From Below tells the story of small group of divers who set off to explore a shipwreck, and film what they see for a documentary. There is a dual timeline with the days leading up to the ship’s original demise and the dread escalates as the vessel’s inhabitants, both past and present, realize something is very wrong with the SS Arcadia. 

This book freaked me the fuck out y’all!  I have some small gripes, but this was a perfect spooky season read. 

It’s important to note that I’m scared of water, specifically of having my face under water-it makes me feel like I’m suffocating. The ocean amps that fear up a notch because of what else could be in the water; just thinking about brushing up against seaweed gives me the chills. 

When a scene in From Below replaced seaweed with hair-from a dead body-I was shaking my head and saying “no no no no no”.  Then I read three words…the burrowing disease. 

FUCK THAT. I will have nightmares thinking about that shit, guaranteed. 

As I mentioned, the story isn’t without faults. The repetition of certain phrases and situations bogged down the pacing. The author did an excellent job of building tension and fear, but those feelings often dissipated prematurely because things dragged on too long. My other complaint is that the ending was wrapped up quickly, leaving too many unanswered questions around the Arcadia. Some mystery is good, but it felt like a lot of spaghetti was being thrown at the wall to see what would stick. 

Even with those gripes, there was plenty done right with this book.  I loved the dual timelines.  Learning what happened from the perspective of the original crew was fascinating. For me, that look into the past was even more terrifying than the present day dive exploration, which had plenty of spine-chilling moments. 

This was my first novel by Darcy Coates and I can’t wait to check out some of her other work and see if she can continue to haunt my dreams.