Charlie Stillwaters is a hick from the backwoods of Mississippi that’s good with computers.  When Charlie quits his job, he can’t afford to turn down any paying job that comes his way – even if it means working for Mr. Euler, a weird guy Charlie thinks is a major drug dealer.  While Charlie is at Mr. Euler’s home fixing his computers he gets to needle and annoy the resident computer “guru” and scope out a really hot guy that is there for a meeting.  However, Charlie’s penchant for poking into things lands him in trouble and while the bullets are flying he ends up running for his life with the cute guy – what else could Charlie ask for?

Yoshifumi Murakami has run as far as he could from his father’s life within the Yakuza.  However, it seems that Mississippi might not have been far enough as the local drug dealers are accusing Yoshi of trying to muscle in and take over the territory.  Still, Yoshi has no idea what’s going on and he wants nothing to do with it or anything dealing with the Yakuza…

Still Waters is an uncommon read as it almost seems a written version of an anime cartoon – complete with the exaggerations of stereotypes and emotional outbursts.  Charlie is a curious mix of hillbilly hick with a sophisticated vocabulary, a nosy attitude about things that would intimidate most people and an insatiable need to explore Yoshi’s anatomy.  Most of the time these traits serve to make Charlie irritating rather than funny while at the same time making him interesting.  Yoshi, on the other hand, after running away from his father and the Yakuza lifestyle he lead comes across as a whiny man that resorts to tears and tantrums when he can’t get his way.  I found Still Waters longwinded and full of implausible characters that come across as unbelievable within their context.  Still Waters is a book that in my opinion will be enjoyed by lovers of anime cartoons or readers that enjoy farcical characters and plots.