Something horrible happened aboard the cruise ship Atargatis, something that caused everyone on board to disappear leaving the ship adrift at sea. Weeks earlier, a team of scientists along with the production crew from Imagine Networks had set sail on the Atargatis to the Mariana Trench to prove the existence of mermaids. Did they actually find these mythical creatures? All anyone knows is that the ship was found adrift, no one on board, with some disturbing film footage recovered from the production crew’s cameras. Was the disappearance of everyone a hoax to drum up publicity for the mermaid documentary or was it a maritime tragedy?
This 123-page novella is the prequel to Into the Drowning Deep which I had previously read (read my review here). Even though I knew what happened, I still enjoyed this book. The synopsis pretty much tells you what occurs so the actual plot is not a huge surprise.
Knowing that these killer mermaids exist did not dampen my enjoyment of this book. There’s no mystery to solve because you already know how the book ends. What this book is mainly about is the journey. Again, there’s not really a lot of suspense; you know that everyone on board disappears. The driving force in this novella is the tension, of knowing something that the characters don’t.
Like I said, the book is only 123 pages which is fairly short. I’m surprised at how much detail and plot there was in the book considering how slim it was. I’m not a scientist or know anything about marine life but when reading this story it’s so easy to think “Yeah that could happen”. I found myself nodding along with things I knew nothing about thinking, “That sounds about right.” As with Into the Drowning Deep, Rolling in the Deep contained a diverse cast of characters. There’s a wide range of scientists on board as well as a number of assorted characters.
Honestly, while I liked this book, it didn’t really add anything to my enjoyment of the story from Into the Drowning Deep. Into the Drowning Deep already gives you the backstory so it’s not like you learn anything really new by reading the prequel. If you could only read one, I would definitely recommend skipping this book and just reading Into the Drowning Deep.
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