“The needs of the one, outweigh those of the ninety-nine”

Murphy “Murph” Shepherd is a priest who lives in isolation in a church on the coast of Florida near Jacksonville. He has planned to board his boat Gone Fiction to spread the ashes of his recently deceased mentor and best friend. However, Murph meets a daughter and mother caught up in the horrifying reality of human trafficking who quickly derail his plans. “The Water Keeper” is the fast-paced first installment of Charles Martin’s latest fiction series. We realize early in the book that there is much more to Murphy Shepherd than meets the eye and cannot help but become more and more intrigued by him as the story unfolds. 

As Murph begins his boat ride from Jacksonville, he crosses paths with Summer. He pulls her from the water after a boating accident and learns of her 16-year-old daughter, Angel, while attending to Summer’s wounds. She is desperately trying to track and save Angel from the dangers she has or will soon experience on the “party boat” Angel naively boarded a few days prior. Murph knows this boat is not what it seems and that they must move quickly to have any chance of saving Angel – and the other young girls on the boat with her. From there, a riveting chase begins as they race against time to track the boat to its scheduled rendezvous in Key West.  

This thrilling story unfolds on the Florida Intercoastal Waterway, from Jacksonville to Key West. The stunning detail used to describe the marinas, canals and marshes visited along the journey make the waterway a supporting character fundamental to the strength and beauty of this story. A lost Labrador Retriever, an orphan stowaway and a paroled inmate also add to the list of characters that enrich the plot lines of this story for the better!

The topic of human trafficking presents as a main storyline throughout the book; however, it is not accompanied by explicit sexual content. While Martin does not deliver the topic delicately, he uses compassion and necessary pages to expand on this danger, more prevalent than we can realize in our day to day lives. He successfully makes the reader mourn with the young girls forced into this scary world and their families searching for them. 

The themes of love, loss, forgiveness and redemption run deep throughout this book. These themes become evident in not only the lives of the young women being saved but in Murphy Shepherd’s as well. Overall, “The Water Keeper” tells a beautiful story that reminds us of the importance of using our gifts to help one another. A book that points us to the originator of our hope. 

“Love does that. It erases the pain. The darkness. The stuff that wants to hold our head under the water. Love reminds us who we are and who we were always meant to be. And there never has been nor ever will be anything that can kill it.” – Murphy Shepherd

Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this book and the second book in this series “The Letter Keeper”, which was just released earlier this month. You will not regret it!

Charles Martin is a New York Times best-selling author who has written 17 books. His writings are considered faith-based fiction. 

ABOUT OUR BLOGGER 

An eternal optimist, Melanie Wilson is on board for anything that involves books, sunflowers, coffee, the WVU Mountaineers, Bible Study and laughter. She recently obtained a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and pinches herself every day that her passion is now her profession. Melanie and her husband, Jim, love their front row seats cheering on their daughter, spending time with family and friends and binge-watching football on crisp fall weekends. 

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