Book: The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 3.5/5
Cosmic horror is still a fairly new subgenre for me, but the concept of a team of researchers trapped in an underwater cave gave me immediate chills. As someone with severe thalassophobia, I was terrified to start this! However, the true horror in this atmospheric story really lied in the intense claustrophobia of being trapped underground with no clear way out.
The main character, Caro, is set up as someone meant to frustrate you early on. She struggles with deep self-esteem issues and is involved with her married professor. Her judgment is so clouded by her love for him that you just want to shake some sense into her. Despite that, she genuinely has a good heart, which makes you root for her as she fights to survive the cave.
The religious trials devoted to Leviathan were such a fascinating concept. Each character has to confront a dark event from their past, and only if Leviathan deems them worthy do they get to live.
As for Caro’s professor, Beck, he turned out to be exactly what I expected. A self-obsessed professor in a niche field taking advantage of a student practically writes its own storyline. While his narcissism is painfully obvious to the reader, learning more about Caro’s upbringing makes it understandable why she was so enamored with him in the first place.
Overall, I really enjoyed this! The writing nailed the suffocating, claustrophobic atmosphere. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what Megan Bontrager writes next!
Thank you to Orbit for the eARC! All opinions are my own.