Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

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I’m late to the game on this one.

I have been slowly adding in more authors to my auto-read list and Mira Grant, a.k.a. Seanan McGuire, is one of them. Writing as Grant, we know going in that we are in for a chilling and horrifying exploration of humans and their connection to the world. I loved the Newsflesh series where we are shown that no matter how many good people there are in the world, the selfish and greedy still manage to ruin it for all. And, unfortunately, it’s usually the greedy and selfish that are in power. In Into the Drowning Deep, human curiosity and hubris will lead a group of scientists to uncover one of the greatest mysteries of the sea.

Mermaids are real. 

They’re not nice. 

Not at all.

Seven years ago, Anne Stewart was working as a reporter on a mockumentary film crew that was exploring the Mariana Trench. Hired by Imagine Entertainment, the crew included scientists, actors, camera crews and the standard crew for the ship and those on board never really intended to come across anything scarier than the already documented sharks and fish. When the ship was finally found adrift, the entire crew was gone and all that was left behind was shocking and unexplainable footage of creatures attacking the crew. Experts tried to write off the footage as fancy camera work and a stunt by Imagine Entertainment, but the crew was never found and no bodies were ever recorded. Determined to discover the truth behind her sister’s disappearance, Victoria “Tory” Stewart jumped at the chance to join the crew of the Melusine and continue their mission of searching the Mariana Trench for the monsters that killed her sister. 

Now, the crew is more prepared to battle the dangerous creatures that took the lives of the Atargatis crew. Big game hunters and security guards have joined the scientists and camera crews and the ship is equipped with far more defensive features than the Atargatis. But this wouldn’t be a horror novel without every step of their plan going horribly wrong. 

This book has the perfect balance of non-stop action and deep character development. All of the characters are interesting and it’s a very diverse cast. We have characters who are queer without it being their defining feature, characters with disabilities who are given vital roles on the crew, and I believe an equal amount of female scientists as male. It’s a pretty large cast of characters but Grant is such a talented writer that by the end, each character feels as equally fleshed out as the next and vital to the story. 

This book is incredibly tense. You know at some point the mermaids are going to make contact but there are so many twists and turns, it’s hard to predict when it will happen. Several of the crew seem to have ulterior motives for being on the expedition making them very unpredictable. There are also problems with the ship’s security measures that no one really wants to share and what’s up with the scary tanks in the science lab? Many of the main characters are scientists and were really good about getting caught up in their work and becoming oblivious to their surroundings. That ego can get in the way of safety measures. Just saying. 

On top of all the wonderful characters, tense atmosphere, and bloody action, there’s also a bit of romance and some really great supportive friendships. The mermaids are wonderfully imagined creatures and I really enjoyed Grant’s take on them. I’m really hoping that there will be more books after this-I think the ending left it open for a sequel. 

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for anyone that isn’t squeamish or minds having nightmares for a while. 

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