Until the Water Bleeds
Lexi Whitlock’s celebratory cruise quickly transforms into a floating nightmare as she and her friends uncover a chilling reality: they aren't alone, and they aren't safe. As the body count rises, Lexi’s determination to uncover the truth turns her—and everyone she loves—into the killer's primary targets.
- Lexi - Protagonist
- Riley - Lexi’s best friend
- Andrea - Lexi’s older sister
- Sean - Andrea’s partner
- George - Hannah’s boyfriend
- Hannah - George’s girlfriend
- Pru - Claire’s girlfriend
- Claire - Pru’s girlfriend
- James - Passenger on the cruise ship
- Keith and Theodore - Cruise ship security officers
- Briggs - Chief of security on the cruise ship
- The group of high school friends plan a cruise to celebrate Andrea earning her masters degree.
- Once aboard the ship, Riley and Lexi meet James, who seems interested in Riley, but she brushes him off.
- During dinner the first night, a man collapses and they later learn he has died.
- The next morning Lexi and Riley see a woman dead in a lounge chair on the deck.
- Riley tells Lexi she’s in love with her and they sleep together.
- Riley and Lexi go to the adults-only deck, where they see doctors surrounding Hannah, who has bled to death from cuts to her arms.
- The doctors insist that Hannah died by suicide.
- George insists Hannah would not have killed herself and reveals she was pregnant.
- After learning Hannah is dead, Pru proposes to Claire, afraid of losing anyone else she loves.
- Another passenger is found dead.
- Lexi and Riley ask security to view the footage from the deaths, but security refuses and claims nothing out of the ordinary appears on the cameras.
- The group goes to a party and gets wasted.
- They hear a scream and find George standing over Pru's body holding a bloody knife; Pru dies.
- A witness says Pru had the knife in her when she fell down the stairs and that George pulled it out, insisting he was not the one who stabbed her.
- Security cameras show James being shoved over a railing onto a lower deck; he dies.
- George and Sean are attacked in a bathroom along with a teenager; the teenager dies, but George and Sean survive.
- The group is forced to remain in one room under guard by security officers.
- The lights go out. A security officer is stabbed. Lexi is cut on the arm. Sean is stabbed in the leg and dies.
- The women find George dead in a hot tub with his wrists slashed.
- Claire messages the group to meet her in the gym.
- In the gym, Lexi, Riley, and Andrea find Claire hanging by her wrists with her stomach sliced open.
- Lexi ends up on deck with Keith and Theodore, and Theodore tells Lexi that Keith is the killer.
- Theodore shoots Keith in the head and Lexi ends up being shot in the arm.
- Lexi realizes that Theodore is the actual killer.
- Theodore tells Lexi he initially targeted random people, but once her group started investigating, he decided to target them. He admits he was killing for fun, with no larger motive.
- Andrea appears and joins a struggle between Theodore and Lexi.
- Lexi stabs Theodore in the neck.
- Briggs arrives and listens to the entire encounter, which Lexi recorded on her phone.
- Epilogue: 3 months later
- Andrea, Lexi and Riley bury their friends and move in together to support one another.
I randomly came across this book by a new author and I'm very glad I did. This book maintained high tension throughout, which kept me hooked. The pacing was fast and the chapters were short, which made it easy to keep turning pages. I also appreciated the small side love story woven in that I thought was done really well - it added to the story without distracting from the suspense.
I was genuinely surprised by the reasoning behind the murders and found it refreshing compared to the more common tropes seen in thrillers. My only real critique is that there were too many main characters to keep track of, which made it feel a little crowded at times trying to remember who was who. If you can get past the large cast, the unique payoff and realistic character behavior make this well worth the read.
- Hannah - Dead - Arms cut open by Theodore
- Pru - Dead - Stabbed by Theodore
- James - Dead - Killed by Theodore
- Sean - Dead - Stabbed by Theodore
- George - Dead - Arms cut open by Theodore
- Claire - Dead - Killed by Theodore
- Keith - Dead - Shot by Theodore
- Theodore - Dead - Stabbed by Lexi
- Andrea - Alive - Recovering from the ordeal
- Lexi - Alive - Recovering from the ordeal
- Riley - Alive - Recovering from the ordeal
- Death
- Murder
- Pregnancy
- Mention of suicide
- Blood
Publisher: Imprint
ASIN: B0FTT3F25G
Publication Date: October 31, 2025
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
