Deep Betrayal (Lies Beneath #2) by Anne Greenwood Brown

* * * 1/2

It's been thirty days, two hours, and seventeen minutes since Calder left Lily standing on the shores of Lake Superior. Not that she's counting. And when Calder does return, it's not quite the reunion Lily hoped for. Especially after she lets her father in on a huge secret: he, like Calder, is a merman. Obsessed with his new identity, Lily's dad monopolizes Calder's time as the two of them spend every day in the water, leaving Lily behind.

Then dead bodies start washing ashore. Calder blames his mermaid sisters, but Lily fears her father has embraced the merman's natural need to kill. As the body count grows, everyone is pointing fingers. Lily doesn't know what to believe—only that whoever's responsible is sure to strike again. . . .

After the impressive debut of Lies Beneath, I was very much hoping its sequel would continue to carry that sinister sense of foreboding.  Deep Betrayal features complicated family dynamics, a menacing threat to the Bayfield community and a deepening mystery of mermaid mythology.

Once Lily exposes the truth to her father, he becomes obsessed with embracing his merman side. His many long absences take a toll on the family. Lily is still concerned for his safety as Calder’s sisters’ whereabouts and motives are unknown. Her mother’s physical condition appears to be getting worse and her younger sister, Sophie seems to be keeping her own secrets.  As these things unfold around her, Lily also begins discovers some startling abilities of her own.

Deep Betrayal has some intense, creepy moments which I appreciated. It has the same dark undertone as Lies Beneath but with more at stake this time.  The dead bodies washing ashore have brought unwanted attention to Bayfield and the publicity could mean danger for Calder, his sisters and Lily’s dad. Lily’s friend Jack, is unstable and is threatening to expose the mermaids and all the events which previously unfolded, Lily and Calder doing plenty of damage control.

If you enjoyed Lies Beneath, Deep Betrayal will be welcome addition to your “to be read” pile – its alluring plot will keep you well hooked!

~ Bel

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

* * *

Available June 12, 2012

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters must prey on humans and absorb their positive energy. Usually they select their victims at random, but this time around the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge. They want to kill Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother’s death.


It’s going to take the whole family to lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the water. Calder’s job is to gain Hancock’s trust by getting close to his family. Relying on his irresistible good looks and charm, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock’s daughter Lily. Easy enough, but Calder screws everything up by falling in love – just as Lily starts to suspect that there’s more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined, and just as the mermaids threaten to take matters into their own hands, forcing Calder to choose between family and the girl he loves. One thing’s for sure, whatever Calder decides, the outcome won’t be pretty.


I picked Lies Beneath simply because the title's double meaning appealed to me. And I can now add mermaids and mermen to my list of paranormal love stories. 


As described above, Calder and his sisters are looking to avenge the death of their mother.  They lay the blame squarely at the feet of the Hancock family and they will not be appeased until they have succeeded. Calder goes along with this out of family loyalty and also because his eldest sister Maris has promised him his freedom should he help them succeed in getting Jason Hancock. Calder does his best to ingratiate himself into the family. And because he's literally a fish out of water, he's often awkward. He decides that Hancock's older daughter, Lily will be the way to get to him. 


Lily, however, is no dainty little thing. She has a pretty strong mind and can’t be easily swayed. She's attracted to Calder but also deeply suspicious and can sense that there's something off about him. So while the story begins with Lily being the prey, it’s Calder who ends up being backed into a corner. Since he's not generally among humans a lot, Calder can be rough around the edges and gets more uncomfortable as he becomes more drawn to Lily. 


Calder’s sisters add a lot of tension to the plot – in particular Maris, who as head of the clan is hell bent on revenge. She’s the loose canon that Calder must always pacify and keep in check. Calder is also facing a crisis of his own. He craves human emotions as much as his body craves the water. But he has refused to feed off humans for months, staying “dry” and pushing himself further just to see how far he can take it. To give in to temptation would draw unwanted attention to him and his sisters and potentially ruin all their plans. Add to that Lily’s growing suspicions, the mounting lies and Calder is caught in one tangled web.


I liked Lies Beneath. I admit that I’m not familiar with mermaid lore but I found this story interesting and well paced. I liked that Lily wasn’t an easy mark for Calder and that he wasn’t this perfect suave guy. Calder’s internal battle to fight his nature was very compelling and provided a sinister undercurrent to the story. There's enough going on that keeps up the suspense delivering a surprising and turbulent climax.


~ Bel


*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing us the ARC.