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This visionary sci-fi thriller proves that books can transport readers into extraordinary new worlds. Engineer and scuba diving enthusiast Cotwell combines his love of Earth's vast underwater world with a skillful dip into oceanography, marine biology, ocean-related technology, underwater archaeology, medicine, and the study of consciousness. It is not a simple task to craft a tale that so powerfully suspends readers' disbelief in its fabulist nuances, but Cotwell successfully rises to that challenge. After a quiet intro that features the collision of the protagonist's career with his domestic life, the story suddenly blossoms into the emotionally riveting adventure of a lifetime.
Overwork and inattention to family have placed Mark Forster's company back on track, but his neglected home life needs some attention. The remedy just might be a long-awaited family trip to Maui, a journey Mark hopes will enhance his relationship with his daughters and light a spark in his marriage. An avid diver, Mark begs his wife, Cecilia, for understanding when he schedules two short dives during the family's two-week vacation. The first dive at Lanai proceeds without a hitch, but the second dive will leave readers agape at the sheer terror of communing with one of the most feared apex predators on the planet—a mature great white shark.
Elegant descriptive prose, a unique setting, steady pacing, and unrelenting plot twists place this thoughtfully constructed tale among the masterworks of reality-based seafaring fantasists past and present, such as Jules Verne, Yann Martel, Peter Benchley, Catherine Steadman, and others. Anyone who is in awe of the ocean's great power and the mystery of the natural world will appreciate the eighteen-month journey of survival and self-discovery that Mark Forster and his family must endure.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review