If you enjoy dark, creepy reads, this is the book for you. Not only does the plot involve catching a serial killer, but it takes place in Florida's Everglades - a dark, mysterious place. Adding to the scare factor is the the fact that a lot of the book takes place underwater, in dark, murky, alligator-infested waters. Some of the scenes involving the dives were as frightening as the the main plot, and the author did a superb job of setting the scene. I could almost feel the swish of an alligator tail as I read.

Another plus factor for me was the strong female lead. Sloan McPherson is a diving pro and a natural born detective who has smarts, a strong and accurate instinct, and the respect of her male colleagues. Her only flaw is that she cares too much, which sometimes gets her in trouble.

The only downside to reading this was that several chapters in, I realized it's book 2 in a series. There were times when the book 1 plot was mentioned, and while not necessary to follow the plot, it would have been good if I had read that first to lay the groundwork for this book.

Nice summer read. Will be checking out more titles from this author.

Loving this underwater investigation series - I really enjoyed this! What a fresh take on a mystery - to be diving for answers in the Florida swamps! I love crime novels, and his fresh twists and takes on solving them is very enjoyable for me. I like Sloan the main investigator and her crew of folks trying to prove their worth as an investigative unit. In this one, we have a van that has been in the water for years, and what is found inside leads to many more missing bodies spanning 30 years. This was a great summer mystery read and I recommend it highly for mystery lovers. Thankful for the ARC - Mercer and Netgalley!

Having devoured crime novels through the years it was refreshing to come across the Underwater Investigation Unit. Not only were the crime scenes based largely at sea, the characters came from exciting backgrounds in marine salvage/piracy and the navy. They also bounced well off each other with a mix of sarcasm and concern, refreshingly different from the ‘LA cop, always in trouble’ routine. While some of the clues or realisations that solved the crime at times seemed a little too unlikely the overall plot was constantly moving right up to the end when you’re holding your breath and reading as quickly as possible to get to the end. Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book, I keenly look forward to other books in this series.

Black Coral is second book in Underwater Investigation Unit series that follows around our protagonist, Sloan McPherson - a female scuba diver/treasure hunter/crime investigator. She comes around a case of underwater crushed car with 4 bodies - she suspects a murder and there follows the story!

Sloan is a cryptic character - reader has to try the best to understand what she is upto + but she’s also outright and fierce. Any lover of crime fiction should read this book and would fall in love with Mayne’s writing. Even this this is a second book, the story starts off fresh which I liked + the pace is consistent throughout + the plot is interesting + not too many twists + satisfactory ending!

4.25/5⭐️

Thank you Thomas & Mercer, Netgalley and Andrew Mayne for the ARC

This is the second book in the Underwater Investigation Unit series by Andrew Mayne. I really enjoyed this book and the strong protagonist woman lead. However, I did feel like there were some flat moments, though they were quickly recovered.
Sloan McPherson is a underwater investigator with the Underwater Investigation Unit. Shes a detective whos family has a shady past. She has been diving nearly all her life. Living in Florida, where a UIU unit is crucial due to the amount of swamps, canals, and bodies of water throughout, it comes as a shock that the UIU is under scrutiny to be disbanded. They must fight to prove themselves worthy, and necessary, while solving crimes that others are quick to dismiss.
While reading this, I felt that our protagonists often had a death wish. Acting childish at times, without thinking. Almost as if she isn’t a mother with a young child at home. She seems disconnected from her home life. I found the protagonists hard to relate too, however I applaud that she is a strong willed and respected female lead, though her thoughts seem more masculine.
There were some things thrown in that seemed like a filler. For instance, an investigated crime that didn’t add to the plot at all. This secondary crime ring was harped on and built, but then fell flat. There were some highs and lows, all in all a solid 4-star read.

Andrew Mayne has an incredible way with words. He expertly places each word with a calculated purpose that paints a vivid picture without verbal posturing. If textbooks were written by Andrew Mayne, students would enjoy reading and retain information better. He has all the talent of Koontz and King without the verbal tangents that make a 300 page book 600 pages. I am riveted to a Mayne book and lose all sense of time and space as I am brought front and center into the story. I am such a fan of his books that I will read out of my genre (Station Breaker series) just to read his written word.

This is the second book in the Underwater Investigations Unit series. In this series we are in the mind of a scuba diving treasure hunter turned criminal investigator. Like all of Mayne's characters, we are not being told what Sloan McPhearson is seeing or doing. We are Sloan McPhearson; sensing, feeling, and putting puzzle pieces together through thought.

The UIU consists of George Solar (head of the UIU), Sloan McPhearson, and Calvin "Scott" Hughes (newest member of the UIU). The UIU is called in to assist on a recovery dive. While in a free dive (without scuba tank), McPhearson finds another vehicle. During this free dive, McPhearson finds herself in a situation that jeopardizes her 7 minutes of underwater air causing the air in my personal lungs to restrict and tighten. The tension and anxiety that builds through this experience is palpable until her mind leads us through a logical, but no less remarkable, escape.

McPhearson shows us how this second vehicle is more that a vehicle dump with logic is so simple it could be easily overlooked. That is what makes McPhearson such a strong and believable character, her mind sees facts and details that a normal mind would skim over as unimportant. She is neither submissive nor aggressive, but honest and forthright; sometimes to a fault. She is not perfect, that is why we have her boss, George Solar, to keep her grounded. He reads a room, assesses the situation and cleverly acts accordingly. He is brilliant, calculating and intentional. Hughes is everyone who ever wanted to grow up and do the right thing. He is the person who believes doing the right thing is always the choice, even under pressure of losing respect among peers. Joining the UIU he gets to be a part of doing the right thing in a unit that shares the same principles. Without Solar, the unit would be an explosive vigilante. Solar shows us how and why certain procedures need to appear on the outside while obtaining one's ultimate goal in the end.

I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of crime stories or who loves problem solving or puzzles. I was almost giddy when I caught an important detail before the author revealed it. I am so grateful to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me an advanced copy of this book.

As with all of Andrew Mayne's books this one was meticulously researched. I learn something about a topic or a place in most of his stories.
Black Coral is about a female police diver who discovers a submerged van that leads to a serial killer. He got the description and atmosphere of South Florida and the Everglades perfectly. The scenes of diving were so realistic I felt I underwater with the team.
The story centers around a single mother, Sloane McPherson, who is part of a State Police diving unit. This is the second story in the series, but it works as a stand alone too. She has an interesting family of treasure hunters, and a rich boyfriend/father of her daughter. Sloane is smart, determined and thinks outside the box.
Although my favorite Andrew Mayne character remains Jessica Blackwood (can't resist good stories about professional magic), this series is a close second.
Buy the book, you won't be disappointed!

<i>Black Coral</i> is a murder mystery where no one believes a crime has been committed until bodies abound. Sloan McPherson is a young tough detective and diver who can’t help but act before she thinks. <i>Black Coral</i> is the second book in the Underwater Investigation Unit series by the prolific author Andrew Mayne.

Sloan McPherson literally bumps into a van containing 4 bodies during a dive to retrieve another submerged car. Everyone, except Sloan, assumes the van was lost in an accident. In spite of repeated warnings to leave the van alone, Sloan follows a series of leads and finds that the van was one of the first crimes in a series of murders that occurred over many years. The detectives must now find out who committed all these crimes and how they are done without being detected.

The character development of Sloan is excellent. As she repeatedly strikes out on her own, we find out a lot of what makes her tick. Many of the other characters are secondary, however, and are not as fully developed. Most of them are first introduced in Mayne’s first novel “The Girl Underneath the Sea”. For this reason, I believe one has to read both novels to get the full picture.

The novel is fast paced and interesting throughout. In my opinion, Mayne’s writing is better in this second instalment of the series. The ending does not have a twist, but the reveal is different enough that the reader has to stay engaged to understand how the murders actually happened.

I recommend this book to all people who love good murder mysteries. I give it a 4 on 5. I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for providing me with a digital copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I freaking love these books! I was a little nervous to read this second in the series so I loved the first one so much, but this one is as good if not better. I can't wait for more books in the UIU series. Give them all to me please. Great work.

Thank you to Andrew Mayne, the publisher, and Netgalley for the advanced copy. ❤️

First, thank you to both NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing me an advance copy of Black Coral by Andrew Mayne in exchange for an honest review.

Black Coral is the second book in Mayne’s Underwater Investigation Unit (“UIU”) series. Although I must confess that I did not have the opportunity to read book one, nor have I ever read any novels written by Mayne prior to this one, it simply did not hold my interest and I struggled to finish it.

Maybe it is the author’s writing style or maybe it is because I skipped book one and never developed a connection to the main character, Sloan McPherson, but as far as crime thrillers go this was definitely not my cup of tea. I thought the writing fell flat and could have used a few more adjectives or metaphors to invoke the elements of the setting.

For instance, take these two excepts:

“Visibility is still garbage…”; or
“The Golden Mermaid is a two-hundred-foot-long megayacht…a suspicious boat without lights [was] watching the big vessel.”

Really, the visibility was garbage? Not enshrouded by fog or swamp mists? Or any other description that would lend itself to such exquisite and abnormal scenery. Then, the ship excerpt: exact size dimensions versus “big.” If you conduct a Google search for that size yacht, you will find better descriptors in the captions of the image results.

Also, how many times are we going to be told that alligators/crocodiles burrow? And if we have to be constantly reminded of this fact throughout the text, can we at least find a synonym for “burrow” and “dig”? In retrospect, I am starting to wonder if this was originally intended to be released as some in-between version of an airport pick-me-up and a YA novel. Perhaps, I am too finicky.

Moving on…while the idea of a strong female lead with an unconventional profession (i.e., an underwater investigator, as opposed to the standard detective/cop), makes for an intriguing plotline, the book blurb is unfortunately more enticing than the actual work. Aside from not caring about the character and the uninspired writing, I felt bored despite all the “action.”

I cannot exactly put my finger on it, but it is as if there was no build-up to events. Like you flipped to the next page and there was the result of the action with no suspense. You would think that when Sloan and the UIU first attempt to dredge up the van—one of the main points of the story—it would trigger some feeling of anticipation or eagerness in the reader, but instead, it just happens.

There were some passages that felt a bit exciting (e.g., the brief python incident), but most were forgettable and the investigatory elements (albeit extremely thorough) could easily be lost in the sea of existing crime thrillers.
The saving grace is the length of the chapters. They are short, consisting of only a handful of pages each. I suspect this has something to do with why some reviewers dubbed the story as “fast-paced.” It certainly helped me in my struggles to complete it.

It is possible that I am being too harsh and that I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the first book in the series. I intend on picking it up to see if my opinion changes and will update this review accordingly. As it stands now though, for some readers it could make for a good read on a flight.

Finally, if you are someone who enjoys or is familiar with the author’s previous works, then I suggest checking out some of the more positive reviews. I would not want to risk taking away another reader’s opportunity to be entertained.

Black Coral is a great sequel.......Police diver Sloan McPherson is on the hunt for the Swamp Killer – a decades old serial killer cold case. From dives in alligator infested canals, to interviews with possible serial killers while trying to survive inter-departmental squabbles, this is a book you will not put down til the end. Now…I am waiting for Sloan’s next adventure!

If you enjoyed the first book in this series, you won’t be disappointed. The plot and characters are well crafted and the descriptions of South Florida‘s ecosystems are fascinating. An entertaining summer read.

This book appears to be a sequel, but it wasn't hard to get up to date with the story and plot lines.
McPherson is a single mom in a complicated relationship with her kid's dad. She comes from a family of pirates who searched the Florida coast and beyond to find anything of value, but McPherson decided to become a cop and is studying archeology. She is part of the Underwater Investigation Unit that brings up a car from a pond, but when diving down, she finds a sunken van. When they bring up the van, bodies are found inside. Its like a time capsule, only most of the evidence is lost in the decades of being in the water. Since we're in Florida, there are gators all over the place and McPherson does her best to not become dinner.
Going back to the van case, the men in charge want to pin in on the teens inside and call it a drug and alcohol fuelled accident. But that doesn't sit well with McPherson and she becomes relentless in digging deeper in the lives and friends of the kids in the van. She's certain someone else was involved.
The story takes a turn towards a serial killer and a trip to the alligator and snake infested Everglades.
Will they ever catch the Killer?

Black Coral is a fast paced, gripping thriller! UIU #2 is a great follow up to the first in the series: The Girl Beneath the Sea. TGBTS (UIU #1) has National Treasure and Outer Banks (show) vibes that thrill in the hunt for hidden treasure while the bad guys are in hot pursuit. UIU #2 takes on a darker tone with as the UIU crew explores a more sinister murder mystery. Maintained from the first in the series are the incredible descriptions of Florida wild-life and sea-diving excursions. I have found these descriptions in this series to be particularly enjoyable.

The plot line focuses on a different water-buried item rather than treasure: a tomb in the shape of a van, that connects to a series of murders across South Florida. Black Coral aims to figure out who-done-it in this dark thriller. With many would-be suspects investigated along the way, and competing priorities in the way of local crime, it's hard for the task force to know where to look next. Sloan's killer instincts were amazing to read (sometimes a bit too amazing and at times unrealistic). Either she is the smartest cop or the smartest psychic in South Florida!

Sloan and George have added a new crew member: Hughes. Hughes is a great third wheel to the bickering duo and gives the perfect balance to the altogether cynical and crazy Sloan and George. I couldn't get enough of this trio. I can't wait to read more from this group - Andrew Mayne has definitely set himself up for many more in the series, should he choose to continue the story. No doubt these 3 characters can find all sorts of trouble to remedy.

Thanks very much for the free copy to read and review!

This is the second book in the Underwater Investigation Unit series - it's absolutely fabulous. I really enjoyed this book. I liked the interactions between Sloan and the other characters. This was a fun and entertaining book from start to finish.

I had no idea this was a second book in a series when I had first requested it, it just sounded interesting to me. That being said, you don't have to read the first one in order to read this one. I thought this was a good thriller, keeps you interested and I liked the underwater investigation premise because I haven't read anything like that before. Thanks very much to the publisher and to netgalley for the advanced copy!

Thanks netgalley. This was a wonderful change of pace. Sloan as a character is great. She is a risk taker with her own life but cautious with others. Being that this story involved a scuba diving investigator was exciting. Sloan is a rebel, you can't wait to see what trouble she creates for herself.

(I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Netgalley.)

A nice read; it just lacked the tension and action for my taste. I like my crime thrillers to take me at the edge of my seat, to force me to bite my nails and mutter curses, but this one lacked the depth that I expected and wanted.

The story revolves around the Underwater Investigation Unit composed of Sloan, Hughes and George, who stumbled into a van submerged in a Florida pond while conducting a separate case. The van happened to be involved to 30-year-old missing persons case involving four teenagers.

I love the technical aspects of their underwater investigation, which makes the novel stand out. The bureaucracy in the police and investigative forces also added spice to an already complex case. My problem was too much politics got in the way of an interesting case. I wished there was a balance on both politics and investigation. Their separate case, the River Bandits, also seemed out of place.

Still, I enjoyed reading this. I like the camaraderie of Sloan and Hughes. They make a great partner.

I have read half of this book and cannot continue. It is not to my liking. Thank you Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for this ARC and the opportunity to read it.

Oh boy how I enjoyed this book! I was hooked from the beginning and my attention never turned away. I stayed up so late finishing it because I couldn't put it down.