Lies Beneath

Anne Greenwood Brown’s novel (Delacorte, 2012) about mermaids and forbidden love is not the innocent story usually told about the merpeople. Every summer Calder White is drawn back to the Great Lakes by his tie to his sisters. Calder and his three sisters are not the fairytale type of merpeople, but emotion hungry predators who drown humans to gain positive emotions. Calder wants to overcome his predatory tendencies, but can’t while tied to his sisters. Maris, his older sister, makes him an offer to cut the tie that binds them. All he needs to do is seduce Lily, the daughter of Jason Hancock, and then get Jason on the lake where she can kill him. Hancock is one of the people responsible for their mother’s death, so Calder wants revenge just as much as his sisters. As Calder begins to fall for Lily, he must choose between his sisters and freedom or Lily and their love. MacLeod Andrews gives Carter just the right edge, and he expertly captures the mermaids’ lack of emotions. A sequel is definitely in the works. Listeners looking for a darker Twilight-like tale will want to follow this series.–Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY