Buy new:
-15% $14.33
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: LIVre
$14.33 with 15 percent savings
List Price: $16.95

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$14.33 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$14.33
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Sold by
LIVre
Sold by
LIVre
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$13.11
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 15 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$14.33 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$14.33
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Peter Scott
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Something in the Water Paperback – January 1, 2000

by Peter Scott (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$14.33","priceAmount":14.33,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"33","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"jcBrdL%2BbsTrgV1aemvBbpLx0vZcBr%2BJ0o0mSNYglNvzueN1MAXl%2Bxv3XpMf9Ex5KMGJW8vqiltHNm5l%2FlkaxYEWItCw9nQ7NJQt0CLA%2BgR2HvgCpJKTmOzIMhSTUj425uNShR2yF9JCkA08L2K2vV%2B4lTsplpOvf2wOqITEt2Kqds8pRxxnRQ%2FSGGVlMosCq","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$13.11","priceAmount":13.11,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"11","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"jcBrdL%2BbsTrgV1aemvBbpLx0vZcBr%2BJ0DqmXgane2b5KSTiJ1b51cd0vYqGuUuDTIAiyYF6j5%2FO3etY5Eigmj63CH7nATLns8KfAMRpWKRPx54T552s%2BQ94mntPxthU2QRy6CnWCkMubpPJ6GIayETVNfT%2Bejb9APigwE2oJ1w0xqm%2F%2BddOOqU5AmYXkG9Fx","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Set during World War II on an island off the coast of Maine, Something in the Water tells the story of a lobster fisherman, Amos Coombs, who knows that German U-boats are hiding out along the coast by day and sinking American merchant vessels at night. Until one terrifying day, however, he is unaware that the enemy is quite literally in his backyard or that the presence of a Nazi submarine is about to change his life and those of his fellow islanders forever. More than just a war novel, this excitingly original novel presents a vivid portrayal of a community and a way of life. In the first book in the Maine Island in Wartime trilogy, Peter Scott gives us a beautiful picture of Down East Maine life in the 1940s and the people who lived there.  He experience in that place and in war come out in his detailed descriptions and perfectly real dialogue.  
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    302 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Down East Books
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2000
  5. Dimensions
    6.2 x 0.64 x 9.08 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0892725176
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0892725175
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Life would be much more pleasurable if there were more stories this compelling, more writers as gifted as Peter Scott. -- Tim O'Brien, author of THE THINGS THEY CARRIED and IN THE LAKE OF THE WOODS

Peter Scott is a marvelous storyteller. . . . This is a cause for celebration. -- Christopher Buckley, author of THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and LITTLE GREEN MEN

Scott's characters come to life with the full scope of emotion, rich in old Maine colloquialism. -- Linda Greenlaw, author of THE HUNGRY OCEAN: A SWORDBOAT CAPTAIN'S JOURNEY

From the Inside Flap

Also by Peter Scott:The Boy Who Came Walking Home - Maine Islands in Wartime IIBarter Island - Maine Islands in Wartime IIILost Crusade: America's Secret Cambodian MercenariesIn Deer Isle, Maine: the 16th Maine Volunteer Regiment at Home and at War

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Down East Books; First Edition (January 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 302 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0892725176
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0892725175
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.2 x 0.64 x 9.08 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Peter Scott

Peter Scott

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Peter Scott is the author of one history and three novels (a fourth recently completed), including the 2007 published Barter Island (Down East Books), which has been praised by legendary fiction writer Tim OʼBrien as "tender, funny, sad and scary, and boy oh boy does Scott nail the setting". The Boy who Came Walking Home and Something in the Water, which the Boston Globe called "A thoroughly engaging novel", are prequels to Barter Island, and all of them deal with themes of war and peace. A veteran of the Vietnam War as a U.S. Army Officer, Peter was raised in Maryland. He earned his M.A. in 1973, and has published 15 short stories and numerous magazine articles. An English teacher at Hawken School, Peter lives in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
11 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Josh Scandlen
5.0 out of 5 stars Confusing book - But well worth sticking till the end
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
Not going to lie, I almost stopped reading half way through. First off, the discussion of boat details was way over my head. And I was having some trouble keeping track of the various characters. Not the author's fault though. it was mine. I'd read right before bed time and my brain would get fogged so I couldn't remember the next night where I left off.

However, when I tried to focus on the book, about half-way through I found it to be spectacular. Not sure why but one of the ending scenes, the clambake on the island made me tear up. I'm from an island in Maine and it made me think of days gone by, of a simpler time. I know every generation says that. Of course we always remember the past with rose-colored glasses. Still. A great scene and one I'm very happy to have participated in by reading it.

The ending ticks me off too. Not at the author, but because of the waste of humanity in fighting wars. How many lives have been ruined fighting another man's battles? It's a sickness among humanity. There is no good war. None. And those that advocate it, can go pound sand.
Helpful
 Report
W. Adams
4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Let The Subject Scare You Away...
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2002
...enjoy the story.
Peter Scott's "Something In The Water" often is characterized by genres ranging from WWII war novels to submarine warfare. Amazon's subject search includes: World War, 1939-1945; German naval operations; and submarines. Even the book's jacket focuses on hidden German U-2 boats and the Nazi threat. Such descriptions easily scare away most readers ~ and that's a shame.
The book offers much more than this first impression. It is a story about people, relationships and the inner-workings of small, coastal-Maine fishing town, forced to deal with the start of WWII and its encroachment into their way of life. The war is not the subject matter. Instead, characters, families and the fishing village itself are the central elements of the story. I thought more of "Our Town" than "Das Boot," and that is why you will enjoy the book.
Enjoy getting to know the characters and the community. Enjoy their relationships and other social customs prevalent at the time. Enjoy the nostalgia and the memories. Into that context, add the suspense of the subject matter: a stranger in a small town and German submarines off Maine's coastal shores. The ending may disappoint you. It is a bit stretched for my taste. However, the story telling is worth your time.
17 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report