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vj_thompson's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A good start to the “Sea Pirates.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Moderate: Kidnapping
nytephoenyx's review
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I think that The Girl Beneath the Sea was the perfect thriller for me to bring on vacation. When choosing a vacation book, it’s nice to have something that isn’t too in-depth or complicated so that you can just relax and not feel so emotionally invested, we are still being vaguely entertained. At least, that’s how I do it. The Girl Beneath the Sea had a fairly simple premise, and left no surprises. I was able to read most of the book in a single day, and more than anything it was satisfying just to have it off my TBR.
Sloan McPhearson is not a particularly memorable character. She is a cookie cutter style low level cop with a unique ability. She has a daughter and is unmarried and unattached, although she is still good friends with her daughter’s father, Run. We see more of her father in this book then we do of her daughter, although Mayne continuously uses the safety of Jackie to motivate Sloan‘s behaviour. One of the things that bothered me the most about this is that the reader is only told a little about Jackie and Sloan’s relationship, but we never really get the opportunity to see either of them in a more humanitarian light. There was a development in the last couple chapters which revolved around one of Sloan’s greatest fears coming to pass, except from Sloan’s behaviour, you wouldn’t know that was happening, and the fact that the two characters showed up where and when they did made no story sense.
I thought there could be more development of Sloan’s father, or at least her uncle. It seemed like there were a lot of missed character opportunities in this book that were buried under the need to have a fast moving plot and some sensational moments. The book would have been much more successful if Payne had focused more on developing his characters and world and relationships instead of writing another non-memorable thriller that you know the ending of right after you’ve started the book.
That’s one of the best things about reading a thriller, the guessing and second-guessing along the way while you try to figure out who done it. This book was so predictable, and characters jumped to so many conclusions without any hard evidence in the background that it was easy to see from early on where the story was going to go and what would happen at the end. A lot of the ties between Sloan and the other characters are tenuous at best, and I did not feel like the occurrences in The Girl Beneath the Sea justified for the way that the book was written. It may have moved at a steady pace, but in many ways it still wasted time because there was nothing very special, interesting, or surprising about this book.
If you enjoy paperback thrillers, then I am sure you will like The Girl Beneath the Sea well enough. It is not a memorable or exciting book, but it is a good quick beach read if you’re looking for something a bit more of like a police procedural than a fluffy romance. It is not my favourite book and I know I won’t read it again, but I can definitely see the market for books like this. If you decide to read it, I hope you really enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence
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