what I’m reading: into the drowning deep by mira grant.

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” about mermaids. All contact was lost and when the ship was finally located, it was deserted. The only sign of the crew was bits of found footage that showed the crew being slaughtered by some sort of mermaid-like creatures. Most people wrote the footage off as a hoax, but there are those that believe the footage is real. Now, a new crew and boat has been assembled. Their mission – to go back to the Mariana Trench and discover what happened to the Atargatis. For Victoria Stewart, this might be the only chance she has to figure out what really happened to her sister all those years ago.

This book combines horror, science, and humor, and I really liked it. There is a huge cast of characters, and I thought they all brought something interesting to the story. There are big game hunters brought on board to hunt the mermaids, media personalities to report on everything that is happening, security, doctors, and of course scientists. There are many different types of scientists, as well as plenty that I had never even heard of before. The story is told from a variety of view points and I liked reading about the story from the different characters.

The science plays a large role. This book is science fiction and is filled with a plethora of scientific “facts”. I’ll be honest – I don’t know how much of the facts in this book were real. But I kept reading like it was all real. The facts just made the story all the more compelling.

There’s a lot of tension in the book. Mainly because the characters are trapped in the middle of the ocean on a boat and have nowhere to escape to. You know something is going to happen, but you don’t know what it is. This isn’t a book that wonders if mermaids exist. We, as the readers, know that they do. We are just waiting until the characters in the book figure it out as well.

I don’t know much about the author but I have to wonder what her background is. It wasn’t until I was finished reading the book that I realized there is a prequel that explains exactly what happened to the Atargatis.