A review by sams84
Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

3.0

This is quite an interesting and quite dark story that follows Vic and Melinda Van Allen as they go through life in a loveless, and fairly likeless, marriage with Melinda taking lovers without any subtlety and Vic just accepting it. Until one day he doesn't and he starts teasing her latest with a small lie, a lie that eventually becomes true as he reaches an oddly calm breaking point. The story is very much character driven with very little actual action but it sucks you in and pulls you along at a surprisingly quick pace. I didn't really connect with any of the characters though as none were particularly charming and all had their odd little nuances that made them quite unlikeable, even Vic who is portrayed as the good guy gone bad irked me (I so wanted him to get a backbone) until about three quarters of the way through when he started standing up for himself. This might have something to do with when the book was written though as societal standards were a little different. Still this was quite an enjoyable read.