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WORK TITLE: Under Water
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 2/16/1972
WEBSITE: caseybarrettbooks.com
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: Canadian
Agent: Alec Shane at Writers House Literary Agency: ashane@writershouse.com; blog: http://www.caseybarrettbooks.com/cap-and-goggles
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born February 16, 1972.
EDUCATION:Attended the University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, sports commentator, swimming instructor, and athlete. Imagine Swimming, New York, NY, cofounder, co-CEO. Commentator on NBC for the Olympic Games. Former member of the Canadian Olympic swim team.
AWARDS:Emmy Award (three); Peabody Award.
WRITINGS
Maintains the blog, Cap & Goggles.
SIDELIGHTS
Casey Barrett is a former member of the the Canadian Olympic swim team. In an interview with Eli Rallo, contributor to the Michigan Daily website, he explained how he came to be an Olympic swimmer. Barrett recalled showing promise after taking swimming lessons as a child. He told Rallo: “I liked working hard; became hooked on improving; success & ambition fed on themselves … until it became my entire identity.” After ending his competitive swimming career, Barrett has become a published author, cofounder of a swimming instruction company, and television sports commentator. Barrett’s swimming instruction company, Imagine Swimming, is based in New York City. He also serves as the organization’s co-CEO. Barrett has appeared as a commentator for NBC during that network’s coverage of the Olympic Games. He won a Peabody Award and three Emmy awards for his coverage of the Games. Barrett has attended the University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University, where he took courses in journalism.
In 2017, Barrett released his first novel, a thriller called Under Water. In the same interview with Rallo, Barrett discussed his preparation for writing the book. He stated: “I read as much as I possibly could in the genre, knowing that was where I was headed. Then, at some point around 2012 or so, I realized that the reading could (and would) go on forever, and that I was ready to write confidently in my chosen ‘field’.” In the book, Barrett tells the story of a former Olympic swimmer named Lawrence “Duck” Darley, who has fallen into crime and alcoholism after his swimming career ended. Duck is now a private eye, and his latest case involves a missing teenage swimmer named Madeline. The case becomes complicated when Duck discovers connections to the sex industry and the Russian mob. He relies on Cass Kimball, a dominatrix and colleague, for help.
According to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly: “Barrett relies on familiar genre tropes … but dials them up for high shock value.” “Barrett’s first-person narrative has a music of its own, and his alcoholic hero, just two drinks away from seeking his next fix, is appealingly vulnerable,” asserted a critic on the Kirkus Reviews website. A writer on the Bibliophile Book Club website commented: “At times violent and gritty, Under Water has an almost hard-boiled crime kind of feel to it. It’s noir-ish and quite old school but it’s quite pacy.” The same writer added: “There is a seedy undertone throughout the narrative, but it lends itself well to the investigative work Darley has to do.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, October 2, 2017, review of Under Water, p. 116.
ONLINE
Bibliophile Book Club, https://bibliophilebookclub.com/ (November 28, 2017), review of Under Water.
Casey Barrett Website, http://www.caseybarrettbooks.com (March 19, 2018).
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (September 1, 2016), review of Under Water.
Michigan Daily Online, https://www.michigandaily.com/ (January 8, 2018), Eli Rallo, author interview.
About the Author
Casey Barrett is a Canadian Olympian and the co-founder and co-CEO of Imagine Swimming, New York City's largest learn-to-swim school. He has won three Emmy awards and one Peabody award for his work on NBC's broadcasts of the Olympic Games. He also writes the swimming blog Cap & Goggles.
QUOTED: "I liked working hard; became hooked on improving; success & ambition fed on themselves ... until it became my entire identity."
"I read as much as I possibly could in the genre, knowing that was where I was headed. Then, at some point around 2012 or so, I realized that the reading could (and would) go on forever, and that I was ready to write confidently in my chosen 'field'."
ELI RALLO
Daily Arts Writer
What do an author and an Olympic athlete have in common? They are enduring a constant uphill battle to success. Both the path of a successful Olympic athlete and an author are extremely difficult, regimented and time-consuming. However, author and Olympic swimmer Casey Barrett has been able to achieve both in his 42 years — having both published a novel and competed as a Canadian swimmer in the 1996 Olympics.
Despite the fact that to the naked eye swimming and writing are not similar in any way, Barrett would disagree with this statement. “The discipline and lifestyle of swimming and writing is almost exactly the same,” he wrote in an email interview with The Daily. “So much so that I'm baffled there aren't more former swimmers who've become fiction writers... My ideal writing routine is pretty much identical to my old training schedule: I do my best writing between 5:30a - 7:30a in the morning, and then in the late afternoon between 3:30p.m. - 6p.m. I suppose that's when my body & mind have always worked best.”
Barrett was serious about swimming for much of his adolescent life, going on to swim in college as well as professionally. He has not swam in over 20 years, having dedicated his life to his family, his writing and his business, Imagine Swimming.
In 2002, Barrett co-founded Imagine Swimming, Inc, a school that sets out to teach thousands of students between the ages of six months and 12 years how to swim at pools across New York. In addition to education, Imagine Swimming oversees a swim team, water polo team and a synchronized swimming team.
On his career path and accomplishments, Barrett claims: “I was restless and ambitious, and seemed to thrive on change. I ‘got into’swimming like most kids — showed a bit of talent in a summer league; a coach or some other parents mentioned year-round teams to my mom & dad; I liked working hard; became hooked on improving; success & ambition fed on themselves ... Until it became my entire identity.”
Despite the fact that swimming has been an important part of his identity, he claims that he “moved to NYC to get away from that swimmer's life.” His life went from swimming to publishing, as he studied print journalism at the University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University. However, through all this, he always knew that he wanted to become a fiction writer on his own terms.
In 2006, with an infatuation for crime fiction, Barrett embarked on a life changing journey — penning his first novel, one of an anticipated series entitled “UNDER WATER.” He began by accepting a private apprenticeship in crime fiction for about five years. To this process he noted, “I read as much as I possibly could in the genre, knowing that was where I was headed. Then, at some point around 2012 or so, I realized that the reading could (and would) go on forever, and that I was ready to write confidently in my chosen ‘field’.” Because of his background in Olympic sports and his previous writing on his blog “Cap & Goggles,” he knew that the plot line began with the sexual abuse that has affected swimming and other Olympic sports.
The path of a previous Olympic athlete and the path of a committed fiction author seem to really intertwine here, creating a wonderful melody between the two subjects. Often, we see Olympic athletes finishing their athletic career to write a memoir, short stories, a biography or other nonfiction works. That being said, it is incredibly refreshing to see a former Olympic athlete creating works of fiction roughly based on his other passion — swimming.
As a very committed individual in two different fields, Barrett has many incredible and special life experiences despite his young age. When asked what advice he has for aspiring Olympic athletes and authors, Barrett replied: “All it takes is committing your entire life to it. If you're not willing to step off the ledge and lose your mind doing it, don't bother.”
Barrett will be having an event at Literati bookstore to read and discuss his new novel “Under Water” on Wednesday, January 10th at 7 PM.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorecctly stated that Barrett swam in the 2002 Olympics, he actually swam in the 1996 Olympics.
QUOTED: "Barrett relies on familiar genre tropes ... but dials them up for high shock value."
Under Water
Publishers Weekly. 264.40 (Oct. 2, 2017): p116+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Full Text:
Under Water
Casey Barrett. Kensington, $25 (336p) ISBN 9781-4967-0968-4
Olympic swimmer Barrett dives into the disturbing side of competitive sport in his savage thriller debut, a series launch. Once an Olympic-class swimmer, Lawrence "Duck" Darley took to drink and spent time in prison. Now an unlicensed PI specializing in uncovering the infidelities of the rich, Duck contracts with wealthy New Yorker Margaret McKay, the widowed mother of an old swimming buddy of his, to quietly find her troubled 18-year-old daughter, Madeline. A promising swimmer, Madeline texted her mother "I'm so sorry" a few days earlier, then disappeared, last seen by her brother at the family's country house in Rhinebeck. Duck's part-time partner in detection, dominatrix Cass Kimball, brings competence, toughness, and sex industry connections to the search for the missing Madeline. Barrett relies on familiar genre tropes--illicit affairs, drug deals, blackmail, and the Russian mafia--but dials them up for high shock value. The expected if still satisfying ending leaves Darley so broken that it's hard to imagine how he'll be enticed into the next investigation. Agent: Alec Shane, Writers House. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Under Water." Publishers Weekly, 2 Oct. 2017, p. 116+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509728419/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9b4ad2b7. Accessed 3 Mar. 2018.
QUOTED: "Barrett’s first-person narrative has a music of its own, and his alcoholic hero, just two drinks away from seeking his next fix, is appealingly vulnerable."
UNDER WATER
by Casey Barrett
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KIRKUS REVIEW
Olympic swimmer Barrett’s debut stars—wait for it—a disgraced former swimmer hired to find, um, a missing swimmer.
Duck Darley used to be a contender. When they were in school together, he beat his teammate Charlie McKay in every heat. Now things have changed. Charlie’s won four Olympic medals; Duck, stung by his late father’s conviction for fraud, has taken up drinking, drugs, and prison. Even now that he’s out of jail, his record keeps him from getting a private eye’s license and allows him to call himself only a “Finder and Consultant.” Duck’s life becomes a lot more interesting when Charlie’s mother, imperishable MILF Margaret McKay, asks him to find her missing daughter. Though Madeline McKay is as talented as her brother, she isn’t nearly as disciplined, and she’s left behind a trail as garishly cluttered as that of any other overprivileged wild child. That trail is lit up even more starkly by the death of her boyfriend, NYU student filmmaker James Fealy, who gets comprehensively slashed before Duck has a chance to talk to him. Instead he talks to Angela Jones, the madam and porn producer who owns Fallen Angels, where Maddie’s rumored to have sought work; Teddy Marks, the legendary swimming coach he and Charlie used to swim for, who acts as if he’s being seriously blackmailed; and Anna Lisko, one of Teddy’s assistants. (All right, he does more than talk to Anna.) For his pains, Duck gets beaten up by a thug with a foreign accent, attacked by a duo who nearly stab and bite him to death, and imprisoned in a deceptively stylish Greenwich Village dungeon.
Barrett’s first-person narrative has a music of its own, and his alcoholic hero, just two drinks away from seeking his next fix, is appealingly vulnerable even if the improbable pile of unspeakable felonies here will mainly bring to mind your mother’s admonition: don’t go near the water.
Pub Date: Aug. 28th, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4967-0968-4
Page count: 336pp
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6th, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1st, 2017
QUOTED: "At times violent and gritty, Under Water has an almost hard-boiled crime kind of feel to it. It’s noir-ish and quite old school but it’s quite pacy."
"There is a seedy undertone throughout the narrative, but it lends itself well to the investigative work Darley has to do."
*Many thanks to the author for my review copy!*
About the author:
Casey is the author of the Duck Darley crime series. The first in the series, UNDER WATER, will be released by Kensington Books on November 28th, 2017. Book two – AGAINST NATURE – will come out eight months later on July 31st, 2018. And Book three – THE TOWER OF SONGS – is slated for mid-2019 release.
Casey is also a Canadian Olympic swimmer and the co-founder and co-CEO of Imagine Swimming, New York City’s largest learn-to-swim school. He has won three Emmy awards and one Peabody award for his work on NBC’s broadcasts of the Olympic Games.
About the book:
Duck Darley should have been a winner. Once a competitive swimmer destined for Olympic gold, he drank away his gilded youth and followed his fraudster father’s footsteps into prison. Barely scraping by as an unlicensed private investigator, Duck now chases down cheating spouses for the same Manhattan elite who once viewed him as equal, and drowns bitter memories with whatever fills his glass.
Duck’s lost glory days resurface when he’s tasked with finding the teenaged sister of a former teammate turned Olympic champion. Privileged Madeline McKay vanished over Labor Day weekend, leaving behind a too-perfect West Village apartment and a promising athletic career of her own. Duck thinks he’s hunting for a self-destructive runaway—until Madeline’s film student ex is savagely murdered, and the media spins her as the psycho who killed him.
As Duck searches for Madeline, he’s plunged back into the dark underbelly of Olympic swimming—a world rife with wild lies and terrible violence. And he soon learns that no matter how hard he tries to escape his past, demons still lurk beneath every surface . . .
Under Water by Casey Barrett
My thoughts:
Under Water is the first book in a Casey Barrett’s Duck Darley series, and it’s definitely off to a good start!
Darley used to have promise as an Olympic swimmer, but for various reasons, he ended up going to prison instead. This lead to Darley working as a PI in Manhattan, where he exposes cheaters and the usual PI fodder. Until he is contacted by the mother of his old swim team mate.
Madeleine McKay is missing but Darley thinks she’s run away and that there’s nothing untoward about her disappearance. Until her ex is murdered, and she becomes the prime suspect.
From here, Under Water really picks up the pace. Darley gets into trouble on occasion, but all in his pursuit for the truth. At times violent and gritty, Under Water has an almost hard-boiled crime kind of feel to it. It’s noir-ish and quite old school but it’s quite pacy!
It’s been a while since I read a crime book like Under Water. There is a seedy undertone throughout the narrative, but it lends itself well to the investigative work Darley has to do. One for fans of James Ellroy maybe? It’s got that kind of vibe going for it at times. One worth adding to your list!
Recommended for sure!