Killer mermaids. That’s all you really need to know. If you didn’t think mermaids could be scary, Mira Grant is here to prove you wrong with Into the Drowning Deep. A few months ago, I’d shared with you all a whole list of Tales of Monstrous Mermaids. This week I want to take the plunge and explore the scariest of those books in depth. Seanan McGuire (who uses the pseudonym Mira Grant for some of her novels) has been one of my favorite authors since I read her spectacular Wayward Children fantasy series and came across a few of her short stories in Ellen Datlow’s horror anthologies. But Into the Drowning Deep was the first time I read one of her full-length works or horror, and nothing could have prepared me.
Seven years ago, the Atargatis sailed with a film crew into the isolated waters above the Mariana Trench, intending to film a mockumentary about mermaids. The abandoned ship was found a few weeks later, but no one on board was ever seen again. Tory Stewart has seen the footage salvaged from the Atargatis and she knows it’s not a hoax. Mermaids are real, and they killed her sister. Now she just needs to prove it to the rest of the world. When the entertainment company that funded the Atargatis announces that they’re putting together a second voyage, Tory can’t pass up the opportunity, even knowing that she might be sailing into a death trap. Soon she finds herself aboard the Melusine with dozens of other scientists, ranging from the world’s preeminent mermaid scholar to skeptical marine biologists. All are eager to find the mermaids, but once they do they realize that perhaps they should have let the creatures stay hidden.
Everything about this book surprised me. First, that mermaids could be so terrifying in the first place. By telling her story from the perspective of scientists, Mira Grant manages to paint a nearly believable picture of dangerous deep-water predators that when seen from afar might be mistaken for the “lovely ladies of the sea,” but when encountered close-up are nothing of the kind. Apart from the surprising premise, even the little details of the plot managed to keep me on the edge of my seat.
The pacing starts off slow as we get to know—and become attached to—the full cast of characters aboard the Melusine. Then the killings begin. A few of the deaths you may see coming, but they still tend to happen not quite how you were picturing. Others come out of nowhere and take you by surprise. But even when the slaughter begins in earnest, the characters don’t act like your typical horror story victims. They’re scientists, and they spend the novel doing what they know—they research. Piece by piece the survivors gain a fuller understanding of what exactly these creatures are that are swarming the decks. But will it be enough to save them? I can’t say too much more without getting into spoiler territory, but I felt that outcome of the novel was just the right blend of heartbreaking and satisfying.
Into the Drowning Deep was the most terrifying slasher horror about killer mermaids that I never knew I needed in my life, and I highly recommend that you check it out. You can find the book at your local retailer or buy it online and support The Gothic Library in the process by clicking this Bookshop.org affiliate link. Once you’ve read the book, let me know what you think!