Review of Waterworks

[Sohana Hasan]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Waterworks" by Jack Winnick.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Jack Winnick’s Waterworks is an immersive, action-packed read about a couple that is dedicated to fighting crime. This book is centered around the criminal activities of the religiously-driven Iranian government. After a Los Angeles water source is laced with near untraceable poison, Lara Edmond and Uri Levin are tasked with retaliating against the Iranian government. They must also keep an eye out for any plans of similar attacks. After concealing themselves with complicated, film-worthy disguises, they’re off into enemy territory.

There were a lot of positives that I noticed about this book. The plot was well-formed and well-organized. It was never rushed, nor was it ever very slow. Although the beginning was a bit sluggish, the story quickly picked up speed. Unlike other books that I’ve read in the past, Waterworks had a steady, readable pace to it. There was also a gradual building of tension that led to the action-packed end.

While there were many positives to this book, there were also many negatives that are worth mentioning. Personally, I found the dialogue to be stilted; it didn’t sound natural at all. Additionally, although the descriptions weren’t the worst ones I’ve ever read, they certainly weren’t the best. Though vivid, they were never wholly immersive. Winnick describes the surroundings with enough detail for a reader to understand it, but not with enough detail for a reader to imagine the scenario in their minds. On a similar note, Winnick also had a tendency of telling his readers that a character was good or bad instead of showing the character’s attributes. There was also a lack of variety in the sentence structure; most of them were long, sometimes unnecessarily.

Something that I also found problematic was the rendition of Islam in this book. Winnick depicts the plot to poison American water in a way that suggests that it is something that all Muslims would support, as opposed to something that only the Iranian government is doing and supporting. It’s obvious that the author did not bother researching Islam at all before portraying the entire religion in such unfavorable terms. In light of many hate crimes that have occurred due to such prejudices, I found it problematic that the author would blame a religion that contained people from all nationalities, especially when the true villain of his story was a single government.

Overall, I felt that this book lacks the immersive quality of others that I’ve read in the past. The descriptions are interesting and our protagonists are intriguing. But, at no point in the story, did I feel immersed in the read. I never felt like I was experiencing this story—only reading it. Although Waterworks had many positive aspects, there were many issues that took away from the read. For these reasons, this book deserves a rating of 2 out of 4 stars.

This book isn’t very explicit and there are only suggestions of sexual scenes. This would make it an age-appropriate read for teens, as well as an interesting read for adults. Waterworks is not a book I would recommend to anyone who is Muslim. There is a fair chance that they would find many parts offensive and insulting. Other than that, this is a book that is well-suited for most ages and would be an enjoyable one for them.

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Waterworks
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[Jeff Kanda]

Seems a good book. I'll have time for it. Thanks for the fascinating review!

[Satwik Mohanty]

The plot is quite interesting but I think I'll get bored easily if the narration is not intriguing. Thanks for the honest review