Been a fan of Mayne’s for a couple of years. Love his Theo Cray series. My review is based on someone who hasn’t read the first book in this series.

Thought the book was very engaging. The opening was captivating. So much so that it doesn’t take me long to read the book. Satisfying conclusion, though I could have gone for a longer climactic sequence of events.

Sloane is a complicated, intelligent and sometimes impulsive character. Looking forward to reading the first book to get more of her backstory but I wasn’t lost reading this one having never met any of the characters.

Time to read the first book in this series and the Jessica Blackwood series.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me a copy.

I thought this was a really excellent follow-up to the first title in this new series. Andrew Mayne has been one of my favorite authors for a long time. Unlike writers many who have found success, he continues to write at the top of his game. The characters are appealing, and I appreciate that he continues to develop them. In addition to the requisite whodunit elements, there is lots of conflict arising from the developing relationship of the characters. Like a good Broadway musical, this series is set to run and run and I cannot wait to read the next installment.

I very much enjoyed this fast-paced, intelligent crime drama set in and around Florida’s Everglades. The plot was dense and action-packed, and the novel brimmed with evocations of thrilling underwater diving, criminal investigation agency rivalry, scary alligators, and even scarier human beings. This was the second book of Andrew Mayne’s Underwater Investigation Unit series and I wished I’d read the first as events that I presume happened in book one were sometimes alluded to but not properly explained, especially concerning the central character whose ‘complicated relationship’ with her daughter’s dad remained a mystery. Nonetheless, the novel stands extremely well on its own and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good crime drama with plenty of twists and turns.

Unique premise and well-drawn characters, with plenty of "left turns" along the way to keep the reader intrigued. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to all readers searching for top-rate writing. Perfect summer read!

*I received this book as an ARC from the author/publisher in return for my honest review.*

I've just finished this book and I'm in awe at how much I loved it. The main character is a complicated, yet strong and tough lady who I immensely enjoyed reading about. She's resourceful, sharp-witted, and intuitive and it's what drives to book.
This is the second installment of the Underwater Investing Unit Series, where Sloan, our main character is a detective, working for the UIU. While on a mission in the alligator-infested swamps of Florida, she discovers a van underwater with four bodies locked inside. It turns out they're four teenagers that went missing thirty years ago after a rock concert. And so the investigation begins. The story is a fast-paced thriller without a boring moment during the whole book a nail-biting, heart-stopping ending. I thought the author did a wonderful job rendering the story so vivid and full of action, by using a very credible dialogue and relatable characters. I practically flew through the pages.
If you like a well-told crime story involving a serial killer and a sassy and gutsy lead, don't miss out on this one.

I was given this book by NetGalley for my honest review.

I have found a new great author. This was my first book from Andrew Mayne. It will not be my last.

It is set in Florida with some cold cases being the backdrop. Is there a serial killer on the loose or is he long gone?
Set in the waters and diving. Very interesting and informative. Mayne gets you feeling that you are right there with the detectives.

Keeps you going with plenty of twists and turns. I really didn't want to put the book down, and was pleased to be able to get back to the story. Doesn't get better than that!

This was my vacation read 2020, it should be yours in 2021. You can smell the damp air of the Everglades in this 2nd book of the Unterwater Investigation Unit. Quite literally by accident, a couple of corpses are found under water. What seems like a teenager party had taken a wrong turn decades ago turns into one of the largest crimes and most dangerous manhunts in Florida history.

This story is straight as an arrow, easy to follow and thrilling to the last page. A perfectly light read for your lounge or beach chair on your next vacation. Not recommended for late night bed reading, if you catch my drift.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Black Coral is a solid follow up to Andrew Maine’s The Girl Beneath the Sea. Sloan McPherson is a great character as a professional police diver and detective while pursuing her PhD in Archeology. Sloan approaches her cases with a different eye and a lot of spunk.

I admire Andrew Mayne’s ability to create characters with such different backgrounds. FBI agent Jessica Blackwood with her history of being a magician; Astronaut David Dixon; Sloan McPherson Phd student and from a family of pirates; and Professor Theo Cray as a computational biologist. No cookie cutter characters for this author.

A fast-paced, enjoyable read. 4+ stars. Looking forward to the next installment.

Black Coral (Underwater Investigation Unit #2) by Andrew Mayne is another Sloan McPherson mystery that is fast-paced and I love her character! Sloan who is a member of the newly organized UIU team is called to the scene of an accident to help secure a tow line onto a submerged vehicle.
While underwater, Sloan discovers a different van that had been submerged for years. Later when she convinces chief of investigations for the FDLE that the van needed to be brought out of the lake to check for bodies, a thirty-year-old mystery leads to the discovery of a serial killer. Sloan is fearless in the presence of large gators, murky water, and an elusive killer. Although sometimes Sloan is very impulsive, she has a determination to find the truth and solve the reasons for the four teenagers dying in a submerged van. She soon links other deaths to this same killer. No spoiler, but the method by which the victims are easily taken by the killer is shocking!
I like the new character in the team, Hughes! I am looking forward to new adventures in this series by Andrew Mayne.
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This has plenty of action and good pacing, along with fun characters. Mayne is fairly prolific and has shown his talent for weaving a good tale, and it shows here. I enjoyed as much as The Girl Beneath the Sea, and look forward to the next in the series.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

Set in the everglades of south Florida, an underwater investigation team recovers a recent wreck from a pond only to discover something that leads them to a serial killer who has been active for decades. If you like SCI style stories that are also murder mysteries, you will enjoy this book. It’s well paced and engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed it and give it a 5 out of 5.

A great book! I was unfamiliar with author and his Underwater Investigation Unit Series but having read the second one I will now definitely read the first. Not only a thriller but some very interesting facts regarding marine species in southern Florida! The book kept me engaged from beginning until its conclusion. I particularly liked Sloan’s tenacity, strength and compassion. Would certainly recommend this book.

I was SO excited to get an ARC of book 2 in the Underwater Investigation Unit series and it did not disappoint!

This sequel is an action-packed detective novel that had me on the edge of my seat as the team faced off with gators, a potential serial killer and of course other law enforcement agencies in Southern Florida. This time around Sloan and George have added a third member to their team to balance out the tough old cop/young rule-breaking newbie dynamic and I'm here for it.

Do I wish I was reading this on a beach somewhere? Yes! This has thriller beach-read written all over it. Since I won't be packing for a beach trip any time soon (and definitely not to Florida - thanks Covid), I was glad for the escapism that this book allowed me from the safety of my own living room.

I am amazed at this incredibly well thought out thriller. This is unlike any of the other thrillers I had read this year. This story is told from the perspective of a strong female detective who works for the newly established Underwater Investigation Unit in Florida.

As I began reading it I thought, this is exactly the kind of book my dad would have loved. It grips you from the beginning and has you hooked throughout. The pace of this book was great, the story, to me, was so believable that I could easily believe that it was written by someone with first hand experience at diving and the inner workings of a police investigation.

This book read like a true crime detective investigation. I loved the strong female lead, Sloan. She was smart, gutsy and down to earth.
I would not recommend this book to people who are a bit sensitive to serial killers and some of the grimy details of that kind of investigation, I found that I would avoid reading this too late at night, because those things creep me out, I am a bit of a baby with these things, in saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book because it was so well written. This is my first Andrew Mayne book, but definitely will not be my last.

NetGalley #BlackCoral
This is the first e to me by Andrew Mayne but it's so good and spectacular, the idea of the novel is new and well written, i enjoyed the novel so much.
The cover is breathtaking, i adore everything that related to water.

Ebook/Mystery: A first person narrative holds my interest. This book has not been published yet, so no spoilers here.

In this novel, you hear the mind of Sloan McPherson. While she is much wittier than Jack Reacher, Alex Delaware, or Sookie Stackhouse, she is not as funny as Izzy Spellman, Abby Normal, or Stephanie Plum, but she does have her moments. I read this book in just a few days. I requested this from NetGalley because I liked the plot mentioned on the back of the book. A van found in water containing four teenagers missing since the 80s. I was expecting more of a procedural drama since the evidence was encased in a tomb. There was also a side story or two that just seemed like filer. The ending was too quick for me with the epilogue not tying up the loose ends like I was hoping.

What I did like was Sloan. She is a smart single mom. She has a pirate dad and baby-daddy named Run (she should have took the warning there) to help her out with Jacque, her 12 year-old. I think the author did a good job of writing as a woman and I do recommend this book.

So glad to have the opportunity to read this second installment so soon after reading the first, and Mayne doesn't disappoint. Sloan McPherson possesses unique skills as a member of a Florida police unit in that she is an intrepid diver, who sometimes goes rogue and takes chances that jeopardize an investigation. While working another case in the murky waters of an alligator's playground known as Pond 35, she discovers a submerged van that answers a 30 year old riddle and opens a heartbreaking cold case. And we're off and running. A quality of Mayne's work is his intense curiosity about a subject which can lead to information buried in one of his narratives. Here, in addition to a crackling good mystery or two, we learn a lot about the behavior of alligators. Sinice Mayne is so prolific, I hope we don't have to wait long before installment #3.

4
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer for this exciting read in exchange for a honest review.

This is the second book I had read by the author and the first is not of the UIU. The first one being ‘The Naturalist’, I may have expected a lot more subject matter or a in depth view of the investigation.

Clearly, this is a fast paced novel and ‘unputdownable’. But is it believable?

Our protagonist, Sloan, discovers a van with 4 teenage carcasses in a remote lake during a rescue operation. She calls foul play and looks for signs of a fifth person and starts investigating. Soon she gets a tip-off about possible links to a serial killing. Things escalate and his killings are discovered to be in par with the likes of Jeffery Dahmer.

So talking about the characters, It totally felt like a tight knit family in there and love to see developments in the upcoming novels. Sloan is our typical female character who is skilled technically and physically. I love her portrayal and the love for her family in every small incident. She constantly thinks about her daughter, What would she have done? How would she grow up? Is she capable to survive insuch a world where these monsters lurk? And that’s totally relatable. Also, her stunts are so exciting!

About the killer himself, I love hate the conclusion. Talking about it would be revealing too much but it was sort of a letdown. Why to do those actions if you are truly sorry? Why go such lengths to hide yourself? And the sheer amount of deaths? Staggering but not believable.

I felt the author toned down a bit compared to The Naturalist and Sloan being a female lead may have been one of the reasons. But I love the process of detangling the problem and discovery of the outrageous, just like The Naturalist.

This book in no way makes me stop reading other books by Andrew Mayne. But I better go for The Naturalist series for a better thrill.

this is the first Andrew Mayne book I've read. The book starts out as the UIU (Underwater Investigative Unit) is diving for a sunken car. That leads to another unsolved case from 30 years ago. Sloane McPherson is the lead diver in an alligator-infested pond. She's a sassy risk-taking investigator who happens to have been raised by a salvage-diver father. This is the second in a series but i found it could be a stand alone as there are enough references to the first case to bring readers up to speed. I really loved the beginning of the book and the promise of a good underwater mystery. I liked Sloan as a character and the Florida setting. i found her personal life less satisfying as she has a 12-year old daughter Jackie with an unseen "boyfriend" named Run. And that's all we know about him. They don't live together and seem to have different ideas how to raise their daughter. As the book went on it turned into a search for a serial killer. The ending was way too easy. I liked Mayne style of writing and may read a future book by him. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

This is the second book in this series. I read the first one and was iffy but when I had a chance to review this book, I took a chance and I loved it.

While Sloan is called in to do a dive in a lake she finds a van under the water. When the van is retrieved, 4 bodies are found inside. The bodies are identified as 4 teenagers who disappeared 30 years ago. As Sloan and her UIU team investigate, it appears the bodies are linked to a number of missing persons cases over the years. The investigation is a page turner and the ending is satisfying.

What i really enjoyed is the aspects of diving and her encounters with all the life underwater. I've learned more about Alligators and Crocs then i ever knew. Did you know the sex of a baby alligator is determined by the temperature of the water? I love learning facts like this!

I'll be waiting for book #3