What do you think?
Rate this book
Below Lib/E
In all his years as a professional diver, Will Sturman has never encountered a killing machine more ferocious than the great white shark or as deadly as the piranha. Now, off the coast of California, something is rising from the deepand multiplying. It is voracious, unstoppable, and migrating north, an ungodly life form trailed by a gruesome wake of corpses. With the help of the brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Valerie Martell, Will finds himself in a race against time to stop the slaughter by a predator capable of devastating the world's oceans. Pray it kills you quickly.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2013
213 people are currently reading
2147 people want to read
About the author
Ryan Lockwood
2 books82 followersRyan Lockwood experienced many interesting outdoor jobs before writing his first novel, requiring him to assist with mountain lion capture, scrape barnacles off submerged boat hulls, fight Western wildfires, and measure storm runoff in the middle of the night. He holds degrees in technical journalism and environmental science, and has been employed as a biological research assistant, professional editor and public relations coordinator. When not writing, Lockwood scuba dives, climbs mountains, hunts to fill the freezer, and strives to become a better sailor. He currently lives in Colorado with his family and assorted four-legged friends.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews
August 5, 2024
I will keep my summary short and sweet as one look at the cover pretty much tells what this book is about. It is about killer sea creatures that wreak havoc on a community.
Basically this book is straight forward with its intent. It is here to entertain and it is not to be taken seriously. It easily falls into the category of a beach read and I loved every second of it. There is nothing new here but it did not matter as I ate it up. The characters, the creatures, and the reason with the science is nothing new for the table. It did not matter as this was easily a five star read for me. The characters were nothing special as we have seen them before. The handsome, lonely protagonist who is damaged because of loss. Enter the intelligent but beautiful scientist who have nothing in common but are drawn to each other. And obviously the killer creatures where there is something wrong with them and that is why they are acting out. That being said I thought it all worked. Then again I love Jaws and the nods to that movie are prevalent in this story.
I might be rating this a little high because of my situation at the moment. I am currently on a two week vacation and spending a good amount of time down the beach. This was perfect for that even though when I went in the water I did scan around to see if anything was near me. If I read this during the winter and a New England nor'easter I would have still thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe not five stars enjoyment but it would have been close. I loved this so much I am going to look for more by this author. It was mindless entertainment and it was a delight.
Basically this book is straight forward with its intent. It is here to entertain and it is not to be taken seriously. It easily falls into the category of a beach read and I loved every second of it. There is nothing new here but it did not matter as I ate it up. The characters, the creatures, and the reason with the science is nothing new for the table. It did not matter as this was easily a five star read for me. The characters were nothing special as we have seen them before. The handsome, lonely protagonist who is damaged because of loss. Enter the intelligent but beautiful scientist who have nothing in common but are drawn to each other. And obviously the killer creatures where there is something wrong with them and that is why they are acting out. That being said I thought it all worked. Then again I love Jaws and the nods to that movie are prevalent in this story.
I might be rating this a little high because of my situation at the moment. I am currently on a two week vacation and spending a good amount of time down the beach. This was perfect for that even though when I went in the water I did scan around to see if anything was near me. If I read this during the winter and a New England nor'easter I would have still thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe not five stars enjoyment but it would have been close. I loved this so much I am going to look for more by this author. It was mindless entertainment and it was a delight.
October 25, 2018
The reviews were kind of mixed on this so I was a little hesitant to begin reading it. I'm glad I did though. I thought it was one of the better sea-creature-features (that's a mouthful) that I've read. It kept me quite enthralled the whole way through and once I picked it up, I continued reading way into the night.
There are a couple of racist characters and comments in the book that I could have definitely done without. Unfortunately that's the world we live in though, so in keeping with reality, the author definitely did that. It's still hard to read ignorance like that though.
I still recommend giving this a try if you like sea stories. If you're planning on swimming in the ocean anytime soon though, you might want to wait till afterwards before reading because it will make you think twice about getting in, especially at night.
*Read for 2018 Bairn Bingo - Turtle
There are a couple of racist characters and comments in the book that I could have definitely done without. Unfortunately that's the world we live in though, so in keeping with reality, the author definitely did that. It's still hard to read ignorance like that though.
I still recommend giving this a try if you like sea stories. If you're planning on swimming in the ocean anytime soon though, you might want to wait till afterwards before reading because it will make you think twice about getting in, especially at night.
*Read for 2018 Bairn Bingo - Turtle
November 13, 2017
I originally put this on hold because it was Halloween and I was in the mood for everything scary, and nothing scares me more than creatures of the deep.
I wasn't expecting much, other than a typical action story that would keep me entertained. Unfortunately this book didn't even deliver on that.
There was some poor planning- at one point a character tells his friend he fed his dog, then two pages later the character feeds his dog.
Along with some super awkward scenes between the main character and his love interest. At one point she tells him that he needs to move on from his dead wife because he doesn't seem that interested in her. But I guess that is super attractive because then he abruptly is into her. They had as much chemistry as a pair of rocks, but suddenly they are in LUUURVE!
But the real thing that pushed me into hatred for this book was the racist and derogatory comments towards Mexicans scattered throughout the book. No real point to them. I'm not sure if I'm reading into what the author feels, or if he feels his characters are more real if they are racists? The main character of course isn't racist but all his friends are. But they've been friends FOREVER so... it is okay. Even when they beat up on his other friend who is a Mexican cop.
Just NO.
I wasn't expecting much, other than a typical action story that would keep me entertained. Unfortunately this book didn't even deliver on that.
There was some poor planning- at one point a character tells his friend he fed his dog, then two pages later the character feeds his dog.
Along with some super awkward scenes between the main character and his love interest. At one point she tells him that he needs to move on from his dead wife because he doesn't seem that interested in her. But I guess that is super attractive because then he abruptly is into her. They had as much chemistry as a pair of rocks, but suddenly they are in LUUURVE!
But the real thing that pushed me into hatred for this book was the racist and derogatory comments towards Mexicans scattered throughout the book. No real point to them. I'm not sure if I'm reading into what the author feels, or if he feels his characters are more real if they are racists? The main character of course isn't racist but all his friends are. But they've been friends FOREVER so... it is okay. Even when they beat up on his other friend who is a Mexican cop.
Just NO.
March 22, 2014
WOW!!! What an amazing book! Lockwood lures you in from the first page and keeps reeling till there's no escape. I highly recommend this title to fans of books like Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Fragment.
September 3, 2014
This book was just ridiculous.
Between the unrealistic creatures and the awkward racist/not racist comments that kept popping up in the dialog this one was a total flop. The reviews/ratings were discouraging, but I took a chance. Honestly, I had the whole thing figured out by page 29. Carnivorous, cannibalistic pack-hunting red "devils"...I wonder that in the sea that could be? If your answer isn't squid then it's time to scurry back to 7th grade biology. All the suspense writing tactics are worthless if you make the answer easy to figure out.
Let's just say they didn't make me afraid to go back in the water...
All the elements of a Grade A Creature Feature were there, but the delivery sucked-like whoa. I had hoped for something more like Steve Alten's MEG series and was sadly disappointed.
Sorry Below, it just didn't work out.
Between the unrealistic creatures and the awkward racist/not racist comments that kept popping up in the dialog this one was a total flop. The reviews/ratings were discouraging, but I took a chance. Honestly, I had the whole thing figured out by page 29. Carnivorous, cannibalistic pack-hunting red "devils"...I wonder that in the sea that could be? If your answer isn't squid then it's time to scurry back to 7th grade biology. All the suspense writing tactics are worthless if you make the answer easy to figure out.
Let's just say they didn't make me afraid to go back in the water...
All the elements of a Grade A Creature Feature were there, but the delivery sucked-like whoa. I had hoped for something more like Steve Alten's MEG series and was sadly disappointed.
Sorry Below, it just didn't work out.
July 11, 2013
The perfect beach read - that I would never read at the beach.
There's just something primal about being hunted by one of nature's cold-blooded killers, one that taps into our fears of the unknown, of being torn limb from limb, but most importantly, of a ruthless, emotionless killing machine that runs on instinct alone, something so devoid of compassion and mercy that it sees us as its next meal - and nothing more. Ryan Lockwood's Below is one of the more heart poundingly entertaining creature horror books I've read (and I've been reading these ever since Steve Alten's Meg scared the crap out of me as a kid) precisely because he understands that, so while, yeah, there's nothing more to this than reading about , it's really the ride that counts.
To put it another way, the SyFy Channel on occasion airs monster of the week movies. The plots aren't groundbreaking by any measure and mostly involve people getting eaten until an action packed finale that hardly makes any sense, the characters - if they're not eaten within the first five minutes - are more creature fodder than developed (maybe with the exception of the hero who gets some development in), and the special effects usually involve more gore than that Showtime show about that serial killer, but, at the end of the day, I still enjoy them for what they are, B-grade creature flicks (hey, not everyone can be Spielberg and direct a Jurassic Park after all). The better ones, in fact, even rise to the level of enjoyable popcorn flick if they can get some decent acting and a passable script.
Below is essentially the book equivalent of one of those movies (not Sharknado obviously). As I said, the suspense comes, not from the act of being eaten, but in the minutes before, when you have the ominous Jaws theme knockoff playing in the background, the creature closing in, and you know whoever's on camera is essentially doomed, because these aren't tigers or wild dogs or anything remotely mammalian we're talking about, these are things whose tiny reptilian or whatever brains only understand the act of bringing its murderous appendages down on its completely unsuspecting prey (well, except for that one inkling of disquiet, the tiny part in each of us that suspects there are things in this world who can hurt us, but that's just silly, isn't it?). Then you rinse and repeat with the next character, and the next, and the next - it's not a complex formula. As long as the anticipation's there, as long as the mind of the monster is clear, and Lockwood does all these things, it's all good, right?
For me, yes, though I do have some caveats. There's a reason I compared Below to an entertaining SyFy monster movie and not anything else, because even though Lockwood does have a knack for suspense, he still falls into a lot of the same, obvious traps. The plot kind of falls off a cliff towards the last third and becomes excessively silly in its attempt to set up an explosive finale, the characters are basically stock characters (the tough scientist chick turned damsel in distress right when it counts, the emotionally distant ex-military guy, even the token minority best friend), and the actual attacks themselves eventually run up against logic (why the victims of the dive attack would wash up on shore while the victims of the yacht attack don't, even though the dive site is so much farther offshore, for starters), though Below felt a bit grittier than the usual books in the genre as a result of Lockwood's incorporation of some overtly racist characters (might not have been politically correct, but I didn't feel that made the book racist, but rather it was done to emphasize that nature, unlike man, doesn't discriminate).
Despite that, the reason I enjoy these books is for that feeling of ominous dread before an attack and then seeing the gory aftermath, and Lockwood delivers there. Sure, the plot's nothing more than , but there are worse ways to spend a day of mindless reading.
There's just something primal about being hunted by one of nature's cold-blooded killers, one that taps into our fears of the unknown, of being torn limb from limb, but most importantly, of a ruthless, emotionless killing machine that runs on instinct alone, something so devoid of compassion and mercy that it sees us as its next meal - and nothing more. Ryan Lockwood's Below is one of the more heart poundingly entertaining creature horror books I've read (and I've been reading these ever since Steve Alten's Meg scared the crap out of me as a kid) precisely because he understands that, so while, yeah, there's nothing more to this than reading about , it's really the ride that counts.
To put it another way, the SyFy Channel on occasion airs monster of the week movies. The plots aren't groundbreaking by any measure and mostly involve people getting eaten until an action packed finale that hardly makes any sense, the characters - if they're not eaten within the first five minutes - are more creature fodder than developed (maybe with the exception of the hero who gets some development in), and the special effects usually involve more gore than that Showtime show about that serial killer, but, at the end of the day, I still enjoy them for what they are, B-grade creature flicks (hey, not everyone can be Spielberg and direct a Jurassic Park after all). The better ones, in fact, even rise to the level of enjoyable popcorn flick if they can get some decent acting and a passable script.
Below is essentially the book equivalent of one of those movies (not Sharknado obviously). As I said, the suspense comes, not from the act of being eaten, but in the minutes before, when you have the ominous Jaws theme knockoff playing in the background, the creature closing in, and you know whoever's on camera is essentially doomed, because these aren't tigers or wild dogs or anything remotely mammalian we're talking about, these are things whose tiny reptilian or whatever brains only understand the act of bringing its murderous appendages down on its completely unsuspecting prey (well, except for that one inkling of disquiet, the tiny part in each of us that suspects there are things in this world who can hurt us, but that's just silly, isn't it?). Then you rinse and repeat with the next character, and the next, and the next - it's not a complex formula. As long as the anticipation's there, as long as the mind of the monster is clear, and Lockwood does all these things, it's all good, right?
For me, yes, though I do have some caveats. There's a reason I compared Below to an entertaining SyFy monster movie and not anything else, because even though Lockwood does have a knack for suspense, he still falls into a lot of the same, obvious traps. The plot kind of falls off a cliff towards the last third and becomes excessively silly in its attempt to set up an explosive finale, the characters are basically stock characters (the tough scientist chick turned damsel in distress right when it counts, the emotionally distant ex-military guy, even the token minority best friend), and the actual attacks themselves eventually run up against logic (why the victims of the dive attack would wash up on shore while the victims of the yacht attack don't, even though the dive site is so much farther offshore, for starters), though Below felt a bit grittier than the usual books in the genre as a result of Lockwood's incorporation of some overtly racist characters (might not have been politically correct, but I didn't feel that made the book racist, but rather it was done to emphasize that nature, unlike man, doesn't discriminate).
Despite that, the reason I enjoy these books is for that feeling of ominous dread before an attack and then seeing the gory aftermath, and Lockwood delivers there. Sure, the plot's nothing more than , but there are worse ways to spend a day of mindless reading.
June 28, 2013
This book is one big WOW!!!
I won this book through my library.
I loved this book it has suspense, drama, romance and thrills. This is a real page turner, I could not put this book down.
Lockwood has great knowledge of marine biology and the book shows this. It is very well written. I can not believe this is his first novel, I will most definitely keep my eye on Ryan Lockwood.
Great beach book but don't be surprised if you stay out of the water!!!!
I won this book through my library.
I loved this book it has suspense, drama, romance and thrills. This is a real page turner, I could not put this book down.
Lockwood has great knowledge of marine biology and the book shows this. It is very well written. I can not believe this is his first novel, I will most definitely keep my eye on Ryan Lockwood.
Great beach book but don't be surprised if you stay out of the water!!!!
May 4, 2020
I was really pleased with this book! It's not only provides scary thrills but also contains important messages about our oceans. I know some people may not like that in a book as they just want mindless scary moments but I'm not one of them. I enjoy the science and information. and one of the things it points out is that our human activity is changing the oceans.
The story is about squid. Humboldt Squid..and they are growing larger, getting more aggressive and they are hungry..it's very much like the very popular Jaws. Lots of scary scenes..death. there are a few plot twists. Especially a big one at the end. Some characters are stupid and some are smart just like in real life. There are hero's who risk their lives to save others. I like the characters in this book..
One thing I didn't expect was to feel sorry for some of the squid near the end. But I did. Several of the squid are written as characters. They are given names of a sort like the one eyed female or the large scarred female. Well I actually felt sad for one of them, the one eyed female! And they are supposed to be the "bad guys" you know. But nothing that happened to them was really their fault. Weird maybe but true.
I never grew bored or had a wondering mind while reading this! Great scary bits and everything you want in a creature book! But it's a lot more than just mindless horror and I greatly appreciate that.
The story is about squid. Humboldt Squid..and they are growing larger, getting more aggressive and they are hungry..it's very much like the very popular Jaws. Lots of scary scenes..death. there are a few plot twists. Especially a big one at the end. Some characters are stupid and some are smart just like in real life. There are hero's who risk their lives to save others. I like the characters in this book..
One thing I didn't expect was to feel sorry for some of the squid near the end. But I did. Several of the squid are written as characters. They are given names of a sort like the one eyed female or the large scarred female. Well I actually felt sad for one of them, the one eyed female! And they are supposed to be the "bad guys" you know. But nothing that happened to them was really their fault. Weird maybe but true.
I never grew bored or had a wondering mind while reading this! Great scary bits and everything you want in a creature book! But it's a lot more than just mindless horror and I greatly appreciate that.
April 20, 2023
Jaws-esque, with a different nemesis. It's not high brow, but it was good enough if you are in the mood for this kind of fiction, and would make a movie ranking with the others out there now. (And it was a great detour from the audio book I'm trying to finish but not enjoying at all!)
April 29, 2014
From start to finish this was a fun exciting book. Its like an amped up Jaws but with giant squids. The characters were people I really liked, from the broken Sturman to his friend and cop Joe. You become invested in these people so that when things start to go wrong you don't want it to be them that get hurt. The squids are real, and for me they are pretty terrifying.
I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something that's horror/thriller based, it was hard for me to put down and I'll be looking up more of this authors books.
I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something that's horror/thriller based, it was hard for me to put down and I'll be looking up more of this authors books.
October 5, 2015
Things I did not like about this book:
- the author's strong insistence that Steve was really a good guy, despite being super-racist
- the author's disregard of what it says about Sturman that he was such good friends with an ultra-racist man, despite having been married to a Latina
- when the Latino sheriff's deputy comes to the bar , everyone but Sturman is a racist, and immediately physically assault the deputy - Sturman jumps in to help him fight, and the deputy is SO GRATEFUL instead of asking "what is wrong with you that these are your friends, Sturman?"
- Val is obnoxious about the squid that are killing people. She seems to want to not stop them from killing people, for some reason that's not well explained. They're not endangered, and she knows they , but she still doesn't want to kill them
- The romance is super annoying
- The environmental message is both heavy and preachy and poorly-argued. I get that it's supposed to be our fault that the squid are coming around people, but I'm still not sure how even after finishing the book. Global warming maybe? Overfishing? It's not clear.
- The final battle with the squid was SO LONG. And I just didn't care much about the characters at that point, so I was not at all invested in their survival. The one character I did like, , had been killed off suddenly a bit earlier.
- The characters didn't seem very likeable or fully-fleshed out.
- The narrator read Sturman like Owen Wilson, which was annoying.
- the author's strong insistence that Steve was really a good guy, despite being super-racist
- the author's disregard of what it says about Sturman that he was such good friends with an ultra-racist man, despite having been married to a Latina
- when the Latino sheriff's deputy comes to the bar , everyone but Sturman is a racist, and immediately physically assault the deputy - Sturman jumps in to help him fight, and the deputy is SO GRATEFUL instead of asking "what is wrong with you that these are your friends, Sturman?"
- Val is obnoxious about the squid that are killing people. She seems to want to not stop them from killing people, for some reason that's not well explained. They're not endangered, and she knows they , but she still doesn't want to kill them
- The romance is super annoying
- The environmental message is both heavy and preachy and poorly-argued. I get that it's supposed to be our fault that the squid are coming around people, but I'm still not sure how even after finishing the book. Global warming maybe? Overfishing? It's not clear.
- The final battle with the squid was SO LONG. And I just didn't care much about the characters at that point, so I was not at all invested in their survival. The one character I did like, , had been killed off suddenly a bit earlier.
- The characters didn't seem very likeable or fully-fleshed out.
- The narrator read Sturman like Owen Wilson, which was annoying.
June 22, 2013
All I can say is “WOW!” This book is such a great read. Clearly, the author is well versed in marine biology and the art of science fiction. I could not wait to turn each page and find out what was going to happen next. The kicker – it could actually happen!
I never would have guessed this was Ryan Lockwood’s first novel. This guy is sure to be the “next big thing” in the realm of science fiction. I highly recommend this book.
I never would have guessed this was Ryan Lockwood’s first novel. This guy is sure to be the “next big thing” in the realm of science fiction. I highly recommend this book.
July 29, 2013
Great little summer thriller! I couldn't stop turning pages! Lockwood makes real life creatures dangerous, terrifying, and he gives us a plausible reason for their deadly change. I thought the characters were fun and believable and really felt for them, making their deaths all the more poignant. Find yourself a sunny beach, sit back and enjoy this book!
July 16, 2020
Sorry I'm too lazy to write a written review, but I did do a video review. If you'd like to see my thoughts, here's a link! https://youtu.be/FBaxfBLszn0
November 4, 2016
One of my most favourite horror sub-genres to read is anything relating to the sea, and sea creatures. I suppose it's part growing up with jaws, and part a lifelong fascination that I have with the oceans. I love sea life, studied oceanography and have really strong feelings about the awful ways humans are mistreating ocean life. I could get on my soapbox but I read this book for fun, and it was a fun read.
The book centres around Humboldt squid, who are really interesting animals (well I think so!). Scientist Val is called into to investigate after reports of unusual behaviour, in its own way the book does tip its hat to Jaws. The book does have some sound science, albeit in order to create an action packed story the author has to go a little bit further. I have no problem with that as it did make for an exciting read. Below is a great read, well written and researched. Highly recommended.
****Disclaimer - I purchased this book. This is my honest review and all opinions are my own ****
The book centres around Humboldt squid, who are really interesting animals (well I think so!). Scientist Val is called into to investigate after reports of unusual behaviour, in its own way the book does tip its hat to Jaws. The book does have some sound science, albeit in order to create an action packed story the author has to go a little bit further. I have no problem with that as it did make for an exciting read. Below is a great read, well written and researched. Highly recommended.
****Disclaimer - I purchased this book. This is my honest review and all opinions are my own ****
July 11, 2020
Lockwood's debut novel Below is a fast, fun read, albeit not very deep. The main protagonists are Will Sturman and Valerie Martell. Sturman leads the good life, guiding scuba expeditions out of San Diego with his faithful mutt Bud. Val is an marine biologist working in Baja California. People start going missing in the water off San Diego and Will, along with several others, helps with the search. Sturman finds a tag formally on a squid in the search grid; he calls the number on it and Val, who is employed by the research center, hires Sturman to help look for the potential killer in the waters. Val had tagged a squid off the coast in Mexico and is surprised to find it so far north. What exactly is killing people (and Val's tagged squid)? This is a rather straight forward thriller, along with a rather clumsy love angle between Val and Sturman. The good: some nice highlights regarding how over fishing, pollution and climate change are impacting the oceans. The bad: the characters are pretty thin-- my favorite was the dog. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3.
October 24, 2016
Living on the Gulf Coast and having done plenty of deep sea fishing, I’ve seen some of the creatures that patrol beneath the surface of the ocean.
If you think sharks are the only thing to worry about, think again. Ryan Lockwood has brought us some truly terrifying creatures. They’re real, not fictional or supernatural, and I would hope to never run into them.
The author wastes no time dropping you into the horrific waters, setting his beasts loose to feed. Once they have you on their radar, there’s no escaping them.
I love horror, and especially stories that feature monsters, real or imagined. This one fed that passion and I couldn’t stop reading until the author revealed his ending.
Oh yeah. I ate this up. Just as voraciously as these creatures did.
This one is from my bookshelf.
If you think sharks are the only thing to worry about, think again. Ryan Lockwood has brought us some truly terrifying creatures. They’re real, not fictional or supernatural, and I would hope to never run into them.
The author wastes no time dropping you into the horrific waters, setting his beasts loose to feed. Once they have you on their radar, there’s no escaping them.
I love horror, and especially stories that feature monsters, real or imagined. This one fed that passion and I couldn’t stop reading until the author revealed his ending.
Oh yeah. I ate this up. Just as voraciously as these creatures did.
This one is from my bookshelf.
June 2, 2020
There's nothing I love better than a monster book or a nature bites back book. And this book really scratched that particular itch.
It has a great build-up to a particularly thrilling match against the "monsters". I also really enjoyed the science talk. It was really well done - without being too much. This book also could be considered "eco-fiction" I think as it shows how the acidification and warming of our oceans has knock-on effects that can be very scary.
The descriptions of the deaths of the various (and many) humans is also quite terrifying. I loved it.
It has a great build-up to a particularly thrilling match against the "monsters". I also really enjoyed the science talk. It was really well done - without being too much. This book also could be considered "eco-fiction" I think as it shows how the acidification and warming of our oceans has knock-on effects that can be very scary.
The descriptions of the deaths of the various (and many) humans is also quite terrifying. I loved it.
December 13, 2016
3.5 This was a good book! I enjoy reading "monster" stories every once and a while. This one was fast-paced and kept me interested. I liked that the characters had their flaws and that not everything turned out perfectly. I would like to read more from this author.
June 30, 2017
So now I have to worry about sharks, and squids. It's a miracle I'm willing to go into the water at all.
January 31, 2024
This one was hard for me to finish and I struggled with my rating. I can see why some people would like this book. The creature was different than you see with ocean horror so I liked that take. Attention was paid to the biology of the creature and the mechanics of ships and scuba diving too. It’s just there was soooooo much filler. It felt unnecessarily long for me and was trying to do a bit too much. I really didn’t connect with the main characters either and romance seemed forced and unnecessary. Coming on to a guy after he tells you about his dead wife?! I mean come on.
Ultimately these issues would have kept it at a 3. The writing wasn’t bad, it was researched and it had okay pacing. However, the racism. It didn’t have to be included. Multiple characters were racist too. Unrelated characters mind you.
The main male character was good friends with one when his dead wife, whom he loved enough to name his boat after was Latina, along with his good friend. Makes no sense. MMC saying the racist is a good guy, just a bigot? No, just no. People wouldn’t do that. So either our main man is a horrible person or the author didn’t really step back and look at that and just wanted to include racism? It seemed to come out of nowhere in the story and just took me aback every time. It was just weird.
Ultimately these issues would have kept it at a 3. The writing wasn’t bad, it was researched and it had okay pacing. However, the racism. It didn’t have to be included. Multiple characters were racist too. Unrelated characters mind you.
The main male character was good friends with one when his dead wife, whom he loved enough to name his boat after was Latina, along with his good friend. Makes no sense. MMC saying the racist is a good guy, just a bigot? No, just no. People wouldn’t do that. So either our main man is a horrible person or the author didn’t really step back and look at that and just wanted to include racism? It seemed to come out of nowhere in the story and just took me aback every time. It was just weird.
August 31, 2013
No one will ever replace Peter Benchley as master of the oceanic thriller. However, I continue to seek out new novels in the genre (as I find them to be ideal vacation reads).
This year I picked up the first novel by debut author Ryan Lockwood entitled BELOW. Lockwood clearly did his research as much of what the novel supposes I verified on Wikipedia. In BELOW, the culprit is a shoal of Humboldt Squid. Mind you, not the most electrifying sea creature, but their shoals can number as many as 1,200. What if changes in climate and the make-up of the sea predators turned the normally claim, deep-sea creatures rabid and with a taste for human blood?
So the story goes and is actually entertaining and suspenseful through the majority of the novel. The ending could have been a little better and, for some inexplicable reason, the lead character disappears for much of the third act.
All in all, a good first effort and Lockwood shows promise. Here's hoping he keeps the genre alive and the stories and characters continue to evolve.
This year I picked up the first novel by debut author Ryan Lockwood entitled BELOW. Lockwood clearly did his research as much of what the novel supposes I verified on Wikipedia. In BELOW, the culprit is a shoal of Humboldt Squid. Mind you, not the most electrifying sea creature, but their shoals can number as many as 1,200. What if changes in climate and the make-up of the sea predators turned the normally claim, deep-sea creatures rabid and with a taste for human blood?
So the story goes and is actually entertaining and suspenseful through the majority of the novel. The ending could have been a little better and, for some inexplicable reason, the lead character disappears for much of the third act.
All in all, a good first effort and Lockwood shows promise. Here's hoping he keeps the genre alive and the stories and characters continue to evolve.
July 26, 2013
By ANNETTE MARDIS
This is the type of book that grabs hold of you and compels you to read it in less than two days. You'll be sweating and your stomach will be clenching, but you won't be able to put it down, especially as it charges toward its conclusion.
That said, it's also impossible to read this book without clicking off in your head all the similarities to Peter Benchley's "Jaws." There's also a not-so-subtle lesson here about how reckless behavior can get you killed and how humans are such poor stewards of their environment that they're causing dire consequences in ecosystems like the world's oceans.
The love story (what there is of it) is forced and less than plausible, the characters are stereotypical at times and the epilogue was predictable and kind of a letdown.
Still, the action is gripping, the pacing is brisk, the book is entertaining and appropriately disturbing, and ultimately you won't be sorry you went along for the harrowing ride.
This is the type of book that grabs hold of you and compels you to read it in less than two days. You'll be sweating and your stomach will be clenching, but you won't be able to put it down, especially as it charges toward its conclusion.
That said, it's also impossible to read this book without clicking off in your head all the similarities to Peter Benchley's "Jaws." There's also a not-so-subtle lesson here about how reckless behavior can get you killed and how humans are such poor stewards of their environment that they're causing dire consequences in ecosystems like the world's oceans.
The love story (what there is of it) is forced and less than plausible, the characters are stereotypical at times and the epilogue was predictable and kind of a letdown.
Still, the action is gripping, the pacing is brisk, the book is entertaining and appropriately disturbing, and ultimately you won't be sorry you went along for the harrowing ride.
September 2, 2013
Ultimately, all I can give this book is an average rating. 2.5 stars really. The first half reads like a tutorial on scuba diving (which I am into), and the standard action/adventure tropes are on full display. Rugged, grizzled, and flawed hero? Check. Beautiful, sociable, fearless AND brilliant female lead who has no actual social life to speak of, and lives only for her work? Check check. The will they/won't they? Yup. Check that one too. Chances are you have read this same mashup, with only the names and antagonists being slightly different, at least once in the past month.
Now, its not to say it wasn't a good read. It was, and the conceit is unique and seems well researched. There were genuine moments of suspense, and nobody is magically immune to harm. It was a quick read, even with all the lingo and jargon, but it's a one-and-done for me. Perfect for folks who love the nautical angle to their suspense tales, and want the intro course to scuba diving laid out for them.
Now, its not to say it wasn't a good read. It was, and the conceit is unique and seems well researched. There were genuine moments of suspense, and nobody is magically immune to harm. It was a quick read, even with all the lingo and jargon, but it's a one-and-done for me. Perfect for folks who love the nautical angle to their suspense tales, and want the intro course to scuba diving laid out for them.
May 19, 2018
I really enjoy the ocean monster books! Probably because they are all written in a way that explains how some of these things actually could exist. I read all the books I could find about the Megalodon (prehistoric giant shark) and now this book introduces another giant marine creature. I believe one was actually washed up on shore a few years back, albeit in a bit smaller variety, but still bigger than normal.
This is well written, the author knows his stuff and there are times when the characters are deep diving and you are holding your breath right along with them!
Very good book I recommend.
This is well written, the author knows his stuff and there are times when the characters are deep diving and you are holding your breath right along with them!
Very good book I recommend.
March 30, 2020
Not a terrible book, but what's really "below" killing people just ended up being not all that interesting. And the writing wasn't nuanced at all, it was pretty basic and uninspiring. I'm finding that more and more with "adventure" authors. They're more about trying to make the adventure elements different and exciting, and they do a poor job of crafting the narrative. For a mindless action/horror book it's OK, but nothing special.
November 3, 2023
I usually hate horror books based in the ocean, but this was ridiculous 😂 The characters were very one dimensional, the “creatures” were goofy AF, and there were a ton of racial slurs thrown in here that added nothing to the tension between certain characters. I spaced out a lot during the audiobook because I was bored. 🥱 Not for me.
June 21, 2013
Exciting, scary and hard to put down. This book builds and builds to an exciting and scary conclusion. My phone rang while reading the end of this book and I jumped out of my seat! A must read for beach travelers.
September 22, 2019
Pretty ‘Meh’ on this one. Just wasn’t my kind of book, neither of the leads were particularly captivating or relatable, which made it hard to care about any of them. I admit I did a lot of skimming just to finish this.
July 17, 2013
great book well rounded believable characters and believable underwater villains
read it 24 hours was really unputdownable
read it 24 hours was really unputdownable
Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews