Amy Myerson’s The Water Lies is a psychological thriller that twists, turns and shoves back again. An absolutely intriguing story and enjoyable read.

In this blog I offer a different type of book review­—one that’s combined with vocabulary building. In The Water Lies I found a few interesting words.

From The Water Lies:

He’s trained himself to remain collected no matter how vitriolic they get.

vitriolic: adjective, filled with bitter criticism or malice

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From The Water Lies:

We stand at the edge of the grass as Jasper explores the dragon head, tiptoeing into its maw before jumping back, delighted that it didn’t animate and devour him.

maw: noun, the jaws or throat of a voracious animal / (informal) the mouth or gullet of a greedy person

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From The Water Lies:

I’m still assuming my husband will tell me the truth after he’s broken our most fundamental tenet.

tenet: noun, a principle or belief, especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy

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From The Water Lies:

It was brilliant, really. We could advertise for phenotypic and genetic matches for clients.

phenotypic: adjective, Biology, relating to the observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment

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From The Water Lies:

I lie supine, thinking back to that dinner when I told Gabe about Maya, the aroma of burnt coconut, what I thought I’d uncovered about Dan.

supine: adjective, 1. lying on one’s back with face upward / (technical) having the front or vetral part upward / (of the hand) with the palm upward 2. Failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence

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From The Water Lies:

My house has been too empty for too long. It could use the sounds and detritus of children.

detritus: noun, waste or debris of any kind / gravel, sand, silt, or other material produced by erosion / organic matter produced by the decomposition of organisms

To connect or learn more about Amy Myerson and her books, find her at  https://www.amymeyerson.com/

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 Definitions are typically from the dictionary that comes with my Mac or The New Oxford American Dictionary.

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“The word is only a representation of the meaning; even at its best, writing almost always falls short of full meaning. Given that, why in God’s name would you want to make things worse by choosing a word which is only cousin to the one you really wanted to use?” ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft