Bern's Book Club: Into the Drowning Deep
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant was more violent, more real, and more terrifying than I thought. In the most fun way possible.
I began reading this because of Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. I was looking for a book with underwater horror and sure, Armfield delivered that. The Eldritchian quality of the oceanic entity preempts the chill you feel as you read about the body horror. A wife watching her wife who was trapped in a submersible for longer than expected slowly turn unrecognizable, eyes popping, an addiction to salt, webbing on the hands. The grief was terrifying and what brought it upon them added to the mystery. But it wasn’t a tangible ‘monster’. So I needed to read another underwater horror, obviously.
Into the Drowning Deep began with a mystery, yes, but already, from the start, there was a proposition of oceanic creatures that could tear humans apart. Easily. Very concrete fear which I liked. It was not a matter of what was doing the killing of people in the middle of the Mariana Trench, it was a matter of when we will see what was doing the killing.
When I looked up a listicle of what other sea horrors I could read, it said that maybe avoid reading this if you don’t like the really terrifying portrayal of mermaids and it’s true. They are very scary in this book, but they are also so, so interesting. As a sci-fi horror novel, it does a really good job of scaring you while also illustrating a clear vision of a mermaid—its anatomy, its hunting nature, its language.
Grant also discusses contradictions such as the way a media conglomerate is funding scientific research in the middle of the ocean, the desire to know fighting with the desire to survive, the lack of humanity in scientific discovery in order to further mankind. In these conversations, the dialogue or the writing can border cheesy at times, but it does not make what the book says less true. And in general, the writing style is easy to read while remaining interesting.
This gave me what Our Wives Under the Sea didn’t, and for that, I am grateful. Ironically, a joy to read.
If you like scifi horror, especially one marine in nature, you might want to pick this up! Four stars.
