I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Black Coral
by Andrew Mayne
Series: Underwater Investigation Unit #2
Series Rating:
Published by Thomas & Mercer on February 16, 2021
Genres: Action and Adventure Mystery Thriller
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
BookBub
Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Book Depository
Also in this series: The Girl Beneath the Sea, Sea Storm, Sea Castle
For a police diver in Florida, solving a cold-case mystery brings a serial killer out of hiding in a deep, dark thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Naturalist
Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared thirty years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident. To Sloan, it looks like murder. Every piece of evidence is starting to connect to a string of cold-case vanishings throughout Florida. Clue by clue, Sloan navigates the warm, dark waters where natural predators feed, knowing that the most dangerous one is still above the surface—nesting and dormant.
But when a fresh young kill is found in the Everglades, Sloan fears that her investigation has reawakened a monster. How can she catch someone who’s a genius at hiding in plain sight? By acting as prey. The dangerous gambit is working—only too well. She’s being lured into a deception of the madman’s own design. Has Sloan set a trap for a serial killer? Or has he set one for her?
Black Coral by Andrew Mayne is an addictive fast-moving ride with lots of action. I literally did not want to put this book down.
Will Sloan’s instincts help her find the serial killer, or will the UIU be forced to close its doors for good?
Sloan McPherson
In this second installment, we see more of Sloan’s instinct and a bit more of her personality. I love the way she thinks of the victims as someone’s child and not just a corpse. However, my favorite thing about Sloan is the way she doesn’t take crap from men.
When Sloan is underwater, she is the best. She has years of training that allow her to know her limitations (ya right) and what may happen next. Sloan works well with Hughes, the new addition to the UIU. Seriously, Sloan has this wickedly smart mind that sees things that other people dismiss.
The Mystery
Sloan finds an old van in a pond where another vehicle crashed. When she finally gets to look into it, they find four missing teenagers from the 1990s. The van is tagged as an accident even though the evidence doesn’t completely point in that direction. However, the UIU is onto another case, except Sloan can’t get the kids in the van out of her mind. After a bit of investigation, it is thought that a serial killer is still actively killing people in southern Florida. A task force that includes the FBI and local law enforcement agencies is looking for the killer.
The task force tags the wrong person, and the UIU knows this and sets out to find the right one. Before all of that, you have to read the part about the alligator lair that Sloan investigates. Oh, and the guide who helps them find the burial site is so cool. I love his alligator trick.
Five Stars
This book is amazing. The characters, location, the mystery, the underwater scenes are all top-notch. My rating for Black Coral by Andrew Mayne is five stars, and I recommend this to all thriller readers out there. Honestly, I loved everything about this story. Check it out.
First Book in Series
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Black Coral by Andrew Mayne.
Until the next time,
About Andrew Mayne
Andrew Mayne is an Edgar nominated author, Thriller Award finalist, star of Shark Week and A&E television’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne.
A best-selling novelist and magician, Andrew Mayne has performed his unique brand of illusion on five continents, his YouTube videos have millions of views and he’s cultivated thousands of fans for his magic, books and podcasts calling themselves ‘Mayniacs’.
Taking magic in a new direction, Andrew created his own style of magic called “Shock Magic”; combining the impact of large scale illusion with the in-your-face approach of street magic. It’s fun, it’s irreverent, it’s the next evolution in magic. Andrew’s effects range from making ghosts appear on cell phones, shrinking himself to one foot tall and making a town think they were besieged by UFOs. His magic has even been performed for astronauts on the International Space Station! Andrew has invented over 400 magic effects and published 45 books and videos on the art of illusion. On the leading edge of magic and pop culture, he was among the first to invent magic for the iPhone (even before there were apps) via his website iPhoneTrick.com – that’s since been performed on millions of people.
He’s worked behind the scenes creatively for David Copperfield, Penn & Teller and David Blaine. In 2011 Andrew was invited to China on behalf of the legendary Beijing Circus to share with Asia’s leading magicians his modern approach to illusion. His 2012 tour brought him to Europe and the Middle East.
Andrew started his first world illusion tour while he was a teenager and was soon headlining in resorts and casinos around the world. With the support of talk show host and amateur magician Johnny Carson, Andrew Mayne started a program to use magic to teach critical thinking skills in public schools for the James Randi Educational Foundation. Andrew’s Wizard School segments, teaching magic and science to children, aired nationwide on Public Television.
Andrew is the author of over a dozen novels and has been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original (Black Fall) and the Thriller Award for Name of the Devil. His recent novel, The Naturalist is an Amazon Charts best-seller and spent six weeks at the number one spot for all books on Amazon.
Leave a Reply