Title: The Girl Beneath the Sea
Author: Andrew Mayne
Series: Underwater Investigation Unit, #1
Published: May 2020, Thomas Mercer
Format: ARC Paperback, 332 pages
Source: Publisher via MB Communications
Summary:
For a Florida police diver, danger rises to the surface in an adventurous thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist.
Coming
from scandalous Florida treasure hunters and drug smugglers, Sloan
McPherson is forging her own path, for herself and for her daughter, out
from under her family’s shadow. An auxiliary officer for Lauderdale
Shores PD, she’s the go-to diver for evidence recovery. Then Sloan finds
a fresh kill floating in a canal—a woman whose murky history collides
with Sloan’s. Their troubling ties are making Sloan less a potential
witness than a suspect. And her colleagues aren’t the only ones
following every move she makes. So is the killer.
Stalked by an
assassin, pitted against a ruthless cartel searching for a lost fortune,
and under watch within her ranks, Sloan has only one ally: the
legendary DEA agent who put Sloan’s uncle behind bars. He knows just how
deep corruption runs—and the kind of danger Sloan is in. To stay alive,
Sloan must stay one step ahead of her enemies—both known and
unknown—and a growing conspiracy designed to pull her under.
My thoughts: I first became a fan of Andrew Mayne’s writing after reading, and loving, his Jessica Blackwood series about a magician-turned-FBI agent. And now he’s started another series that I am sure is going to be a hit if this first book is anything to go by.
What I loved about Andrew Mayne’s books is that he gives his main characters such fascinating backgrounds and that is absolutely true here, and what drew me to this book in the first place. Sloan McPherson is not only a female police officer, but comes from a family of scuba divers and is the go-to-diver for evidence recovery. What a cool job! I personally don’t dive, but my husband is a scuba diver, both personally and professionally, and I just find that so fascinating. We’ve gone down to Florida where he has done wreck dives, so some of the locations that are mentioned in this book are familiar and I always love that.
This book is action-packed and really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Sloan somehow finds herself pitted against a drug cartel. I loved how she ends up working with the very person that put her uncle in jail…their pairing is fantastic and I look forward to seeing it develop in future books. And let’s not forget about all the diving scenes…the description that Andrew Mayne gives us are so vivid that I found myself actually holding my breath while Sloan was under water a few times. It’s that tense and suspenseful at times.
I really enjoyed this book and am definitely looking forward to seeing where this series goes next. I hope Sloan and George Solar continue to work together in their new endeavor – the Underwater Investigative Unit – as I love the concept behind that. I find all the diving to be fascinating and I love Sloan as a character. While there were some slower parts to this book, I think that is just part of setting up the series, introducing the characters. I think it’s necessary and only scratched the surface and I hope we continue to explore both Sloan and George further in future books. All in all this is a unique concept and I cannot wait for the next book to come out!
Books in this series:
- The Girl Beneath the Sea
- Black Coral – due out February 2021
