''100 Fathoms Below'' is a 2018 horror suspense novel by

Nicholas Kaufmann Nicholas Kaufmann (born February 21, 1969) is an American author of horror fiction, urban fantasy, and adventure fiction. His work has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, The Shirley Jackson Award, the International Thriller Writers Award ...

and Steven L. Kent. The plot centers on the crew of the ''U.S.S. Roanoke'', a nuclear submarine in the US Navy that is sent on a stealth mission into Soviet territory, while unknowingly being preyed upon by vampires in their midst. The novel received mostly positive reviews from critics with praise directed at its submarine setting.

Publication history

An exclusive trailer for the book was published on

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

on September 27, 2018. The book was published by Blackstone Press on October 9, 2018.

Plot

The novel takes place in 1983, during the height of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. During shore leave in

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, petty officer Warren Stubic, a sailor on the ''U.S.S. Roanoke'', is turned into a vampire by an aswang after visiting a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

. Unaware of his condition, he boards the Roanoke shortly before it begins a classified mission to the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and we ...

, where it is supposed to spy on the development of an advanced Soviet submarine. Shortly before the mission, sailor Jerry White is transferred to the ''Roanoke'' and is viewed with suspicion by the ''Roanokes command staff because he had filed a complaint about the former commander of his last ship. Sonar tech Tim Spicer is assigned to befriend White and keep an eye on him. Spicer soon begins to suspect that Stubic is ill and has been behind the vandalism of the submarine's fluorescent lights. Meanwhile, White is tormented by lieutenant Duncan, a close friend of White's former commander.

Reception

The book received generally positive reviews, with particular praise for its use of the claustrophobic environment of a submarine as a source of horror and suspense. Anita Gates, writing for ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'', praised the character development and the inescapable submarine setting. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' described it as "The perfect blend of suspenseful political thriller and creepy horror". Toni V. Sweeney, of the ''New York Journal of Books'', also praised the decision to base the book's vampire mythos on

Philippine mythology Philippine mythology is the body of stories and epics originating from, and part of, the indigenous Philippine folk religions, which include various ethnic faiths distinct from one another. Philippine mythology is incorporated from various ...

. Thomas Joyce of ''This Is Horror'' praised the well-researched portrayal of naval terminology and submarine operations, as well as the book's fast pace. Max Pfeffer of ''Geeks of Doom'' criticized the ensemble cast of characters, which he felt were flat and did not have enough time to develop. However, he praised the novel's atmosphere, writing that "the novel's main source of tension comes from the ever-present comprehension of the men that there really isn't anywhere to run when things go horribly wrong." It was nominated for Best Horror Novel at the 2019

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, but lost to Melanie Golding's '' Little Darlings''. Kaufmann attributed the book's commercial success to a post about it going viral on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

References

{{Reflist Horror books 2018 novels Military fiction Novels set during the Cold War 2018 American novels