Every time I read a new Darcy Coates book, I think that it’s my favorite one yet. I love haunted house stories and she is the queen of that. Believe me when I say though that THIS is the scariest book I think she has written. Now that may be because I have thalassophobia – which is the intense fear of large bodies of water, but I think most readers will find this story unsettling.
Just over ninety years ago, a ship named the Arcadia disappeared without a trace during a routine voyage. The only clues it left behind were two mysterious distress calls made before its disappearance and a lifeboat oar that washed up on the coast of Poland nearly nine months later. Now the wreck of the Arcadia has been located in the Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Bothnia. Cove Waimarie and her documentary film crew have been hired to explore the wreckage in the hopes of finding the reason it had sunk and why it had gone nearly 100 miles off course.
As the crew makes their way 300 feet down to the ocean floor, they find the ship remarkably intact due to the cold water and lack of any marine life in the Gulf. From their first dive, however, they start to find clues that don’t quite jive with the usual things one sees with a shipwreck. Moving carefully through the dark ship, the only light coming from their headlamps mounted to their specialized deep water suits, the crew discovers writing on the wall of a hallway, ”They came through here”. Just then, the ship itself makes a deep, groaning noise as though it was settling. Only the ship is lodged between rocks since it sank. It shouldn’t be moving or settling at this point.
I don’t want to give too much away, but needless to say, the terror of what happened to the Arcadia combined with the tension built around the dangerous deep water dive makes for one creepy story you won’t be able to put down. Coates has a way of building a slow dread in her writing that I love. The characters are well-written and interesting on their own merits. Adding to the terror is an alternating, second timeline told from the point of view of Harland, a crew member on the Arcadia as he details the events taking place on the ship in 1928 during that last voyage.
From Below needs to be at the top of your beach reads for the summer if you are looking for a scare. Special thanks to @poisonedpenpress and @netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

The dark deep realms of the ocean, a claustrophobic underwater world - and scene of The SS Arcadia’s final resting place.

‘From Below’ opens with a dive team preparing to do their first dive to one particular shipwreck, firstly to confirm that the wreck being seen on sonar imagery is actually the SS Arcadia, (which they all hope it is) and then to search the wreck to ascertain what made this great ship sink without trace many years ago. She lies in her final resting place, way down below on the ocean floor.

Distress calls in the form of garbled messages, were received from the SS Arcadia in her last hours - messages that no one was able to understand, couldn’t make any sense of them, but perhaps this dive, sponsored by Vivitech who will be using the footage for a forthcoming documentary, will finally reveal what really happened.

Simple eh? Well no, definitely no! This dive expedition will be like no other, as the team are being watched inside this sunken wreck by something utterly terrifying! If you’re not already claustrophobic, then I’m sure you’ll feel that way reading ‘From Below’ as the author’s descriptions of what it’s like within a ship that’s underwater, with little light and little air are both stunning and frightening. The tension was unbearable at times - but yet I couldn’t look away!

From Below follows a film team that dives to capture the ship Arcadia which is very well preserved in frigid waters. As they explore the wreck very strange and unnatural things start to occur which spirals this story into an underwater horror fest that shipwreck enthusiasts will love. I also really loved the back and forth from present to past in which history explains what happened on the Arcadia when it was still afloat and why so many strange things are happening to the divers. This book was very well written and kept me on my toes! It was gross and creepy and I absolutely loved the shipwrecked underwater atmosphere turned into a claustrophobic and ghoulish nightmare!

This type of book is usually my jam. Spooky going ons under the sea with flashbacks to the past to explain said spookiness. However, this one just did not do it for me. I am a Darcy Coates fan, but this story just was a bit too slow for my taste. Cove and her team just seem to swim around feeling unsettled but nothing of significance seems to happen. I enjoyed the backstory but that too was a bit too slow paced to keep my attention. Thank you to NetGalley for chance to read and review this one.

3.5 stars

From Below by Darcy Coates is a horror novel.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Poisoned Pen Press and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Cove Waimarie and the rest of her dive team are being paid to investigate and film the SS Arcadia, which disappeared 60 years ago on a routine voyage.  It has finally been located, 300 miles off her intended course.  Other than a garbled emergency message, neither the ship nor her crew ever turned up.

As  both experienced and rookie divers start to explore the ship, they find that this dive may not be as straight-forward as they thought.  They expected it to be rough physically, as the depth they would have to descend would put a definite strain on the lungs and body.  What they did not expect, was to find a horror show.

As each diver dealt with their own fears, and kept their own secrets,  the reality of what was below over-shadowed everything, and they would have to work together if they were to survive.


My Opinions:   
First, I love this author, and have enjoyed everything I've read by her.  However, I approached this book with some trepidation, because an underwater dive held no appeal for me -- I'm not a real action and adventure book-reader. My husband reads Clive Cussler, but I pass.

Anyway,  I kept putting this book down and doing other things.

I certainly learned more about diving than I ever wanted to know.

I don't know if it was because I didn't enjoy the topic, or if it was the actual length, but it felt really, really long.  It took me what seemed like forever to get into this book.  50% in, and I was still struggling.  If I knew how to say no, I would have closed it for good and went onto something else.  It turns out I am glad to be such an idiot.  It ended up being quite good....still not great, but good.

The story is told in two time lines (a count-down to the sinking, and the current dive), and it helped to illustrate the full tale.

The book is very atmospheric, and definitely deals with claustrophobia, and other fears.  The suspense built, and that was when I finally started to enjoy it.   I didn't actually find it scary, but it did end up being "tense".

As to the characters, I liked Hestie and Aiden, but really couldn't relate to the rest.  I was ambivalent towards Vanna, Cove and Devereaux.   I really disliked Roy and Sean, although they did end up with some redeeming qualities.

So, overall, it wasn't as bad as I had feared....although it definitely isn't my favorite Darcy Coates book.

Decades ago, the cruise liner Arcadia sailed off course and was never heard from again. Their last transmission "They're in the walls". Now, Cove and her dive team have permission to explore the wreck for a documentary to discover what exactly went wrong. But from the first, it seems her own team is cursed. Their robotic divers have all shorted out, forcing her team to dive manually three hundred feet below the surface. At first there's celebration when they confirm that it is in fact the shipwreck Arcadia, but when they enter the wreck an eerie sense of doom settles in. Strange and frightening messages have been left on the walls, windows boarded over, and the odd tapping sound that never seems to end. At each dive, they discover more of the horror within until they're left fighting to escape with their lives.
I love horror novels and this one is truly unique. Diving so far down in the ocean with no easy escape creates an entirely different set of threats than other horror novels I've read. I definitely won't be going on any cruise ships anytime soon!! I received an advance reader copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

#BookReview
ʙᴏᴏᴋ: From Below
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ: Darcy Coates
ᴘᴀɢᴇs: 352
ᴘᴜʙʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: June 7 (𝙏𝙊𝘿𝘼𝙔!)

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ
Sixty years ago, the USS Arcadia sank without a trace, and has remained a mystery ever since. Now, Cove and her documentary crew are going down to discover the ship’s long-lost secrets. But they may unleash more than they bargained for… 😱😱

ғᴇᴇʟɪɴɢs
I have such weird mixed feelings about this book, so let’s break it down 🤔🤔

For me, this book was a total slow burn, which is usually not my jam. But! In hindsight, I’m positive the issue was me, because now that I’ve finished it and can see it as a whole, this book is AMAZING!! 🤩🤩 It may be my favorite Darcy Coates so far. The characters and the pain they face that brings them to the point of being on the documentary crew added an extra layer of connection. I truly felt for these people and their circumstances. 🥺🥺

From Below is also by far the scariest Coates book I’ve read. So many chickens! 😱😱 A large part of this book is setting the stage, background, and building the creep-tastic atmosphere. Which works wonderfully, because once the fear begins, it is flat out terror.

The unspeakable horror within the ship is not the only fear factor. The setting itself of a sunken ship, 300 feet underwater, with teeny tiny passageways adds a whole other level of claustrophobia to an already terrifying situation

It is absolutely insane in the absolutely best way 🖤🖤

On sale today!!! Grab a copy!

ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
ᴄʜɪᴄᴋᴇɴ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: 🐔🐔🐔.🥚 (3.5)
(𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘻𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 | 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳)
 
#darcycoates #frombelow #poisonedpenpress #horrorreader #horrorreviewer #bookreviewer #horrorbookstagram #horroraddict #bookstagram #bookworm #bookish #bookblogger #bookgram #instareads #bookishlove #readmorebooks #bookstagrammers #bookobsessed #readerforlife #bookpicture #bookishphoto #bookreviewer #bookblog #goodreads #bookster

To quote Stephan: this book has everything: a documentary crew, a sunken ship, zombies.

Darcy Coates is the queen of the slow burn and if she continues writing books like this, her reign will be long.

Fantastic storytelling and spine-tingling terror.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this excellent book.

Welcome to the SS Arcadia. Sixty years ago it sent out a garbled emergency transmission before disappearing completely. What happened to it and all the souls aboard? Now that the wreckage has been discovered, that’s what Cove and her documentary crew hope to find out. But while they are searching for answers is something stalking them?

There is just something about stories that take place underwater that I love. It can be a book or movie about almost anything: submarines, sharks, alien creatures, or haunted wrecks, if it takes place underwater odds are I’m going to love it. There is always that extra layer of tension built in, whether it’s the claustrophobic nature of limited space or oxygen or the threat of extreme outside pressure and the potential of drowning, it just ups the excitement for me. Which is why I was all but certain I was going to love Darcy Coates newest book From Below. Well that and the fact that I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few of her other books, lol.

Not wanting to post spoilers, I don’t want to go deep into the plot, beyond the set up I’ve already given above, but I have to say I think this is one of Darcy’s best. The creepiness and claustrophobic nature of exploring the doomed ship deep underwater is just a perfect location for a spooky adventure. This one doesn’t disappoint, and I’d love to see it turned into a movie or mini-series.

Thanks so much to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of From Below.

https://www.amazon.com/review/RY6TN8JY4V406/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-below-darcy-coates/1140035233?ean=9781728220239&bvnotificationId=02a76647-e6a5-11ec-9bfc-0e73f660e6d1&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/210468987

I've read a lot of Darcy Coates books. She's the current queen of haunted houses and modern Gothics. But this book...it may be the creepiest yet.

Ninety years ago, a massive ship called 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢 disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Confused calls for help came in over the course of two days; each call gave a different set of coordinates, none of which were the ship's actual location. The last call comes with an ominous message: 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴.

In present day, by sheer chance the location of the sunken 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢 has finally been discovered. A documentary crew led by Cove Waimarie has arrived on-scene to shoot footage. They suit up and dive down, three hundred feet below the surface, to investigate the wreckage of the doomed ship. The ship has come to rest in a strange little pocket water just off the coast of Sweden, a micro-climate bubble where the waters are freezing and devoid of oxygen. A place where nothing decomposes--nothing.

Including the bodies.

Modern-day sections that follow the crew as they make their way through the eerie and abandoned corridors of the ship alternate with scenes featuring the passengers and crew of the 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘢 in the ten days leading up to her sinking.

They're in the walls, indeed. In the present, the divers are constantly aware of just how much air they have left in their tanks. These scenes are uncomfortably claustrophobic; I found myself holding my breath a lot as I read. In the past, a thick fog settles over the ship, reaching into the hallways and berths and infesting everything with a stench of rot. In the present, things begin to go wrong: the lights flicker, the communication system goes on the fritz, panicked divers kick up too much silt and they're all practically swimming blind. In the past, people are dying faster than the crew can store the bodies: jumping from the rails into the waters below, crawling into spaces next to the boilers and roasting alive. They call it the Burrowing Sickness, people's minds stretching and warping until all they want is to fold themselves into the smallest space possible and die. In the present, the crew discover that nothing about this ship is normal, and nothing within its walls stays dead.

This is a truly unsettling read, creepy and eerie and dream-like. Coates does an excellent job of making you feel the darkness and the pressure and the constant awareness that these characters could be dead in seconds if anything goes wrong. Forget haunted houses, Coates is now the queen of haunted shipwrecks. I absolutely recommend this five-star read.

Darcy Coates is the only author that I have discovered that can give me all the spooky vibes I need while also giving me cozy vibes. From Below is no exception but for the usual haunted house setting this one is set mostly three hundred feet below the sea in the Arcadia. A massive streamliner that sunk in the 1920's with over four hundred people abroad and none of the bodies or the ship itself has never been found, until now. I loved al the spooky imagery in this one and some added body horror! I also enjoyed the mystery aspect and the tension with the all the mechanics and risk of deep diving. My only qualm with this one is that it did drag a bit for me.

Highly suggest for fans of shipwrecks! And if you enjoyed Dead Silence this story reminded me of it!

Thanks netgalley!

This was actually a book that scared the sh*t out of me. The tension is so palpable (even at 20%of the book) and the threat level slowly increases - it had me checking under the bed and looking into dark corners. I've read underwater thrillers before but this one definitely gives off claustrophobic vibes and on edge the entire time. It was such an enjoyable read and different from what Darcy Coates usually writes, but once again she smashed it!

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!

I did not like the ending of DARCY COATES' latest horror novel, but there's a big but coming: I loved how it wrapped up all elements of the story so nicely. Nothing is left hanging. All plot points I could think of have a nice ribbon tied around them.

I read THE WHISPERING DEAD by Coates recently and I enjoyed it, but it was slightly bland. This is not that. The pacing of FROM BELOW is a bit slow. It's not 400 pages but it felt like more, and it didn't really need to be. It nail-bitingly creepy though. I've not read many horror books lately that contain real suspenseful horrific scenes and this one does.

The story is about an expedition to a sunken ship. No one knows why it sunk back in the day, so a film crew is out to capture footage of the vessel to see if they can uncover more information. And that they do.

The characters are all interesting and well-fleshed out. It's easy to understand all their motives. Expeditions and explorations where horrific scenes are found are a favourite thing of mine in books, so it has all the elements for me to love. If the pacing wouldn't have been off and if the thing that happened at the end wouldn't have happened it would've been five stars.

Looking for the perfect summer horror beach read? Here it is. If scuba diving is on your agenda, this novel might make you rethink your plans.

After the Arcadia is located three hundred plus feet underwater sixty years after vanishing without a trace, Cove and her dive team are anxious to begin exploring and filming it for a documentary. Things go wrong from the start with equipment malfunctions both above and below the water. And those are the least scary occurrences in this novel. I’m claustrophobic, so the thought of being beneath all that water with a mask covering my face, diving inside a shipwreck, and knowing I have a limited amount of oxygen terrifies me. And yet I’ll pick up books like this every time and find myself holding my breath while reading them.

The novel alternates between the timelines of sixty years prior with the events leading up to the sinking of the Arcadia and present day with the dive team. POV also shifts between the characters on the team, whose dive experience varies from expert to the guy who sucks up most of his oxygen but doesn’t want to admit it to anyone. Soon after entering the ship wreckage they make some freakish discoveries – unusual messages written on the walls, movements seen in empty rooms, walls boarded up. Even more discoveries are made after they surface and review film footage.

Even though I felt the need to gasp for breath in some parts, I read this book over a couple of days. The author provides incredible details about the hazards of diving, including decompression sickness, nitrogen narcosis, the bends, etc. So not only did the divers have to deal with this, they also faced whatever was in the Arcadia. The descriptions of a ship that long at the bottom of the ocean reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of the Titanic, so you can imagine how atmospheric they are. With equipment malfunctioning – comms out, headlights and flashlights aren’t working – the terror the characters experience (and maybe the reader just thinking about it) is almost palpable.

The character development weighs in a little light, but it certainly didn’t detract from my reading experience – I enjoyed the heck out of this book. The horror isn’t gory, so this novel would also appeal to thriller fans, and I highly recommend it to readers of both genres.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The last Darcy Coates book I read had a great ending, but a very slow first half. This one really had me from the beginning. If you like underwater horror, you will love this.

The SS Arcadia was a ship that vanished during a routine run. The ship had both crew and passengers, as well as cargo aboard, but other than a weird semi-emergency call that was sent (side note: I didn't know this, but in the book, "SOS" was used when a ship is sinking, and "pan-pan" is used when a ship is in trouble) and no bodies were ever found. I believe one oar from one life boat floated up somewhere in Poland and a search was done but nothing was ever found. But then...IT WAS. But it was 300 miles off its route. So Cove, who is one of those Bear Grylls type that does the nature documentaries that are part real/part fake, decides to do a documentary about it that is backed by a media corporation aboard a ship that is owned by a man obsessed with the ship's history. Also aboard are an unknown (to the crew) diving instructor. an assistant, another diver, an oceanographer, and an IT guy who is such a dick the whole book and I don't like him one bit. Or one of the divers, either. But I don't think we're supposed to, honestly. One of the reasons the author can make the characters unlikeable is that 1. she wants us to see that Cove is one of those people who can absolutely hide her emotions - she makes it appear that nothing is getting to her, she can calm people down with her voice, her smile always looks real, and it's why she's a great team leader and 2. so that we can see that even though they are all different, there are certain fears that everyone has, deep deep fears that no one can banish because they're just part of our DNA.

But the best aspect of the book, by far, is that the author is able to make us feel the weight of the ocean. Yes, there are other dangers in/around/on the ship, but the water, just this huge crushing weight that is held back by the thinnest of barriers (a metal water tank, a mask, a wet suit) and it's incredibly claustrophobic and terrifying to read. I've watched horror movies that take place underwater, I love books about being at the mercy of the sea (I mean, how many times have I talked about how great Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant is??) but there was something about this, and how tenuous your connection to the surface is that just horrified me. There is also a great description of "the bends," which is something I had heard about but didn't really *know* about, and the explanation is very well done - basically, even if you wanted to swim away from something, you can't or you'll die. The reasoning behind why they can't quit is absolutely legit, and not bullshit that you might read somewhere else - you know, the way you're reading horror books and just screaming inside your head, "JUST LEAVE. WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE??" I didn't feel that with this.

The switch between the stories of what happened on the ship when it was floating and what is now happening in the ruin is done in a fantastic way, and the switching of narratives from one character to the next isn't at all confusing, but is compelling because they all have their own reasons for being there and their own hopes and dreams, even their own fears, but there is ALWAYS the fear of something happening that will trap them underwater. I learned a lot about diving as well, certainly enough to know that I don't want to do deep sea diving, and a lot about the ocean and how the currents and temperature can affect the biological parts of the sea.

My only complaint would be that as far as I know, my ARC didn't come with a blueprint or layout of the boat, and that can get confusing. Other than that, 5/5, loved every minute.

Cove and her crew are sponsored by a tech company to make a documentary about the Arcadia, an ocean liner that was inexplicably shipwrecked a hundred years ago. However, while they're trying to unravel its mystery, things start going awry, and they can't shake the feeling that something may be watching them.

From Below by Darcy Coates presents a chilling and claustrophobic underwater horror that’s part survival thriller and part non-traditional ghost story.

The author takes a naturally terrifying premise—deep sea diving, low visibility, dwindling oxygen supplies, etc.—and then gives it a supernatural twist, which amps up the scare factor even more. I already have a fear of drowning from a near-death experience as a child, so this book in particular managed to really get under my skin.

For me, I think the one downside is that the story is a little slow in parts. However, the wonderfully grotesque and haunting body horror at the end really made this one a worthwhile read for me.

This is the second Darcy Coates novel that I have had the opportunity to read and I will say that this one gave me the jeebies. The first book I read by them I was not sure if they would be an author I would click with and I am happy to say that I really enjoyed this novel a lot.

This book hits the write notes of a horror novel and created a feeling of unease throughout the whole storyline. Coates created a novel with two POVs, one from the past when the ship was above water and of the current diving team researching the ship after it had been sunk for 100 years. If you do not like water or the mysteries of the ocean because it scares you this novel will have you on the edge of your seat. There is high stakes due to the amount of oxygen they can hold and all the mysteries the ship holds. Will they be able to escape the ship with their lives?

I read quite a chunk of this but I simply cannot find it in me to soldier on and try to get into the story or the characters.

WOW 🤩 and WOW again! Once again Darcy Coates proves she is the queen 👸 of cozy horror stories! I absolutely LOVED this story! 💗 How she thinks up these stories is unbelievable to me. This is a must read! Thank you, NetGalley, for the advanced copy. 🥰

Locked room horror under water, inside a sunken ship. This is actually terrifying! I had this ominous feeling the entire way through the book. HERE FOR IT!

Darcy Coates does it again my friends! The atmosphere she creates in her books always blow my mind. This one got me good - a shipwreck!! I hadn't read anything like this before. Lastnight I was reading this on my Kindle in the dark. Wow did I ever feel claustrophobic with the edges of my vision blurred. I actually had to stop reading! Hahahaha! What a wuss!

Great cast of characters, freaky storyline and an ending I wasn't expecting. Highly recommend to horror fans.

Thanks to Poison Pen Press and Netgalley for my e-copy!