The Girl Beneath the Sea (Underwater Investigation Unit #1)

4/5

The Girl Beneath the Sea (Underwater Investigation Unit #1) is the start of a brand new series by Andrew Mayne. Where diving and crime collide!

Title

The Girl Beneath the Sea (Underwater Investigation Unit #1)

Author(s)

Andrew Mayne is an Edgar nominated author, Thriller Award finalist, star of Shark Week and A&E television’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne.

Andrew is the author of over a dozen novels and has been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original (Black Fall) and the Thriller Award for Name of the Devil. His recent novel, The Naturalist is an Amazon Charts bestseller and spent six weeks at the number one spot for all books on Amazon.

Publication Date

May 1, 2020

Why I Picked It Up

As a scuba diver, I’m always on the lookout for books that include diving. While there aren’t enough overall, there are definitely not many that are non-fiction. 

So, I was definitely excited about it just for that reason alone and it was my Kindle First pick for April. Add on top of that, the description intrigued me and the fact that it’s the start of a series.

Famous First Words

“Something else is in the water.”

Book Description from Goodreads

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.

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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 & Takeaways

Overall, really loved this one. As I mentioned, I’m super excited to have a book about scuba diving, or at least as a big part of it.

Sloan McPherson works part-time for the Lauderdale Shores PD in Florida as a diver for evidence and body recovery while also in school for her doctorate. On one dive while she’s looking for artifacts for her professor, she instead finds a body. And, one that she has ties to.

Soon Sloan realizes she’s being watched by whoever was responsible. On the hunt to find them before they kill her, she has to trust the one person she hates the most — the cop that arrested her uncle when she was just a child.

What I Liked

Strong female main character. I really loved Sloan’s character – capable, strong, independent. Loved the fact that she didn’t need a love interest either. 

Scuba diving element. As a scuba diver, this was a big plus. It was also really interesting to read about the evidence recovery. 

Small mentions of real-life big problems. It did not go unnoticed all of the times Mayne wrote in Sloan’s thoughts. From comments on racial injustice, cruelty to animals, and sharks not being monsters. These are just a few mentions. 

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What I Didn’t Like

I didn’t necessarily dislike it because I know it’s fiction, but non-divers should know that Sloan ignores a lot of major diving rules such as never dive alone. Although she does mention she knows she’s doing that so there’s that.

Favorite Quotes

“It’s underwater Jurassic Park down here.”

“They seemed more like tattoos than physical proof that the ocean isn’t a petting zoo.”

“Things are so much simpler underwater.”

“I know for a fact that if we did as many drug searches of rich white schools as we do poor black ones, there’d be an outcry about our ‘lack of discretion.’ It’s tricky on both sides. That’s why I prefer the water.”

“Small comfort when you measure your life in minutes, not interglacials.”

“Night is my favorite time to dive. There are just as many fish down here—it’s not like they have any other place to go—and your flashlight carves out your own little world. You forget about the surface and the sky above. The sea is your world on a night dive.”

Rating

4/5 stars

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Ashley Hubbard

Ashley Hubbard is a blogger and freelance writer based in Nashville, Tennessee focusing on sustainability, travel, books, plants, coffee, veganism, mental health, and more. She has two other websites - wild-hearted.com and odditiesandcuriositiestravel.com

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