Actress Josie Ashbury is taking a sabbatical in her Ohio hometown after an on-set breakdown. She's teaching acting classes at a local high school and dating another fellow teacher, but she's still struggling with insomnia.
That's the least of her troubles in Amy Young's novel The Water Tower.
Josie is the one who discovers the dead body of one of her students. The girl, Amber, fell off a water tower after overdosing on fentanyl. Because Amber was the daughter of a local politician, the case is quickly closed and ruled as an accident.
But Josie doesn't believe that Amber would kill herself. So much like the character she used to play on a crime TV show, Josie plays detective.
The story was pretty interesting, but I do have some critiques.
While Josie's mental health offered a strange twist toward the end of the story, it was a little predictable in terms of "whodunit". I couldn't figure out the specifics, but there were enough cues to point me in the direction of the bad guy.
Speaking of guys, I did want to see more development in Josie's relationship with her boyfriend Jack. There also wasn't much evidence of Josie and Amber being close. It's just something that Josie says - "Oh, I'd become close with her."
I also wish there had been more connection between Josie's real-life sleuthing and the acting she did on her crime show. Someone should have called her out for not being a real detective; only playing one on TV. Felt like a missed opportunity.
The Water Tower is published by Level Next Books and will be available to purchase tomorrow, June 20, 2023. I received a free e-ARC.
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