TBR Pile Review: Into The Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR MIRA GRANT RETURNS WITH A RAZOR-SHARP TALE OF THE HORRORS THAT LIE BENEATH . . .

Seven years ago the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a mockumentary, bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend.

It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a tragedy; others have called it a hoax.

Now, a new crew has been assembled to investigate. And they’ll discover that whatever is down there is definitely no joke . . .

My Review

I’ve had this book on my TBR pile for a few years. I have a collection of books by autistic authors with autistic characters. One of the characters is supposed to be autistic, the ‘documentary presenter’ Olivia, who uses the camera as a mask, protected by her camera man. However, Tory and Luis read as probably autistic to me. Seanan McGuire, who writes as Mira Grant, is autistic. It’s entirely possible she hasn’t noticed that she’s writing not-explicitly Autistic characters as well as explicitly Autistic characters. I do it all the time, but McGuire/Grant is a better writer than I am, so I might be wrong.

Tory Stewart’s sister died filming a mocumentary about mermaids in the Marianas Trench. Seven years later Tory is a PhD student working on a tour boat to make some money during the summer as a Marine Biologist, until she gets sacked for telling the truth and upsetting the tourists. Her research partner, and funder, Luis brings her data to cheer her up. The data tells them they are on the right track in their search for whatever killed her sister and the crew of the ship that disappeared. At the lab, a representative of the media company who employed Tory’s sister, asks them to join a new expedition.

This time they will be better prepared, he promises. The world’s most famous sirenologist (mermaid specialist), Dr Jillian Toth, will be there, along with many scientists. And bodyguards. And a couple of hunters who are psychopaths.

Desperate to find out what happened to her sister, Tory agrees. Luis wants to prove his theories about an undiscovered marine cryptid are true, so he signs on.

On the ship, they discover a collection of marine scientists, divers, and explorers, who are cynical about the reality of mermaids, but are willing to go because they’re being paid a lot of money to do science in a place they’d struggle to get funding to do. The ship is luxurious, the trip easy, and the science exciting.

Right up until the point where a diver dies horribly and the ship is attacked. Soon, they realise why the whales and sharks avoid the area, and that mermaid is not the right word for the creatures that attack. Think angler fish and you’ll get some idea of what I mean. It’s really clever actually, and makes sense, if you are trying to make a mythical creature into a potentially real creature.

The story was gripping. I read it in a day and then a few days later listened to the prequal novella, Rolling In The Deep. I really enjoyed the world building and concept. It’s well thought out with interesting characters and a building tension that explodes in blood.

The main characters of Tory, Luis, and Olivia, deal with their personal conflicts about the expedition, while understanding each other better. Tory and Olivia particularly have to deal with a interpersonal conflict, as Olivia is doing the job Tory’s sister had been doing when the first expedition disappeared. It gets a bit gay…Actually, there’s a decent amount of Queer rep in this novel, which I’ve come to expect from a Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire novel.

There is plenty of disability rep in this novel, with a pair of Deaf twins who are both professional scientists, and their hearing sister who translates for them, and is also a scientist, Holly, Heather and Hallie. There is the explicitly Autistic character, Olivia, and the implicitly Autistic characters of Luis and Tory.

An enjoyable SFFH (there are elements of all three spec fic main genres) novel, especially for those who enjoy cryptids and other monsters. I didn’t find it particularly gory, but if it was a film I’d probably be jumping a lot.