Having devoured the first four books in the series, the return of Sloan McPherson in "Dark Dive" by Andrew Mayne had me eagerly diving back into the underwater investigative world. The book maintains the series' stellar pacing, an engaging plot, and believable twists that set it apart from typical crime procedurals. Sloan remains a remarkably well-developed female lead, anchoring the narrative with her depth and complexity. While the plot marks an improvement from the fourth installment, my only qualm was the somewhat abrupt introduction of AI elements. The frequent, almost infomercial-like mentions felt a touch forced. Despite this, the concept added intriguing layers to the story, enhancing its authenticity. "Dark Dive" weaves a gripping tale of mystery, unearthing buried secrets, and navigating the depths of a Florida cold case. Mayne's expertise shines through, making it a thrilling addition to the Underwater Investigation Unit series.

The 5th book in the Underwater Investigation Unit series is about officers of the law who are investigative divers for the State of Florida. It begins with the team trying to pull a coroner's van from an alligator infested pond. The van had been forced off the road in an accident.. The bodies in the van were possible evidence in the case of a serial killer. The authorities were desperate to save the evidence. Scott Hughes offered his ROV to take a line and loop it over the tow ball to be able to pull the van out. Unfortunately the alligators mistook the ROV for a turtle and tried to eat thus ending its task. Sloan McPherson volunteers to swim in through a pipe, that held a pump which she was assured was broken, to accomplish what the robot couldn't. She succeeded in getting the van connected, but then she must escape an interested alligator and the suddenly working pump. The excitement and adventure never ends as Sloan continues to risk herself in each new case.
A fellow diving friend has dropped out of sight. Sloan and Hughes set about investigating his disappearance. The man was involve in cave diving in Central Florida. The investigation takes them in claustrophobic caves in an effort to find what the man was searching for and if he had met with some trouble.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

This is the fifth book in the Underwater Investigation Unit series but I was able to read it as a standalone.

This was a quick, fun read. I love Sloan McPherson, the series' female protagonist, and the relationship she has with her dive partner Scott Hughes. As someone who has a fear of drowning, I was on the edge of my seat each time a dive took place.

This was my first book by Andrew Mayne but will not be my last. I plan to go back and read the previous four books in this series and look forward to the next.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in return for my voluntary and honest review.

I will read anything written by Andrew Mayne, and I especially like this series. And this book is probably the best of the group. It has an interesting juxtaposition of prehistory and robotics. Stone weapons to high tech. Wrapped up in a really good whodunit.

Always a guaranteed 4 or 5 star read, never a disappointment. At this point will read anything mayne writes

This is a great little read, with an interesting female protagonist that leads an alternative lifestyle. This book appeals to folks that love the ocean and being out on the water. I honestly can’t remember what the plot was, but I enjoyed reading the interaction with the characters. I felt like I was one of them, making wisecracks and maybe slapping them in the back of their heads. Andrew Mayne is very good at weaving complex plots with good storytelling. The whole series is highly recommended

As expected, a fun book to read as Sloane and the Underwater Investigations Unit are back in service. First up, Sloane has to jump into a pond full of alligators- a situation that has even her questioning her career choice! Interestingmix of crime solving and archeology that captures Florida perfectly.

I have read the first four books in this series, and was so excited to have Sloan back in the water! Like the rest of the series, this book had great pacing, a memorable plot, and some crazy but believable twists. This series continually makes me feel like I’m learning new things and isn’t just CSI, SVU, and NCIS regurgitated into a book format. I really like Sloan as a main character and think that she’s incredibly well-developed as a female lead. I also truly enjoyed this plot line, and think it was an improvement from #4.
My one complaint with this book was the almost jarring insertion of AI. The first time the characters discussed AI, it felt like an infomercial. By the third over-defined and over-explained mention, I was on Andrew Mayne’s website, and learned that he’s shifting into being an AI consultant. I think the mentions of AI were interesting, and added to the believability of the story. I just wished it was more seamlessly transitioned into the discussion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced copy!

I received this book from NetGalley for my unbiased review.

I am a fan of Andrew Mayne books, and the Sloan McPherson series it at the top of my list!

Mayne ends up educating the reader on what ever topic the book is about, sometimes a little too much. It is worth it though as the books are all great. In this book we are involved with Florida and underwater areas.

McPherson and her friends do a great job of entertaining. Looking forward to the next Mayne book.

I'm sorry, but I DNF'd this at 20%

I'm just going to say that this book is not for me. I usually love a good SCUBA murder mystery, but this one just doesn't grab me. The MC is kind of boring and though she tries to be funny or sarcastic, it always fell short of the mark for me. She's also making dangerous and reckless mistakes that no Diver should make like not keeping a close watch on her tank levels!
SCUBA is a serious activity, and though it's fun and thrilling, it can also get deadly quickly. I can understand the lassiez-faire attitude that comes with being a professional diver, but professionals make safety their number one concern. Even the banter between the doctor and the MC made time spent in the barometric chamber seem like "no big deal". You can die or suffer irreversible damage from having decompression sickness or "the bends" or an accumulation of too much nitrogen in your bloodstream! It happens when you ascend too fast without stopping to give the nitrogen time to get out of your system.

I'm sorry but this book just wasn't for me.

This is another great book that takes advantage of a returning cast of characters, and
interesting locales showcasing new and interesting ways to murder folks. Twice I
stopped to check on the creatures and the locales, just to see how the Auth0r could
make his book even more terrifying, and, weirdly enough, really engaging and fun.
The chances those of us who do not live in Florida (or any locales featuring swamps
and their creatures) will ever see these creatures is blessedly slim, but the diving really
is interesting. The mindset of the characters kept me reading past my designated
time more than once. Sloan and Scott are well written and perfect as partners, and
the UIU = Underwater Investigation Unit = with all its bells and whistles, is really an
interesting assignment. The story is well crafted and the faint reference to Theo was
fun. Having enjoyed Night Owl (Trasker Series,Book 1) I’m becoming a devoted fan
of Andrew Mayne. My thanks to Publisher Thomas & Mercer via Net Galley for the
download of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Another exciting installment in a really good series. Sloan MacPherson comes from a diving family and works for the Florida Underwater Investigations Unit. She (mostly) fearlessly dives in bodies of water filled with apex predators - alligators, crocodiles, sharks, snakes, and of course, humans. She recovers weapons, bodies, vehicles, and other evidence of crimes in scenarios from my worst nightmares. In Dark Dive, a long time expert diver and family friend goes missing. As Sloan and the FUIU start to investigate his disappearance, they uncover a connection to a hugely important archaeological discovery. This book was interesting on many levels - the mystery of the disappearance, the historical tie-in, the strong cast of recurring characters, and of course the variety of terrifying underwater diving excursions that this land-locked midwesterner finds fascinating. #DarkDive

This series hooked me from the first book and I still get excited when there is a new installment to learn more about this underwater team. I’ve always appreciated the meaningful chapter titles. It would be helpful to read the prior books in this series to understand how each character arrives at this stage. The setting is in Florida, but not diving in the oceans this time, instead into inland water sources. The team was dismantled, then reactivated on a unusual incident. There is a missing well known expert diver.
Sloan has what her family might consider an unconventional relationship with her daughter’s (Jackie) father (Run). He’s wealthy, works hard and adores them both. She’s been diving a long time. Her partner, Scott, is more of a rule follower than she is. She’s been known to stretch the limits occasionally. Their boss tries to keep her on task, politically aware and safe while investigating. There is no legitimate reason to dive in waters containing alligators, crocodiles and snakes, just my personal take on the situation. This plot gives extensive technological information, advances in methods and instruments used underwater. It was so well explained and relevant to solving and investigating crimes. I’m a CSI junkie and the new equipment and implementation was fascinating.
The case is connected to a cave diving group and ventures into archeological myths and legends, treasures, secrets and puzzles. The diving adventures were very different from some of the previous team adventures. It had me fooled and kept me guessing. The author just gets better with each new book.
Thank you to NetGalley for the uncorrected advance reader copy of “Dark Dive” Underwater Investigation Unit #5, by Andrew Mayne, Published by Thomas & Mercer, expected publication date March 12, 2024. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without any compensation.

Loved this book! I read “Girl Beneath The Sea” quite a while ago and decided to look up this specific author to see if he had any new books out on NetGalley. Since I am brand new to this review forum, I don’t have access to many books yet, but was super excited this was one I could read and review without needing authorization.

This book is about an underwater diving detective, Sloan, that has recently found out that a longtime friend of her fathers has come up missing. She is an expert diver, searching for an expert diver that seemingly has knowledge of many unique, un-explored diving spots (which both excites and scares her). Sloans goal is to use her knowledge of diving to potentially find out what happened to her fathers friend and either save him, or find out who was responsible for his disappearance. There are plenty of interesting twists and turns throughout the way, leading you to question whether the man she is searching for is a “good guy” or “bad guy”. What exactly did he get wrapped up in?

Without knowledge of diving, this books does a great job of being informative, but not too technical. You feel like you understated what’s going on and also feel like you’re there underwater with Sloan, seeing what she’s seeing, feeling what she’s feeling. This was a quick read and hope there is another in this series! Will definitely recommend this, as well as the book before it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

This book is the fifth book in the Underwater Investigation Unit and I love these books. They are full of intrigue and adventure and a lot of high stakes. I was glad to see Sloan finally considering that she doesn't make the best decisions in this book, and I loved her learning from that and doing better. The relationship between the whole of the UIU is great and I love seeing their teamwork come together.

Obviously a lot of this book is about diving or literally taking place underwater, and as someone who has always wanted to get her dive certification it is exciting and also makes me think twice about it. The stakes in this book are so high and it's not just murderers they have to watch out for. It's the crocodiles, snakes, and sharks.
You can tell Andrew Mayne is a proficient fiver from the way he talks about the equipment and actions needed underwater, and that lends so much credibility to the stories. I really love Sloan and I want more books!

My only complaint is that there is obviously a larger story happening between these books, and sometimes I don't feel like enough questions are answered when even more are introduced in this book. Will definitely be tuning in for more books later!

After the Underwater Investigation Unit’s disbandment, public outcry ushers Sloan McPherson and her partner, former navy diver Scott Hughes, back into the depths of crime solving. But Sloan’s return comes with a personal case.
Longtime family friend Fred Stafford has disappeared. Left behind: his abandoned truck in the vicinity of an unmarked sinkhole and new findings that have Sloan second-guessing everything she thought she knew about the man. There are his gambling debts, his association with a treasure-hunting band of underwater cavern junkies called the Dive Rats, and most alarming of all, a discovery in Stafford’s storage shed that raises the stakes even higher and plunges Sloan into an unfathomable mystery.
As Sloan’s investigation unfolds, a tragic Florida cold case, local superstitions, and a shocking conspiracy collide. For Sloan, finding Stafford and uncovering the buried secrets of the past soon drag her deeper into the dark unknown than she feared.

Dark Dive is like book five in the Underwater Investigation Unit series and is probably better read as part of the series. The Underwater Investigation Unit has been disbanded but Sloan McPherson and her partner, Scott Hughes are called in to investigate the disappearance of a diver. Fred Stafford is a friend, a fellow driver who Sloan has worked cases with. His truck is found near a sink hole and a swim fin is in the water. In a twisted case that will challenge Sloan mentally and physically, Sloan finds out that Fred is not the man she thought he was and gators aren’t the only danger in the water. An unpredictable, page turner, Dark Dive is another thriller that explores mysteries in the water in the unique, one of a kind series that is a must read. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

This book was good. I liked the characters' especially liked Sloan. She loves her job and her family. The ending was different than what I expected. I think the book needed a little more suspense to it. All in all it was not bad. I'm grateful that netgalley and the publishers let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

"Dark Dive" by Andrew Mayne is a thrilling read that combines marine biology and archaeology into a unique and captivating adventure. The pacing is persistent, and the narrative flows smoothly between present-day thrills and historical enigmas. However, at times, the historical and archaeological details overshadow the character development, making them seem two-dimensional. Overall, if you're a fan of thrilling adventures that transport you to the depths of the ocean and history, "Dark Dive" is a must-read.

A missing diver. Alligators. Sinkholes. Mummified bodies. Florida has it all.

The previously disbanded Florida Underwater Investigation Unit has just reformed, and are immediately called to an unusual scene. A coroner’s van had picked up two bodies believed to be victims of a serial killer, but veered into a body of water that just happened to be an alligator breeding ground. Sloan McPherson and her partner Scott Hughes arrive, as does their boss George Solar, to assist in getting the bodies out of the water before important forensic evidence is lost (or they get eaten). Scott deploys his latest ROV Nemo to get the vehicle winched up, but an alligator mistakes it for a turtle and tries to eat it. Someone, it seems, will have to dive in to get the job done, and Sloan volunteers. So begins a fast-paced mystery filled with the unique flora, fauna and waterways of Florida as well as the many quirky, colorful characters who call it home. When the retrieval of the van ends up with blows exchanged between Scott and someone from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Solar advises his two investigators to take some time off to let the political waters settle. When Sloan hears that a well regarded and highly experienced diver named Fred Stafford, who also happens to be a friend of her dad’s and someone who taught her a great deal about diving, is missing, she decides to ask around. Fred’s girlfriend is very concerned, but the group of cave divers with whom Fred had been doing a good deal of diving recently do not seem as worried. The Dive Rats, as they are known, are chalking it up to Fred’s wanderer lifestyle. Sloan and Scott do a little poking around, and what they find concerns them. When Fred’s truck turns up abandoned near a remote body of water formed by a sinkhole, and a few pieces of Fred’s equipment are found at the bottom of its underwater caverns Sloan fears the worst. But why would a diver as experienced as Fred make such a dive alone and without proper safeguards? What secrets had Fred been keeping, and what ventures had he undertaken? Connections to a retired gangster, a shuttered home for rehabilitating wayward boys gambling debts, and the discovery of a mummified body thousands of years old add up to a lot of questions and few actual clues. Sloan, her fellow UIU investigators, and Solar’s network of retired but knowledgeable contacts across the state are determined to get to the bottom of Fred’s disappearance….but they would be wise to remember that alligators are not the only dangerous creatures lurking in the wilds of Florida.
As I found when reading previous installments of the Sloan McPherson/UIU series, author Andrew Mayne packs a lot of fascinating lore about Florida’s history, vivid descriptions of the areas which the investigators explore both above and below the water, and the sometimes crazy but always colorful characters who call Florida home into Dark Dive. Sloan is smart and gutsy, lives up to her family’s reputation for modern-day adventuring, and is starting to think she needs to dial back a little bit to save her daughter and partner from their continual worries on her behalf. The crew of the UIU continues to expand and develop, and are a fascinating group in and of themselves. The story starts out with a bang, and doesn’t really slow down. There are plenty of red herrings and potential suspects, and more than a few underwater thrills (for the record, I will personally never explore the idea of trudging through snake-infested woods to go diving in bodies of waters where alligators might be waiting for a snack), and surprises along the way in store for readers. I didn’t want to put the book down….if you enjoy Clive Cussler, Carl Hiassen, and Edna Buchanan you should give this series a try (you won’t regret it!). My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercier for granting me access to an advanced reader’s copy of this addictive adventure in return for my honest review.