Lies Beneath #1 Lies Beneath

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Lies Beneath #1 Lies Beneath

We all know what is above the surface but what is below...well that is what we don't know and this one actually gives us a good inkling of what it is like for....Merpeople. Presenting Lies Beneath #1 Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown.

Here is the summary of the book:

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 irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting 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.

A beautiful cover, a panorama below the surface and vengeful creatures of the sea, these are the crux of the story. Calder and his sisters Maris, Tallulah and Pavati are merpeople and they only want one thing - get revenge and get the life that was owed to them by Tom Hancock. Calder and his sisters know that Hancock will not be easy, so they concoct a plan to get into their home and get him to the open sea so they can snatch him down below.

But why does Calder want this so bad? All he wants to is be free of the hold his sisters have on him and he can only have that if he completes this mission, his sister's orders. And his kind of merpeople are definitely not Disney-esque but rather attractive and murderous monsters who crave human emotions. But what Calder doesn't foresee is that of falling in love.

As far as all the young adult genres are considered, Lies Beneath is very much different from them all. For one, the whole book is on Calder's perspective and not the girl's. Calder is an eighteen year old merman, who just wants freedom from his sisters. All Calder needs to do is to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily and gain his trust. Calder for the first time sees the difference between love and lust. What begins with a dark intent turns to something so pure that not even his sisters can sway him of the path he is on with Lily.

The story starts out slow but soon gains its momentum. Lies Beneath is absolutely the best merfolk fiction I have read to date. It so makes me what to dive below and see this wonderful world by my own eyes. I really need to know what happens next.