kayaking adventure accidentally intercepts a smuggling operation and her friend is gunned down. But before she can escape, Claire witnesses someone getting shot and falling overboard. Once she pulls him ashore, she discovers undercover DEA agent Adam Taylor is still alive but badly injured. Now they must navigate the dangerous coastal wilderness unseen. But has Claire saved a handsome hero's life…just to find her own in jeopardy?

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Harlequin

248 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 18, 2021

About the author

Janice Kay Johnson is the author of over a hundred books for children and adults. Her first four published romance novels were coauthored with her mother, also a writer who has since published mysteries and children's books on her own. These were "sweet" romance novels, the author hastens to add; she isn't sure they'd have felt comfortable coauthoring passionate love scenes!

Janice graduated from Whitman College with a B.A. in history and then received a master's degree in library science from the University of Washington. She was a branch librarian for a public library system until she began selling her own writing.

She has written six novels for young adults and one picture book for the read-aloud crowd. Rosamund was the outgrowth of all those hours spent reading to her own daughters, and of her passion for growing old roses. Two more of her favorite books were historical novels she wrote for Tor/Forge. The research was pure indulgence for someone who set out intending to be a historian!

Janice is divorced and has raised her two daughters in a small, rural town north of Seattle, Washington. She's an active volunteer and board member for Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter, and foster kittens often enliven a household that already includes a few more cats than she wants to admit to!

Janice loves writing books about both love and family — about the way generations connect and the power our earliest experiences have on us throughout life. Her Superromance novels are frequent finalists for Romance Writers of America RITA® awards. Along with her books for Harlequin, Janice has written the Cape Trouble series of romantic suspense novels, and is about to launch a new series, Desperation Creek, set in rural eastern Oregon.

Reviews

[SuperWendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a good plot here but it fumbles on execution. The suspense lacks urgency (it's a lot of kayaking talk and the couple setting up camp) and while there are villains, they largely stay off page. The romance also lacks tension - other than the whole surviving the wilderness when the hero has been shot and almost dies from hypothermia. The hero is nice. The heroine is nice. But together as a couple they're fairly bland. The survival stuff kept me reading but I can't say I was all that riveted.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrific start .. but the rest ? That became a skip read.

[Teri-K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love lost-in-the-wilderness stories, I always have. Partly that's because I love the outdoors, so any book set there will catch my attention. Then of course there's the adventure. But I also like pitting my survival smarts against the MCs, making my own decisions and seeing how they would have played out as the book progresses. As I've been canoeing in Canada's Boundary Waters Area, I was happy to pick up this story of a kayaker caught up in a cat and mouse survival game with smugglers along Canada's west coast.

I enjoyed the story, but I didn't love it. The MCs were never in any real danger, from the weather, wildlife, or bad guys. There was a lot of worrying about "what if?", but there wasn't even a final confrontation at the end of the book. I really felt the author wimped out, which surprised me, as I've read some other of her books and I don't remember feeling that way. Also, the romance felt pretty forced. So, all in all it was more of a wilderness survival wanna-be than the real thing. Still I enjoyed it enough for 3 stars, it just didn't satisfy that man against the wild itch.

[Kate Vale · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has done it again: kept me reading even when I wanted to put it down, which I couldn't do. Claire Holland is an unlikely heroine, but when she saves a man who falls overboard from a decrepit ship after watching her kayaking partner shot to death, she qualifies. The man she saves claims he is an undercover DEA agent and he's nearly dead from hypothermia and being shot before she manages to get him to shore in a BC island. Now the question becomes more than will he survive, but rather will either of them be saved from being killed by these smugglers who have more than drugs on board?

And with each passing day, as Adam gradually becomes stronger, Claire uses her knowledge of the islands to bring them closer to civilization, but will it be enough when it's clear that the bad guys aren't giving up trying to find them?

A story that has it all: romance in an unlikely setting, a beautiful area in which to join the story if only vicariously, and a worthy male character whose actions make it all worthwhile even as their lives remain in danger until the very end.

[Tammy Lunsford - Escape to Books By Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really started out heavy on the action, but writing an entire book while two people are on the run in kayak and camping on small islands just did not appeal to me as well as the other books that this author has written. The premise of the story was good, but after a little while it dragged. However, I must confess that I HAD to finish it because I wanted to make sure it worked out. This one just did not really check all of the boxes for the usual book in Harlequin Intrigue and actually of the other books written by this author. If you are an avid outdoorswoman, you may fully enjoy this story because the main character, Claire Holland, knows her stuff when it comes to surviving in the wild!

[Patrizia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forse non sono 5 stelle piene, ma l'ambientazione (come vorrei poter fare kayak lungo la costa fra Canada e Alaska!) e la storia mi sono piaciute. C'è una buon suspense anche se i cattivi sono veramente un pericolo per i protagonisti solo all'inizio e alla fine, sebbene restino sempre nelle vicinanze. Insomma, non ci sono continue fughe all'ultimo istante come mi è capitato di leggere, ma, mi ripeto, la suspense c'è.

[Nancy Luebke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this intriguing romance. I bought this at the local Goodwill store and I've given it a 4.5* rating. This is not for the under 18 readers. This has a lot of action in it and it pulled me into the story quite quickly. It kept me turning the pages throughout. The two main characters were pulled together by violence and a real attraction to each other. This has a good ending to pull things together.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I loved the heroine, loved the hero and loved the story. The ending was wonderful.

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give it 3 stars but Mike....

[Kathy Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claire and her friend are kayaking when they come across a smuggling operation. As the kayakers are trying to get out of there, her friend is shot and killed, and then Claire sees someone on the boat thrown overboard after being shot. She saves the nearly dead man, and they try desperately to make an escape from the smugglers. Lots of action in this one.

I used this book for the 2024 52bookclubchallenge, prompt “Features the ocean.”