Deeper Water, by Robert Whitlow, is the first novel in the Tides of Truth Series. Whitlow fuses the legal world with the moral world effortlessly in this book about a law student who works as a summer clerk at a top law office in Savannah.

Tammy Taylor comes from a strict religious group in the mountains of Georgia. She is accustomed to the scrutiny of society regarding her beliefs but, working as a summer clerk presents challenges she is not used to facing alone. Tammy has to balance being professional while not compromising her ethics and upbringing. Along with cases that test her morals, the people she works for and live with also put her faith on trial. Two male coworkers vie for Tammy’s attention while the other female summer clerk seems bent on criticizing her principles. As Tammy works on her primary case she learns more about the firm which leads her to doubt her decision to work there. She must choose between confronting the truth and ignoring he upbringing.

When I learned Deeper Water is a legal drama, I feared I would be lost due to my lack of knowledge about lawyers and the justice system. Whitlow takes the reader into the legal world without bombarding the reader with jargon. Having personal experience with the legal system is not a prerequisite for reading Whitlow’s novels. I was pleasantly surprised to discover there is more to the plot than the cases and clients Tammy represents.

Whitlow’s characters are the purest I have encountered. I do not know of any person, fictional or otherwise, who is as pure in thought and action as Tammy Taylor and a few other characters in Deeper Water. These characters drastically contradict the lawyer stereotype, adding interest to the story. I am left wondering if Whitlow can create such characters because he himself engages in the same disciplined lifestyle.

Deeper Water is a good choice for those who have an interest in the law without the heavy-handedness of the terminology. Deeper Water is a good choice for those who can relate to Tammy’s moral persecution in a secular world. Deeper Water is a good example of how Christians can live in the world and not be of the world. I recommend adding the Tides of Truth Series to your reading list.

Thomas Nelson 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59554-132-1