What Lurks Beneath

by Ryan Lockwood

A horrific creature is hunting and devouring tourists beneath the waves surrounding the Bahamas in this suspense thriller by the author of Below.

The first attack occurs in the underwater caverns of the Bahamas. Two professional divers exploring the unknown. A monstrous flesh-ripping predator they never see coming . . .

Now the attacks are coming closer and closer to shore. A sun-soaked playground for sea-loving tourists. A feasting ground for whatever lurks beneath . . .

Now, in a desperate race against time, Eric Watson, an expert on remote control underwater vehicles, and marine biologist Valerie Martell, must identify a savage new species of killer—and piece together one of nature’s most horrific mysteries. But the most terrifying discovery of all waits for Val and her team at the bottom of the sea. A discovery too shocking, to comprehend.

Because up till now, this creature existed only in mankind’s darkest nightmares. Not anymore.

Praise for Ryan Lockwood’s Below

“Nerve-tingling suspense.” —Kevin O’Brien, New York Times–bestselling author of The Bad Sister

“Absolutely terrifying.” —Marc Cameron, author of State of Emergency

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Adventure

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2015

About the author

Ryan 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.

Reviews

[Tyler Gray]

Because I read (or tried to) it on Hoopla and the page numbers were off I used google to figure out I DNF'd at 12%. The characters are irritating me and I looked up spoilers, and it really seems like this story is not for me.

[Empress Reece (Hooked on Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main characters from Below, Val & Sturman are back. Val heads to the Bahamas to dive the blue holes in search of a very large cephalopod that's decided it wants more then shellfish and sea creatures for dinner.

This book was almost as good the first- lots of action and I enjoyed the diving scenes and exploration of the blue holes and underground tunnels and caverns.

I deducted a star though because there was just way too much repetitiveness. It definitely could use some editing to clean it up a bit.

[Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Piss poor character development—successful, educated woman just tosses it all for baby? check. Grizzled vet? check. Woman of color as just a damn romantic interest even though she was one of the only characters I gave a damn about? Ugh. But I very much liked the ginormous octopus terror assing all over the place. (She genuinely fucked some shit up!). I’d watch this movie—even if it was this bad. Someone alert The Asylum!

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another decent beach read by Lockwook, but nothing really to write home about. WLB takes place in the Bahamas, where legend and stories tell of a giant sea monster. WLB starts off rather slow, picking up about a year or so after Below, and the two main characters there-- Valerie Martell and Will return once again, among some fresh faces. Val is back in Monterrey, California doing her research while Will, after the death of his dog, has found a bottle. One day Val receives a call from a friend in the Bahamas whose team just lost a few cave divers. It seems one of the islands in the Bahamas has several 'blue holes'; cave formations something like sinkholes but they often connect to the ocean as well. These blue holes tend to be freshwater on the surface, but after a few layers, are salt water. The caves were formed when the ocean was much lower (the Bahama shelf is limestone and porous), but now that the seas have risen, the Bahama shelf is barely above sea level. Learning about the topography of the Bahamas was almost the highlight of the book.

Anyway, Vals friend sends a few photos found on a camera (the only thing found off the lost divers) and it kinda looks like suckers on a tendril. Val decides to find out what is going on (she needs a break from drunken Will anyhow) and sets of for the Bahamas with a buddy who operates remote controlled submersibles to explore the cave/blue hole. After arrival, Val meets some local characters and some employees at a new resort on the island, the resort later plays an important role in the story.

Ok, with a book like this, obviously about some sea monster(s), this takes a long time to get off the ground. Lockwood incorporates a POV of the monster (a huge octopus we later find out) which was somewhat novel, and the actual action scenes toward the end were fun, but overall, Meh. The characters were pretty much stereotypes all the way, especially the Bahama locals (Lovely woman who works at the resort, an old witch, the funky cab driver, etc.). Also, the ending left something to be desired. 2.5 stars rounding up because of the POV of the monster.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised I really liked this one. It seemed to borrow from the water based horror stories but still stood up well.

Dramatized Audiobook from Chirp.com

[Matthew]

Jun 2-Jun 3, DNF at 38%

I couldn't handle any more of this book. Characters that I couldn't care less about, poor writing - switching between calling the character's first and last names in the same dialogue, lack of action and outright dense characters. By dense, I mean this, "She had come to the Bahamas to try to find a new species of cephalopod. Not to chase down monster sightings." Ok, you saw a PHOTO of a large tentacle from two divers that went missing and that's what prompted you to go to the Bahamas. You get there and more people are going missing. 2 + 2 = ?? Also, I absolutely loathed how a character would pop up out of nowhere and then a paragraph or two later, they would be mentioned arriving or doing their part (most notably is Mack, it goes from one character not talking to him for six years and then BOOM, he's there with her).

Anyway, I gave this one more of a chance than I wanted to; I wanted to DNF it at 10% but kept going, sometimes being fed enough to keep my interest but most time, not.

[Candace Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very underwhelmed by this book. I was so excited with the idea of a giant killer octopus but I feel this book never really delivers, it's very slow going and often boring. No big pay out at the end and the characters were under developed. The only thing I enjoyed about this book was the parts written in the octopuses perspective.

[Echo Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will enjoy a water horror creature feature regardless of whether it's good or not. They are my guilty pleasure. This book is not excellent by any means, but it is fun!! I just wish the author would have stayed with just the giant octopus instead of adding all the other odd and random side stuff.

[Ray Palen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan Lockwood is well on his way to becoming the next Peter Benchley --- I just wish he would write more novels!

WHAT LURKS BENEATH continues the adventures of Marine Biologist Valerie Martell and her expert diver boyfriend, Will Sturman. When Val is called to the Bahamas to explore the area where two expert divers disappeared she gets far more than she bargained for.

Accompanied by her grizzled Uncle Mack and colleague Eric Watson (who mans an underwater submersible able to go almost anywhere) they come upon the lair of an ancient creature who should not exist.

The highlight of this high-octane thriller is when our trio --- joined now by Will --- look to save the residents of an island resort named Oceanus that has been targeted and terrorized by the seemingly unstoppable sea monster.

Don't want to give anything else away --- just leave this one for your must read Beach Books. Just to be safe, why not read it poolside and skip the ocean altogether!

[Shannon Whitley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun B movie monster type book. Graphic Audio was great as always.

[Sherry Fundin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am loving Ryan Lockwood’s books, Below and now, What Lurks Beneath. They are a couple of fabulous creature features that gripped me and never let me go. I was on pins and needles, the suspense and anticipation off the charts. Action and adventure were on every page.

It’s not all creature, but I love that it was always on my mind. Even when Valerie was trying to figure out her love life with Will. He has fallen off the wagon and she’s not having it. I hope Will gets his shit together because I think they will make a great couple and I do like happy ever afters. I hope that means that you are hard at work writing more novels, Ryan.

If you are a fan of creature features, I can’t recommend Ryan Lockwood enough. His books are filled with danger and intrigue, dysfunctional characters and a hint of the paranormal. The writing is easy to read and flows smoothly. I think you have to walk outside the line to live the life Ryan’s characters do. So, come on. Let’s walk on the wild side together.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

[Carol Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun read

Just the usual fun horror read that includes a giant octopus terrorizing a very nice resort in the Bahamas. I’ve never wanted to go to the Bahamas, but these blue holes got me interested.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! I read the first book by this author about a year ago and loved it and I love this one as well! I love good natural monster thriller books and this book had it all!

It has a huge creature, (I guessed what it was after reading the description) that makes it's first appearance early in the story it just gets better and better as the story unfolds.

I was glad to see that the book included the two leading characters from the first book and one of the things I love about this author is that he has created three dimensional characters, they are not all noble and good, they are human and they have human faults just like everyone else.

There is action throughout the book but also the author has included quite a lot of science in the telling of his story and this is something I also appreciate in a thriller book.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good and intense read! I'm really into these "ocean thrillers" (Is that a genre?). I love reading about unknown creatures living in the ocean - because I believe we have not discovered half of what might be down there, like in the Mariana Trench.
I enjoyed this book, just as I did Ryan Lockwoods' other ocean book, "Beneath".

[Marc]

A little disappointed in his sophomore effort.

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's not to like about a big-momma kraken who loves to eat? In my quest for adult mermaid fiction, I was delighted to discover this story about my second favorite mythological sea creature. The true main character, a giant octopus, is just minding her own business looking for food and a safe nest to raise her young when she is harassed by cave diving marine biologists, U.S. Navy secret underwater weapons and a really annoying water park that opens next door. The story delivers on its promise of dramatic and deadly encounters between Ms. Kraken and people who venture where they don't belong. In addition to plenty of chomping and slurping, there's even a little magic thrown in. I loved the ambergris amulet from the island's lady witch doctor - nice touch. A thoroughly entertaining read!

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have one requirement for a guilty-pleasure / beach read: monsters. Giant squids . Dinosaurs. Undiscovered and violent species in deep jungles, deep caves, deep oceans. This one started out in a very pleasing way —a gigantic cavern-dwelling monster killing things all over the place in the Bahamas, scientists trying to find it. But then Lockwood couldn’t just leave it. It’s like he wrote the book and then was like: I must include as many of The World’s Problems as he could into one book: infertility, ptsd, military testing, addiction, racism, sexism, and all revolving around a sea monster and the problems facing native Bahamians (as written by a white guy and oh sarcastic bonus he includes the accents). So, I mean…

I think it would make a decent SyFy movie.

[Vfields Don't touch my happy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was it excellent? No.
Was it absolutely entertaining and intriguing? Absolutely.
I enjoyed the pacing.
I grooved onto the setting and atmosphere.
Reading this was easy because it felt like I was watching a fun, action-packed movie.
Was it predictable? Oh yes, in all the right ways.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was definitely middle of the road. The audiobook was cool, with a full cast and sound effects, but it was definitely hokey and a bit much at times. Nothing super memorable or mind-blowing, but it was fun.

[clumsyplankton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh this was just so bad

[Alicia Thistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book!
Suspenseful, scientific, and dramatic!

[Zimbellina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giant thing in the sea killing humans.

Not really holding my attention and wasn’t what I was looking for. It’s decent and on the Audible Plus catalogue so that’s alright but it was just alright.

[Mabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first I thought the characters were underdeveloped until I realized it was a sequel. Think of Jaws without the shark (but another sea monster) and take away the excitement, a good plot, and interesting characters - and you have What Lurks Beneath.

[Ami Morrison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marine biologist Val Martell is back and is called in to identify a savage new species of killer- one that is coming closer and closer to shore.

Very disappointing. Felt like a little too similar to Below. I really did not care for the dead dog / miscarriage/ oh look she is pregnant part of the story. Felt like the author was pulling out lots of cliched problems in order to keep Will drunk and angry. Just didn't work for me.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely awesome!! This title had me guessing which way the characters were going to go in and not knowing who would survive. The scenes in this came alive with so much action and suspense. I can easily see this being made into a blockbuster hit in the theaters some day.

[Janet Halsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bahamas is full of un-explored blue holes that even the best cave divers have yet to traverse. When two experienced divers enter a cave system called The Staircase and never come out, remote underwater vehicle export Eric and marine biologist Val are brought in to figure out what happened. The only clue they have to go on is a blurry picture from one of the missing diver’s camera possibly showing what could be a massive sea creature.



As more attacks happen closer and closer to the beach, time is starting to run out for Val to figure out what sort of creature they are dealing with. When an eye witness describes what they saw as the lusca, a mythological half shark, half squid creature said to punish man-kind for its indiscretions, Val begins to wonder if what they are dealing with might be more than they bargained for.



What Lurks Beneath is the second novel following Nick Lockwood’s Below. While I didn’t read the first book, I did not feel like I missed much story-wise. This book read like a creature feature movie from the Sci-Fi channel. The POV bounces back and forth between our main characters, the victims, and the mind of the creature. It was action packed and engaging. I felt the story was plausible and not too far-fetched. Val and her boyfriend Will were from the first book, so it seems we get further character development from them and their relationship. I felt the pacing was pretty steady and did a good job amping up the intensity and then backing down for more day in the life moments with our characters. Overall I really enjoyed this book and will be reading more from this author.

[Boomer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although not expressly stated, this a sequel to Lockwood's previous book Below. Even though this is a stand alone book, the characters from Below are once again the protagonists, so reading that first will give you a greater understanding of their thoughts and explain some of their actions a little better.

I picked this up since I really enjoyed Below, and I'm always up for any kind of novel involving deep sea attacks by unknown creatures. Unfortunately this didn't work as well as its predecessor. The writing may have improved, but the flow of the story just wasn't as smooth as I would like. As with Below, there are also several chapters done from the POV of the creature, which after a while get a little repetitive. I get it, I mean what else do these things think about besides food? Probably not much so it's hard to see how else it could be done, but after the first two of these POV sections, I found myself skipping pages because the same thing happens - it senses some kind of vibration in the water, thinks it's either prey (lost count of how many times that word was used) or a threat and goes off to find it. Below also suffered from this, and maybe if I hadn't read them back to back it wouldn't bother me so much, but I don't think these kinds of books need the creature's POV because there's no need to justify their actions. This adds unnecessary filler. In any case, this was still a fun read

[Kathy Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, another story about something lurking in the depths of the ocean.  The story is solid and the author obviously did a lot of research about the area and cave diving.  I would never do it - cave diving, not research.  Just reading about it in this book sent my claustrophobia into overtime.  Just yuck.

I have just one negative comment that is purely one of personal preference.  The author went into such detail about the techno side of things but when it came to the actual attacks, he was vague and lax.  I wanted to read about the struggles the different people put up, I wanted to hear the crack of the various ship hulls as the creature pulled the boats under, I wanted to taste the blood in the water.  I felt kind of robbed.

Sure, in most attacks the people didn't survive - but I still wanted to experience it with them.  Instead it is like: Oh they saw a tentacle rise" and then on to the next chapter where we had to learn in an off-hand conversation or newspaper headline that the boat was unaccounted for or that people were missing.

Having said all that though, it is a decent story and worth the read.  Will I be re-reading it any time soon? Nope, don't think so.  Will I read more from this author? Absolutely.  I give the book a B+.

[Ursula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hello Gemmies, I have a new book review to share with you today. What Lurks Beneath by Ryan Lockwood is a sea monster thriller. I am actually going to recommend this one in audiobook format. It has a full cast narration with sounds effects. While not one of my all time favorite creature features, What Lurks Beneath was an enjoyable read. We are once again reunited with the main characters from Below...... Val & Sturman. What Lurks Beneath takes place about a year after the events in Below. Although there are references to Below it is not necessary to have read that book first. What Lurks Beneath works as a stand alone novel. The beginning of the book is a bit slow, but once the action picks up there was plenty of tension, drama, and action to keep me entertained. I also appreciated the detailed dive scenes. The characters were interesting, but I wasn't fully invested in them. The main draw for me was the lead up to the monster reveal.

If you love slow burn cephalopod creature features give this one a try. Published by Pinnacle Books, What Lurks Beneath is available for purchase from all major booksellers. I give What Lurks Beneath 3 1/2 out of 5 gems. Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts on it. Happy Reading!