Something in the Water

A reporter unearths a dangerous conspiracy in this rote thriller from Dixon (A Taste for More). Billie Jordan has spent decades working for Oakland radio station KBLK, serving both as news director and the host of a call-in relationship show. When the station is sold and Billie’s husband, Cole, is offered a position as a department head at Calder State University in his Texas hometown, Billie agrees to move to Texas with him. After the couple arrives in sleepy Calderville, Billie discovers that the water isn’t safe to drink and quickly deduces that the problem might be the result of more than governmental ineptitude. She starts reporting the story, which threatens her employment at a bank whose managers are averse to any of the staff making waves. Meanwhile, she juggles domestic crises, including her teenage son’s opioid addiction and her discovery that Cole has had an affair. Dixon’s plot is at once overstuffed and underheated, with too much fat and too little tension. When the action finally kicks into gear, it leans too heavily on well-worn intrepid reporter tropes. This disappoints. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Agency. (Aug.)