Book Review: The Water Keeper

Today’s book review will be quite different from those you’ve read before on The Storyteller Squad. Our goal is to provide parents and librarians with clean, appropriate kid and young adult books. But sometimes an adult book crosses over into the older teen market like the one I’m reviewing today. Full disclosure: this book is not for young readers.

So, let’s dive in. The Water Keeper by Charles Martin tackles the difficult topic of human trafficking. I know what you’re thinking. Why would I want my teen girl to read about that? Because The Water Keeper is a story of God’s grace and forgiveness, about becoming whole again after suffering unimaginable tragedy. While The Water Keeper gives us a glimpse of this horrific underworld, Martin maintains the underlying theme of God’s unconditional love throughout the book.

He does not glorify the tragedy. Rather, he drops us off inside the emotions of these young women. And he offers a warning to young girls by explaining common ways traffickers find girls. This alone could save a girl’s life.

The summary: 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. 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. 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. The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story and a heartrending search for freedom. 

Although this is a difficult topic, I highly recommend checking out Christian author Charles Martin. He’s a masterful storyteller and isn’t afraid to dive deep into the struggles many Christian’s face.