inTo The Drowning DeeP

released OuT nOW! 496 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Mira Grant Publisher Orbit

Seanan McGuire’s pseudonym Mira Grant is well-established by now, and Into The Drowning Deep contains all the ingredients that have made Grant’s other novels so popular: a near-future setting, a convincing-sounding scientific explanation for the horrors faced (there’s not a whiff of the supernatural), and a good dollop of gore.

This story of a scientific expedition to the Marianas Trench, searching for the mermaids that killed everyone on a previous research mission, feels akin to a classic monster movie: there’s no doubt from the start that the mermaids are there and are lethal, most of the characters are sympathetic (though you won’t be able to help hoping that a pair of big game hunters get an especially nasty final moment), and there are genuinely tense moments when characters you’ve learned to like venture off alone or take risks that have you thinking, “They’re going to die… But would such a good character get killed off so soon?… They’re going to die…” All you can do is keep reading and find out. The setting – a repurposed cruise liner – is big enough to drag the story out.

Thoroughly enjoyable in the way that watching The Thing or Jaws is – and you’ll definitely remember it next time you’re considering a dip in the ocean. Miriam McDonald