Review: Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1) by Anne Greenwood Brown

From goodreads

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

review

Lies Beneath took me to the depths of Lake Superior and not once did I feel like coming up for air. It was brilliant!

I'm relatively new to mermaid YA and I'm already tempted to say Lies Beneath is the best(est) in the genre. The mermaids in Lies Beneath are vengeful and murderous. They kill humans by absorbing their energy and are mainly attracted to positive emotions. Calder White may not have killed a human in five months but he's now, along with his three sisters, on a mission to lure Jason Hancock to Lake Superior; given that Jason's father was said to be responsible for their mother's death.

It was very easy to get lost in this novel. I loved the setting and the little things that were revealed about these mermaids. In many ways, Calder was That Paranormal Being who tried to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily, in order to get to Jason with intense stares, relentless stalking and a lot of creepiness that could be mistaken for sexiness.

Thank you, Lily, for getting appropriately peeved and staying away rather than getting instantaneously drawn to somebody who at least initially seemed like he had CREEP written all over him. Sure, you did finally succumb to his charms but it was way after the endless stalking and when you were looking for answers of your own.

Thank you, sisters of Calder, for being a breath of fresh air! I loved to hate you! I was oddly fascinated by Maris's tenacity, Pavati's deadly charm and what became of Tallulah. There was so much to these sisters and I wanted to know even more about them.

Lies Beneath was intense and while easy to read, it also got pretty dark. The climax was a bit too formulaic but honestly, it didn't matter. I was engaged throughout and loved the fluid plot progression. It looks like this is a series (since it says it's Lies Beneath #1) which is great as I cannot wait to read and get to know even more about the mermaids and mermen in Lies Beneath!

Publication date: 12th June, 2012
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Source: NetGalley
Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars