I have quickly become a huge fan of Andrew Mayne’s Underwater Investigations Unit and with Black Coral, the follow up to The Girl Beneath the Sea, this new series just keeps getting better and better!
Black Coral takes the reader along on a terrifying case with Sloan McPherson and the newly formed Underwater Investigations Unit. When called in to assist with a vehicle that has driven off the road and into a pond, Sloan finds so much more in the depths of the water (in the forms of both man AND beast.) These clues, found partially be accident, begin a heart pounding, tension filled game of cat and mouse as McPherson and her small group of colleagues face challenges from other officers, other agencies, angry survivors, Florida’s ever-present alligators, and a giant pool of potential suspects. The action culminates in an explosive crescendo that actually made me regret that I was reading it while I was home alone!
Mayne’s short chapters, distinctive characters, and high energy story telling make it almost impossible to stop reading Black Coral once you’ve started. The action moves so quickly and Mayne’s writing keeps the reader so engrossed that even those who think they do not like police procedurals will be all-in on this investigation.
While The Girl Beneath the Sea, by virtue of being the first in a series, was occasionally slowed down as it doled out background information on each of the major players (after all, these were brand new characters who we had never met before) Black Coral does not have this responsibility and is able to go full-tilt into the case at hand. From the very first pages, we are diving into alligator infested waters with Sloan McPherson. While her family life is not completely ignored, this story is firmly focused on McPherson, her new partner Scott Hughes, and her unit chief as they chase down the killer that no one was even aware of before Sloan’s gut instincts started leading the way.
There are minor spoilers for The Girl Beneath the Sea within Black Coral, but either of these can be enjoyed as standalones as well.
The unique stories and situations that arise from a unit that investigates crimes spanning both above and below the water are hopefully just beginning. Different from typical detective stories in so many ways, the Underwater Investigations Unit series is really something special and I cannot wait for more!
Black Coral is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up Black Coral? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
For a police diver in Florida, solving a cold-case mystery brings a serial killer out of hiding…
Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared thirty years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident. To Sloan, it looks like murder. Every piece of evidence is starting to connect to a string of cold case vanishings throughout Florida. Clue by clue, Sloan navigates the warm, dark waters where natural predators feed, knowing that the most dangerous one is still above the surface—nesting and dormant.
But when a fresh young kill is found in the Everglades, Sloan fears that her investigation has reawakened a monster. How can she catch someone who’s a genius at hiding in plain sight? By acting as prey. The dangerous gambit is working—only too well. She’s being lured into a deception of the madman’s own design. Has Sloan set a trap for a serial killer? Or has he set one for her?
