"Into a Canyon Deep" by James Lindholm, narrated by Tom Taylorson, is an exhilarating action-adventure novel that captivated me from the very start. The author's writing is rich with vivid imagery, allowing me to visualise the stunning coastal landscape of Carmel-by-the-Sea in intricate detail. I could almost feel the salty breeze and hear the waves crashing against the cliffs.

Tom Taylorson's narration truly elevated the experience. His voice carried the perfect blend of energy and emotion, breathing life into the characters and making their journeys feel profoundly impactful. The nuances he brought to each character made their struggles and triumphs resonate on a personal level.

As I listened, I found myself completely immersed in the story, unable to tear myself away. The pacing was thrilling, with moments of suspense and adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat. This engaging blend of storytelling and performance has left me eager to explore more works by both James Lindholm and Tom Taylorson. This book was a remarkable journey, and I can’t wait for my next literary adventure!

For someone not particularly interested in action-type books, I was very impressed by the level of detail, character development, unpredictable plot, and complexity of the outcome (normally I’d elaborate but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone).

This book conveys a passion for marine science research intertwined with themes of friendship and suspense. This made it very relatable and enjoyable to read!

This is an action packed adventure thriller, which I really enjoyed listening to, and the narrator had the perfect voice for the book.

The story is about a man called Chris Black, who is a Marine Biologist. He discovers barrels of toxic waste on the sea floor while he is doing a deep dive. From there, his life is in danger, as there are then people after him and his family.

The book is full of adventure and twists and turns, and it is fast paced and thrilling. It would make a good tv series.

This book reminded me of the books by Clive Cussler, so if you like his books, you will like this one. Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

This was a fabulous audiobook, very well narrated and it only took me 3 days to listen to it every time I could.
Chris Black is a marine biologist who is carrying out research close to home in California. Perhaps part of his motivation for the project is that it is near his hometown and so near his friends and family.

Unbeknownst to him he becomes of interest to a local bad guy who has been organising the dumping of toxic waste where Chris has been sending ROVs to scan and film. The bad guy thinks he has discovered the illegally dumped barrels and sends two goons after him. Fortunately Chris has been in fights before and comes out on top. We meet Chris’s friends, his mother, his research team, his love interest and his dog. None of them know initially that the marine investigations are causing Chris to be targeted by criminals until some of them get dragged into the trouble as well. The action and tension ramps up as trucks start parking close by to the characters homes, one of his friends is hospitalised, then Chris is and then an attempt is made to kidnap his mother.

It’s a great story and if you’ve read any Clive Cussler then you’ll enjoy it. I enjoyed the light hearted banter and how marine biologists relax by watching marine themed movies like The Abyss.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

This book instantly drew me in, I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style. I highly recommend picking this up!

Who or why would anyone want to stop a marine biologist from going diving?

After being attacked on his way home from work, Marine Biologist Chris Black, and his friends team up to 'dive' into this mystery and find out...

While it may be scattered with jargon, and a tad overly in depth on some of the scientific elements, Into a Canyon Deep is a great read.

I would sum it up as, well paced, superbly narrated, and thoroughly entertaining.

What a wild ride! Chris Black is definitely not the stereotypical nerdy scientist! He and his crew find themselves in all sorts of precarious situations, and it turns out that Dr. Black can definitely hold his own against the baddies. It was a highly entertaining book with a lot of action. The characters were well developed and interesting. I especially enjoyed the friendship between Chris, Mac, and Jase. I'm looking forward to reading more about Dr. Black and his friends! I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator.

This is a really interesting book, packed full of interesting background information about marine biology as we follow Chris Black, a marine biologist himself. It starts off quite slow, but the second half really picks up, and I read most of it in one sitting because I was really intrigued to see what happened. As the reader, you know a bit more about what is going on than the characters, which is frustrating at times but also builds the tension as you're just waiting to see when different elements will come together!

Into a Canyon Deep is apparently the first in a series of adventures about Marine Biologist Chris Black. and I will be either reading the others or listening to them as I really enjoyed this book.
To start with and also from the description I wasn't convinced I would like this so was presently suprised
The story opens up with a deadly encounter at sea and the intrigue increases with each chapter as the mystery unfolds. there is enviromental issues with toxic waste and plenty of action heroes
There are attacks on Chris, his team and his family but why ? Who is behind all this?

The blurb made me think that I was really going to enjoy this book. I'm a relative newcomer to audio books and am loving experimenting how best to listen to them.

The story, for me, took a while to really get into. The first few chapters were hard going and the level of detail seemed at odds with the pace of the book. I found it quite hard to warm to the characters or, indeed, to really view them with any depth.

However, I'm not sure that the fault lay in the book itself. For me, the narration just didn't do the book justice.
I found the narration to be rather flat, almost monotone, and as a result, lost interest and found my mind wandering. I felt that this book deserved a more colourful tone and perhaps a little more pace.

If I get the chance I may try to read this book in its traditional format. There were some great descriptive sections and I think I may just enjoy it more.

If I could rate the book I'd probably give 3.5 stars (which I think may rise in traditional format) and rating the audio narration I'd go for 2 stars. Combined it needs to be 2.5 stars which I would round up.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to review.

This was a decent adventure novel. Plenty of action and an interesting premise. I always love a good toxic waste dumping story. While I do like the premise, I never felt fully hooked in on the mystery. I’m not 100% sure why? It might have been a little bit too predictable in some spots and that kept me from really being on the edge of my seat?

The characters are easy to like. I like that they are the good guys but clearly aren’t afraid of going over the law if they feel it’s justified. You don’t always see that in a good guy team. Normally the good guy has to defined him/ herself, not willingly seek revenge and death. So that was a nice change of events. I do wish that we saw a little bit more of their job. They are marine biologists and scientist, but we really didn’t get to hear a lot about what they do when they aren’t out busting heads.

The narrator did a fine job. Sometimes it was a little bit hard to tell who was talking, especially if it was a woman, but Tom grew on me as the story went on. I think he did a great job at nailing the personalities of the characters.

This was an okay audiobook. I was never tempted to give up, but it was not one to keep me wanting to come back often. The premise was good, but the writing style was not so much to my liking and the character build but was lacking. AS I stated it was not horrible and I did listen to the end, but the word cheesy comes to mind.. Shame, because as I stated the story really had potential. I am giving this a 2.5 rounded to 3 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I read this on audio, I really enjoyed this. There were several twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. If you enjoy action packed thrillers, then this is for you.

The first instalment of the trials and tribulations of marine biologist Chris Black. There are attempts at intimidation as his latest research dive is not met with the approval of everyone. A mix of scientific reality interspersed with characters that you gel with and plenty of action makes this a very worthwhile listen. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

The author did an amazing job of creating a character who is intelligent, scientific, and resourceful, as well as a vivid and atmospheric setting. While some of Black's traits and adventures were somewhat beyond belief, it was still fun and well-written enough to be enjoyable.

This is a fun, enjoyable story with an original premise and a plot that grabs your attention from the very beginning.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It has been published in August 2020.

"Into a Canyon Deep: A Chris Black Adventure" by James Lindholm is an action/adventure novel reminiscent of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt series.
The pacing is fast, the premise is very original, the plot is action-packed--not really believable, but entertaining enough.
The characters are sadly flat, so even when a major one dies, the reader ends up not caring very much; the villains are so stereotypical that they come off as hilarious, rather than terrifying; the pseudo-psychological arguments are awfully simplistic.
Overall, this story makes for a nice airport novel, but not much more than that.
One thing I really didn't appreciate was the body-shaming (fat-shaming in particular) that comes out more than once throughout the novel.
One example is the very first appearance of a new female secondary character: "The woman was a little heavy in all the wrong places and was decidedly unattractive. The unattractiveness was enhanced by the lack of spark in her grey-blue eyes and by what appeared to be a perpetual frown based on her wrinkle patterns." By the way, how sexist is it to immediately categorize female characters according to their attractiveness, when the same thing is NOT done for male characters as well?
Several chapters after this nasty description, we are informed that the protagonist "had been indoctrinated" by his mother as a child with regard to "never make fun of other people, particularly those less fortunate than you". Yeah, I can see that lesson really stuck, as right after this nice little speech Chris proceeds to make fun of another boy for being overweight.
All on in all, reading this was a pleasant enough distraction, but I'm definitely not adding James Lindholm to my favourite authors' list.

Into a Canyon Deep by James Lindholm and narrated by Tom Taylorson is a great action adventure book. I loved the imagery the author wrote and the setting of Carmel by the Sea. His words painted vivid pictures in my mind. Tom's performance was flawless. He added the right emotions to his voice and brought the characters to life. I found myself really hooked. I will definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator. Net Galley thank you for this great listen!

Well I was a bit sceptical at first - the first half an hour was very technical but very well researched. But then it got really good and it was pure escapism.

The characters were very well rounded and I want to find more about their journey.

As well as having my escape I also learnt a lot about the Carmel districts in California which was very interesting.
The night after I listened to this book I did dream I was on the submersible boat and also in the control room so the book did get to me.

The narration was top rate. I am going to investigate him as well.

I was given an advance copy of the audible book by netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest and fair review which I have done so

This is the first instalment of the marine biologist Chris Black series, and looking forward to the next. Into the canyon deep is jam packed with action, fast paced and extremely well written. The main character is interesting, intelligent, strong and so easy to like.
Marine biologist Chris Black and his crew have stumbled onto something so dangerous that the ‘bad guys’ want to keep secret. This is when a simple dive can turn out so deadly. With twist and turns from the start to the end, such an enjoyable read. Thanks NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book interesting and as my first proper attempt at an audio book I can say I enjoyed it!

I struggled to stay focussed at some parts but overall enjoyed the story and the characters.