I enjoy how each story lets the individual characters play to their strengths while moving the overarching plot along and building on their friendships with each other. This book is Brian’s time to shine as Arden ratchets up the stakes by including the trio’s families in the Smiling Man’s evil machinations. And if my girl, Coco, can be the bigger person and forgive him, who am I to be recalcitrant?Īside from Olivia’s dad and Coco’s mom getting closer, this friend group remains strictly platonic.

Even poor Phil (Brian’s former friend who’s uncle owns the boat) has earned my BFF charm for having to deal with all those scary flashbacks alone for the last year! I mean, yeah, he did bully Coco in the first book and that was a shit move, but I’d wager being turned into a scarecrow by the devil serves as an excellent Scared Straight deterrent. These brave, smart whippersnappers are my middle school ride or dies. With no food or shelter and a creature stalking their every move, what the heck are they supposed to do next? But after the creepy, cryptic warning Brian, Olivia, and Coco received from the Smiling Man, how can Brian let them go off by themselves? Plus, maybe a little sunshine and lake breeze is just what the doctor ordered.Įxcept their day on the water soon begins to resemble something out of Jaws as the boat is attacked and sunk by a snake-like monster…and the island they end up on isn’t actually on any known maps. So when Coco’s mom invites everyone on a sailing trip so she can review a boat tour company, they’re inclined to say no. It’s totally understandable that Brian’s parents are a bit concerned with the way their son has been acting the last year, startling at shadows and preferring to spend his afternoons holed up with his new friends reading occult books. So…yeah, safe to say that even contemplating monsters like THIS might be out there just chilling in the water makes me totes fine with staying firmly on the deck. I immediately turned my back to it and did not face that direction the rest of the time. Like a deep, primal panic just staring out at all that crushing, empty water. I have never felt such existential dread as the time I went snorkeling on my honeymoon in Grand Turk, and the boat took us a ways out from the beach to check out this fairly shallow reef, and then I turned around underwater and faced this giant drop off into open sea.

Cover Story: Keep Your Hands And Feet Inside The Boat

Dark waters arden