Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant
Dust jacket illustration by Julie Dillon
Genre: Adult horror novella
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Release date: April 7 2015
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Pages: 123
The nitty-gritty: A short but highly entertaining—not to mention terrifying—tale about the dangers of the deep.
I’m so happy I bought myself a copy of this beautiful little book from Subterranean Press. It’s a signed and numbered edition, and as far as I know, it’s the only edition available at the moment, other than the e-book. Whichever way you read it, it’s a spectacular story that accomplishes big things in a tiny little package.
I won’t give too much of the story away, because it is very short, but here’s the set-up. The Imagine Network has just commissioned a documentary on mermaids, and they’ve arranged to film aboard the cruise ship Atargatis. The plan is to take the ship out into deep water where little sea exploration has been done before, film the hired scientists doing their thing with water and chemical analysis, and have a troupe of professional mermaid “performers” standing by to add authenticity to the documentary. But as the crew and visitors drop anchor and start to explore the deep waters above the Mariana Trench, people on board start to go missing. It isn’t long before the excitement of filming turns into everybody’s worst nightmare.
For a short novella, Grant’s pacing is really good. She divides her story up into five chapters, and each one is prefaced by a blurb from an Imagine Network documentary from the year 2017, looking back on the disaster of the Atargatis and speculating on what happened. It gives the story a bit of foreshadowing and unsettles the reader. You know something bad happened—it’s explained on the first page that the entire crew was lost, but you don’t know exactly what happened until the end. Grant plants her clues carefully, spaced apart just enough to make the reader anxiously flip the pages.
The story is filled with humor as well. Grant pokes fun at the entertainment industry with lots of jokes about contract fulfillment and how documentaries are edited to create whatever story the director wants to tell, whether it’s true or not. The scientists and actors on board know that mermaids don’t really exist, and so they’ve hired a group of professional mermaids, women who wear specially made mermaid tales and perform at parties and other events. (And yes, I Googled this, and it’s a real thing!) The Blue Seas mermaids have been hired to “appear unexpectedly” on film. Obviously, the Imagine Network isn’t above a little innocent hoax or two.
Despite the short length of Rolling in the Deep, Grant digs fairly deep into her characters’ lives and desires. Yes, there is some stereotyping, especially with the nerdy scientist characters and Anne, the actress who will be hosting the documentary. But it made the story all the funnier for me, and I didn’t mind it at all.
I did love the women of the Blue Seas, who have hair colored in every shade of the rainbow and wear custom fit neoprene mermaid tails. The women love what they do, and they’re nearly jumping for joy at the opportunity to practice swimming in open waters. We get to spend just enough time with them to understand their true love of swimming as mermaids has nothing to do with acting. They understand exactly what they’ve been hired for, to pretend to be “real” mermaids, and it doesn’t stop them from having a great time—well, at least until things go terribly wrong. I really liked the idea that Grant puts two of her mermaids in wheelchairs, to show that even someone who isn’t able to walk on her own can have complete freedom of movement in the water.
When events on the Atargatis start to take a turn for the worse, things go south fast. Get ready for a good old-fashioned monster tale with plenty of blood and terror. Grant could have expanded this into a full-fledged novel if she’d wanted to, but I like it just the way it is: a short but nasty tale of “be careful what you wish for.” Trust me, after reading this story, you’ll never look at mermaids the same way again. This was my first time reading Mira Grant, but it’s certainly not going to be my last. Highly recommended.
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The print book looks lovely. I’ve read a couple of mermaid books where they weren’t lovely and nice. This is one I’d love to read. The idea of people swimming in the open ocean, acting as mermaids, then running into real ones? Too scary good! Awesome review. Thanks!
laura thomas recently posted…An Eldritch City Short ~ Beneath ~ Tour Review and Giveaway
It really was a great idea. I love when creatures that are typically kind and beautiful turn deadly!
I also recently began reading Mira Grant for the first time – I just started her book Feed, and it’s really excellent so far!
Also this talk of mermaids makes me think of the simultaneously terrifying and hilarious merman in Cabin in the Woods… which makes me want to read this even more.
Jenn recently posted…Mini-reviews: Three favourite short stories that are available online
Ugggh! I really need to watch Cabin in the Woods! Thanks for reminding me:-) And I have heard FEED is fantastic. That’s probably going to be my next book of hers.
Ha! This sounds good. I especially think the humorous bits you describe sound like fun! 🙂
Lisa @TenaciousReader recently posted…Review: The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks by Sam Maggs
It really had everything I like in a book:-D
I love Mira Grant’s work! This one sounds excellent – I may just have to splurge and buy a copy if I can.
Becky LeJeune recently posted…No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
Or you can get the e-book, I think it’s only about $5.
Awesome! I was going to look into that next!
Becky LeJeune recently posted…No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
Wow, this sounds like an incredible read. And how awesome to get a limited edition signed copy… might have to splurge on this one. Love me some Mira Grant. 😀 Great review!
Thanks Bonnie, sometimes it’s nice to read something short so you can just breeze through it:-D
Agreed! It’s not only refreshing but makes me feel so productive. lol
This does sound really good – and look at that cover – I don’t think I’d be able to take my eyes of it in order to start reading.
So glad you enjoyed this one – I saw your post when you ordered it and wondered how it would turn out.
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…Kushiel’s Dart Read Along – The Schedule
Subterranean Press is consistently good, I never worry that one of their books will be a stinker, LOL!
This sounds amazing, that cover is awesome and I have never read anything like it
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
It was a blast, you’d love it!
I’ve read a couple of Mira Grant books and I can’t say she’s my cup of tea (though I hear the books she writes under her name Seanan Mcguire are very different and I’m still really looking forward to starting the October Daye series). This one caught my eye though, because it does sound quite different. I love the cover too – Julie Dillon is fantastic!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Interview with Ken Liu, Author of The Grace of Kings
I do love this artwork. I expect it will pop up in some “best of” next year:-)
When I saw your link to a Mira Grant book I hadn’t heard of, I just had to read it! So glad to hear you really enjoyed her writing, I absolutely LOVE all of her books that I’ve read, especially the FEED and Parasite series. I’ll have to track this down somewhere!
I can’t wait to start both those series, Jeann:-D
I have heard a lot of amazing things about Mira Grant’s books, so when I saw this review here I had to check it out! And it looks like this one was well worth me taking the time to look at. I know I will want to read this one in the future, so thank you for the detailed review 🙂
Check out my review here: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/04/the-beckoning-of-gyanganj-review.html
I’ve always heard great things about her, and I figured it was time to check her out:-D
Sounds great! And I love the cover. 🙂