Lies Beneath

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MacLeod Andrews has now officially made me very afraid of mermaids.

Lies Beneath is aptly titled; it is a very dark book. The mermaids in it are monsters who rob humans of their positive emotions while drowning them. They are also very particular about their promises and agreements - it is highly unwise to break one. They are vicious and not only are they not forgiving, they hold grudges. In this case, a "family" of mermaids are pretty upset about their mother's death and are seeking vengeance on one Jason Hancock.

I loved that this book was told from Calder's perspective. He's a typical guy with three crazy sisters, often the only one thinking with a level head. Oddly, when I read mermaid I thought girl - so this was a nice departure. The book starts off with Calder being called home from the Caribbean to Lake Superior, MI and nagged to death by his oldest sister Maris. He's resentful and brooding, joining with his sisters in their mission to avenge their mother's death. But Calder is a little different in that he wasn't born a mermaid, he was created one. He's the key player in the plan to kill Jason Hancock, but Maris isn't happy with how long it's taking. So she takes matters into her own hands and skews Calder's plan.

As the romance develops between Lily Hancock and Calder, the characters of Pavoti and Maris are further explored. The way the character development worked overall with the world building was done extremely well; it never felt like info-dumping for the sake of furthering the plot along. There were twists throughout, making the book unpredictable. And the romance was nicely handled, unfolding slowly and appropriately.

On audio, the book is narrated by MacLeod Andrews. He is quickly becoming one of my favourite voice actors. He was able to give Calder a wry humor that really defined Calder's character. He didn't really distinguish the voices of the women vocally, but they were each distinct in Andrews' phrasing. Overall the narration just enhanced the story and made it more appealing.

This first book in the series is the only one available on audio. Hopefully the successive books will be released, because this is an interesting story that Andrews could only make better.



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