From Below by Darcy Coates

Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean’s surface, a graveyard waits…

Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course…a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean’s surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.

Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia’s rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished.

But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them.

As someone who has a fear of water and who loves a good fright I was ecstatic to read this one. From the very beginning I was gripped by anyone that wants to dive 300 ft under the sea. Once you get the mysterious sinking of a ship nearly 100 years ago, and the promise of some spooky things happening that only Darcy Coates can do, I was smitten from the first chapter.

This book switches between time periods; present day and the final days of the Arcadia's voyage. This did great in building the mystery. And let's just say it did a great job of also building the weird. During the present day you get the perspective from multiple people but there's no rhyme or reason on who you're going to get or when. This made how the story unfolded gripping and kept the mysterious aspect of it. In the past tense you see it from mostly one perspective but get another perspective occasionally. I think this allowed for an already hectic and confusing plot to stay within the realm of understanding.

The plot was a slow burn in my opinion. There were times that I just wanted to skip chapters to get to the juicy parts but those chapters were important to the overall story. And I love Darcy Coates' writing style that I never felt bored reading necessarily. Just impatient. Once the action started happening it happened. Sitting in my bed reading before going to sleep I'd catch myself holding my breath, tensing my muscles, breathing heavy, and even a bit of sea sickness. There were so many parts that I could just FEEL what was being described. Sometimes I'd feel like I can finally relax only for the next heart palpitating scenario to unfold. This lead me to read way past my bedtime but it was worth it.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. It has the action and thrill with the creepy elements that Darcy is known for.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

5/10 This is one of those instances where the premise and set up are so good but the story is the weakest point. Darcy Coates has a talent for setting up very suspenseful scenes and creating a pretty entertaining world. But she tends to struggle with character development, and that's the biggest fault of this book. I wants to know more about these characters. And I wanted to feel more for them in their struggles.

Also. I found the ending a tad underwhelming but that could be just a personal issue on what I wanted with its set up. Theirs some loose ends that could've done better with extra chapters.

The premise of this book really excited me but it was so long and so slow. Towards the end it did pick up and was quite interesting and at times very stressful but honestly it could've been so much shorter

I love a story with an adventure under water. That was my favorite part of this. I was a little confused about how it all worked before the ship went down . The characters were a bit one note, but the action pushed forward quickly enough that it wasn't too distracting. Overall good thriller under the water.