Deeper Water

I enjoyed this book, and the protagonist was very likable, yet complex.<br /><br />EDIT: I didn't remember reading this previously...but, I still enjoyed it!

When I first discovered the contemporary Christian legal thrillers by Robert Whitlow, I made the inevitable comparisons between his stories and those of John Grisham. And as the years have gone along, it's been interesting to watch the path both have taken as writers. Neither is cotent to write carbon copies of the same legal thrillers over and over again and instead choose to push themselves and their audiences.<br /><br />Whitlow's last few books have moved out of the legal arena to some extent and focused more on character-building. Now, he brings the lessons learned there to the lessons of his early legal thriller storytelling skills together in "Deeper Waters."<br /><br />Tammy comes from a very conservative Christian home. She was homeschooled until she went to the University of Georgia to study law. She receives an offer for a summer internship at a prestigious Savannah lawfirm and after a lot of debate and prayer decides to take it. One of the first decisions Tammy makes is to change her name's spelling to Tami, to make it look more sophisticated. Interestingly, Tammy chooses to lie to her mother about this when a letter comes to the house addressed to Tami and not the actual spelling of her name.<br /><br />With Tami, Whitlow has set up an interesting example of a person living in the world but not being of the world. But in her journey, Tami is not perfect and, at times, comes across as difficult or irritating. I think a lot of this is deliberately done by Whitlow to help build Tami as an authentic character. And, for the most part, it works effectively in the course of the story.<br /><br />Tami is assigned a case where a man was arrested for tying his boat up on the piers of some of Savannah's richer homes. But as she digs, Tami discovers the man needs more than just legal representation. Something more is lurking here, just below the surface. Tami's decision to pursue it could cost her not only her internship but her potential future as a member of the legal profession.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Tami is being pursued by two of her co-workers at the lawfirm. One is her "boss" and the other is a fellow intern. Both have positives and negatives and watching as Tami wavers between the two and whether she wants to date either makes for an interesting sidestory and sets up a minor cliffhanger to ensure you'll come back for the next book.<br /><br />Given her background, it's interesting to watch how Tami reacts to the world. Whitlow's great strength is that he's able to take the Christian walk and make it feel authentic to his characters. No one is drawn in shades of black and white and it's not predictable who will or won't be "saved" in the course of the story. Whitlow instead creates characters and explores their paths. Some may be won, some may stray, but they'll always be interesting to read about.

I feel a little bad giving this book two stars -- I managed to finish it, and there were parts I genuinely liked, but overall the book has some glaring issues that make it just okay. I know I will not be seeking other books by this author.<br /><br />Going into this, I was expecting a courtroom drama, which I'm not a big fan of, but I downloaded this book for free, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I really was not expecting a <i>Christian</i> courtroom drama. I can handle a few Christian books, but this one is really heavy on the religious aspect.<br /><br />Tami is a law student from Georgia who comes from a super conservative family. Women should never show too much skin, and must always wear dresses. For some reason, Tami is also a basketball player, so she can wear shorts to play the game, but they have to be specially made to cover her knees. Oh, and she can wear sweat pants for her early morning jogs. ??? While fitness is important, I don't understand why this is allowed since it seems like there are certain roles and rules for women and men. Anyway, before doing <i>anything</i> she has to pray about it. And usually she also needs her parents permission -- though they <i>also</i> have to pray about it. It's amazing anything ever gets decided. Luckily for Tami, they approve her going off to the big city of Savannah to become a clerk for a law firm, but she seems to rub people the wrong way. She makes friends with a Jewish girl, but can't promise not to try to convert her to Christianity. This, in my mind, is the worst kind of Christian. Why can't people believe whatever they want to? Tami draws the interest of two men who also work there, creating a mild little love triangle -- don't worry, this doesn't really cause any tension, though I just found out that this is the first book of a trilogy, so perhaps there will be more tension later. It's amazing that these two men also happen to be Christians, and are completely comfortable talking about their faith. Lucky Tami.<br /><br />This book really beats you over the head with Christianity. The first part especially is really preachy, which almost made me stop reading. The courtroom drama aspect is completely unbelievable. Tami doesn't handle herself much like a law student, let alone a lawyer, and her big case leads to an even bigger unsolved murder. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="67358b72-f15d-42cd-93fe-25c9262ec8b2" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="67358b72-f15d-42cd-93fe-25c9262ec8b2">Even though this is really the biggest draw in the book, this story arc fizzles out in a big way when one of the alleged conspirators reveals the truth, and praises Tami for the way she stands up to him. Gag. </label><br /><br />My biggest complaint about this book arrives at the end, when Tami is telling her mother which young man she'd like to invite home for a weekend...only the reader doesn't find out. So frustrated. But of course, I have no interest in continuing with this series, so I'll probably never find out who Tami chooses. Seriously? The author couldn't have bothered wrapping up that one little plot hole? This book was one big annoyance.

Is this the worst book Whitlow has ever written or just his most poorly drawn and ridiculously unbelievable protagonist? The book is over half done before the plot even begins to thicken. Most of the first half (and much of the second) is about the boring, endless angst of a ridiculously whiny, self-absorbed, immature brat, who is supposedly a good Christian even though she is all self-righteousness and without grace. She is supposedly in second-year law school and taking her first summer clerkship, yet we are supposed to believe that she has somehow managed to be an A student without having any concept whatsoever about what the actual practice of law entails and has no idea what lawyers do, nor for whom (gosh, like lawyers have to talk to criminals and divorced people!) The excuse for all her faults and failings is that she was homeschooled in grade school which froze her at a 13-year old level of maturity, emotional lability, and melodramatic over-reactions and even though she has supposedly gone through public high school, college and some graduate school, she has been unable to learn or grow in the last 10 years. We are expected to believe her over-protective parents trusted her judgment enough to let her go to college, law school, work in a distant city, and take care of a frail elderly woman, yet still can't trust her judgment about what clothes she wears or what church to attend. She not only carries the Biblical log in her eye, but also a bigger one on her shoulder, looking to take offense at the tiniest of stimuli so she can go all holier-than-thou on any unfortunate in her path, so when she isn't whining about being persecuted, she is steaming-eared mad about nonsense. Of course, Miss All-that imagines every man to be crazy in lust for her and just waiting for a chance to assault her. Somehow the author expects us to believe that someone this prickly and priggish actually has two desirable men who are interested in her, as if a nice Christian man cannot tell the difference between a Proverbs 31 woman and this sad parody of a Pharisee baptized in battery acid. Somehow, this personality alone is supposed to be interesting and sympathetic enough to carry most of the book--NOT. According to this author being a good Christian girl means being juvenile, petty, emotionally labile, defensive, self-centered, self-righteous, Pharisaical, smug, paranoid, and just plain rude and expects us to admire such a "heroine." I don't know (or care) which unfortunate suitor will end up stuck with this walking misery, but they are both way too good for her. I gave the book an extra star because it finally got around to an OK courtroom drama in the last quarter of the book. The main character and the rest of the book really sucked sewer water.

I've read and own several of Robert Whitlow's books and this one had been in my 'to read' basket for several years. Shame on me for not reading it sooner!<br />Deeper Water was absolutely outstanding.<br /><br />Tammy Lynn is a second year law student, with very deeply held convictions about her Christian faith. She gets a job offer from a very prestigious law firm in Savannah to clerk for the summer. She understands that her beliefs will probably be held in scorn, but resolves to remain steadfast in her faith.<br /><br />She soon realizes that she must hold even faster to those beliefs when she has a practice case to try with longstanding concerns. Will Tammy be up to the challenge? What will her convictions mean for her?<br /><br />This is a wonderful novel, in the same vein as John Grisham, only much better. There is one scene in this book that makes the entire book worth reading.

Bleh. Quite lame. I think the author intended to show some sort of maturation of the main character, but it really did not manifest. Plus, I just found her (the main character's) religious fundamentalism to be so hypocritical (which is usually true of fundamentalists). For instance, she and her family are against lawsuits, for biblical reasons, but then she goes to <i>law school</i>? And she had double standards concerning her interactions with the two "love interests" (you could barely call them that). <br /><br />If the author was trying to portray devout Christians as boring automatons without personalities, he succeeded. I honestly don't know what he was going for there. And the mystery? Pfft. I admit it was the ONLY thing that kept me reading, because I wanted to find out what happened after reading the opening chapter, but it was so not worth finishing this book.<br /><br />I need to stop writing, because part of me wants to just dissect every page of this book to point out its innumerable flaws, but I have already wasted enough time on it!

While I typically love Whitlow's books, the main character in this one was hard to get to know and to even like. Her responses in the professional arena to her bosses and mentors were that which would have gotten her fired. She seemed spoiled and immature to me. Because of this, it was less believeable to me than some of the other Witlow books. It was an easy, quick read, but not one of my favorites.

I kept hoping this would improve. I thought this poor, brainwashed girl would finally get her act together and make decisions without relying on permission from her controlling parents. I should say that I am a Christian who believes in honoring parents, but this character was a hopeless mess. It is not at all logical to believe that someone that cowed would even dare go to college, let alone choose the law as a career. Her fear of evening touching a man's hand for help out of a sidecar was just unbelievable. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Trial, but is certainly won't waste any more eyesight on this series. I gave it a 3 only because it was exasperating enough to keep me reading through the whole book.

Deeper Water by Robert Whitlow is book one of the Tides of Truth series. This is the first Whitlow book I've read and I came across it as a free kindle download via the Vessel Project.<br /><br />Tammy Lynn Taylor is from a devout Christian family with some rather strict beliefs: females wear dresses and skirts below the knee, no makeup except on rare and special occasions, children must consult their parents for decisions, and the Sabbath is strictly reserved for resting. She was homeschooled until high school when she was allowed to attend the public high school and play sports while wearing very modest sports uniforms. As a second or third year law student, she is preparing for an internship of sorts.<br /><br />Moses Jones lives in a shack on the Ogeechee River. When he goes fishing, he sees faces in the water. He wonders why they haunt him so and when they will pull him under with them.<br /><br />Normally I don’t care for a female main character, but Robert Whitlow has done an excellent job of not only creating memorable characters but also mystery and suspense. I became so emotionally wrapped up in the story that I wanted to sit down and talk to some of the characters and I cried through the last two chapters. Tammy, though in her second or third year of college, came across as much younger, but I’m sure that is due to her family’s beliefs and convictions and the more I read the more I could relate. While in some ways she comes across as shy and timid, at others, especially when her convictions are on the line, she has steadfast confidence. Though I find it hard to believe that a law firm would manage to take on 3 such religious summer clerks, I am not surprised that two rather different Christian men (Zach and Vince) would find her attractive. <br /><br />Moses and Tammy’s paths cross when Judge Cannon assigns each summer clerk with a misdemeanor case. Moses Jones is accused of twenty-four counts of trespassing. As she researches the charges, she discovers connections between Moses Jones and one of the partners of the law firm, Joe Carpenter and an unsolved missing child case. Zach Mays, her supervising lawyer, cautions against digging any deeper than the relevant charges. Vince Colbert, a fellow summer clerk, passes along any info he stumbles across, including warning her that he has overheard the partners talking about her and her case. Tammy believes that God put her in that law firm with that case to uncover the unresolved death of a little girl from years ago and to tie up the loose ends, even if it means the end of her career and possibly her life.<br /><br />This is one of the few Christian fiction books I have read that was not overly preachy except what fit each of the characters. While the main character is a young woman and two men are attracted to her, romance is kept as a shadow in the background. Whitlow’s knack for mystery and suspense are fantastic—one of the best Christian mystery/suspense I have ever read. I will definitely be reading the next one in this series and will look for more books by Robert Whitlow.<br />

I have never read anything by Robert Whitlow so I was wondering what I would find. Then I start it and find out the main character is a young woman in law school who was homeschooled by her mother until high school. And she was raised in a very conservative religious environment with a faith that is very real and very practical. Turns out the story is good, too![return][return]The setting is Georgia. First the western part where Tammy Lynn's family lives. Then Savannah where she gets a job as a summer clerk. The law story was interesting, and the law firm environment was well portrayed, even the other summer clerks. There are differences, but it isn't one Christian girl among an entire cast of heathens. There are differing levels of faith, different types of faith, and folks with enough money to think they don't need faith.[return][return]The story is told from Tammy's perspective. We learn a lot about her and we see the other characters developed through her eyes. This means we don't always know what their motives are, but even then I came to a few different conclusions from Tammy when deciding who to trust and how sincere some people were.[return][return]There is more room for growth and development in this series. I have not read much Christian fiction outside of Francine Rivers, but I have heard some common concerns with the lack of plot or believable characters. I found this a very believable book, watching a woman who is growing in her faith and learning to stand on her own with a firm foundation laid by her parents, and a family turning to God for the strength and wisdom to let her grow.