''Into the Drowning Deep'' is a 2017

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

horror novel by

Mira Grant Seanan McGuire (pronounced SHAWN-in; born January 5, 1978 in Martinez, California) is an American author and filker. McGuire is known for her urban fantasy novels. She uses the pseudonym Mira Grant to write science fiction/ horror and the pseudon ...

. It is the follow-up to her 2015 novella ''Rolling in the Deep''. It focuses on Tory Stewart, a sonar specialist who becomes obsessed with

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

s after her sister's disappearance. Tory's sister Anne worked as a reporter for Imagine Entertainment. While filming a

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

about mermaids, the crew of Imagine's ship ''Atargatis'' vanished. Tory vows to discover the truth about what happened to her sister.

Plot

Seven years prior to the start of the story, the ''

Atargatis Atargatis (; grc, Ἀτάργατις, translit=Atárgatis or arc, , translit=ʿtrʿth; syc, ܬܪܥܬܐ, translit=Tarʿaṯā) was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Ctesias also used the name Derketo ( grc-koi, Δε� ...

'' is lost at sea. The ship was sent to the

Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maximum know ...

by Imagine Entertainment, which specializes in filming

B movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

about mythical creatures. Though the ship is recovered weeks later, there is no trace of the crew. Leaked footage from the ship appears to show

s slaughtering the crew. The public is highly skeptical of the video and it is largely believed that the footage was being created for a mockumentary. Though some believe the footage is proof of the existence of mermaids, the incident is largely forgotten by popular culture. Theodore Blackwell is an Imagine representative who begins recruiting interested parties for a second voyage to the Mariana Trench aboard the ''

Melusine Mélusine () or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a lamia or a mermaid). She is also s ...

''. His goal is to prove the existence of mermaids and to capture a live specimen, restoring the reputation of Imagine. He is accompanied by several hundred scientists and crew members, including his estranged wife Dr. Jillian Toth, Tory Stewart, Imagine reporter Olivia Sanderson, and the three Wilson sisters, all scientists. At the Mariana Trench, Heather Wilson attempts to become the first human to reach the

Challenger Deep The Challenger Deep is the deepest-known point of the seabed of Earth, with a depth of by direct measurement from deep-diving submersibles, remotely operated underwater vehicles and benthic landers, and (sometimes) slightly more by sonar bathym ...

in a submersible. She is killed by mermaids, proving their existence. Theodore captures a mermaid and keeps it in a tank. Over the course of several days, scouting parties of mermaids kill several crew members. Olivia and Tory begin a romantic relationship. The ship is then swarmed by mermaids, resulting in the deaths of most of the crew members. As the ship's safety systems fail, Dr. Toth works to unravel the mysteries of mermaid physiology and save the remaining crew. Hallie Wilson learns to communicate with the captive mermaid via sign language, which saves several crew members from being eaten. Tory realizes that all of the mermaids are actually male, and that the female is a ship-sized behemoth who is slowly moving toward the ship. She uses undersea lights to repel the female, and Olivia helps repair the ship's dysfunctional safety shutters. The surviving crew members are rescued days later.

Reception

Gerry Paige Smith of BookPage gave the novel a positive review, calling it original and stating it "will unnerve and enthrall even seasoned horror fans." ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' gave the novel a mostly positive review. They praised the novel's atmosphere of claustrophobic horror, while criticizing its length and excessive parenthetical asides. They positively compared the work to

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

and also praised Grant's smart commentary about

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and the exploitation of sea creatures. ''

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 ...

'' gave a mixed review, praising the novel's concept and gore, while criticizing the writing style as clichéd and meandering.

References

External links

Official website
{{Seanan McGuire 2010s horror novels 2017 American novels 2017 science fiction novels 2017 LGBT-related literary works LGBT speculative fiction novels Mermaid novels 2010s LGBT novels LGBT-related horror literature Novels by Seanan McGuire Novels set at sea American horror novels Science fiction horror novels Orbit Books books