Review: Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown

Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown

Series: Lies Beneath, Book #2

Published: March 12th, 2013

Publisher: Delacorte/Random House

320 pages (e-galley)

Genre: Young adult paranormal/urban fantasy

Acquired this book: From the publisher via NetGalley

Warning: May contain spoilers

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 {Read my review of Lies Beneath}

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. . . . 

 

 

Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown is the sequel to Lies Beneath, a tale about deadly mermaids. I thoroughly enjoyed Lies Beneath and had high hopes for Deep Betrayal, so it makes me sad to say that I was left feeling really disappointed.

I really liked Lily in Lies Beneath, so I was looking forward to a story from her perspective. She was strong and independent in the first book but she kind of annoyed me in this one. A good chunk of the beginning was dedicated to Lily counting down the days she’d been apart from Calder, and being miserable. The rest was just a lot of angst and drama - revolving mostly around Calder, Lily’s dad, and Jack (the crazy merpeople-obsessed boy in town). I spent a lot of time being irritated with not just Lily, but also Calder and her dad. Their distance, their decisions, and their actions just seemed off to me.

The whole story felt really long and filled with unnecessary side stories. 320 pages isn’t all that long for a book, but it took me over a week to get through because it was so slow. Besides my annoyance with the characters, I didn’t feel the sparks I felt between Lily and Calder in the first book. Their romance intrigued and excited me in Lies Beneath, but it was really lacking in Deep Betrayal.

There were a few redeeming factors in the book: the writing was good, the mystery was tightly woven and had me stumped, and I enjoyed Ms. Greenwood Brown’s version of the origins of merpeople.

Overall, Deep Betrayal unfortunately wasn’t for me. The pacing was too slow, the characters I once loved were too different, and the excitement from the first novel was lacking. Of course this is only my opinion. If you enjoyed Lies Beneath, I encourage you to read Deep Betrayal and decide for yourself. 

 Disclaimer

In accordance with FTC guidelines, I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  No money or compensation of any sort exchanged hands.

*Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book for review.*

 

Have you read Lies Beneath or Deep Betrayal? What did you think? How do you feel about mermaid books in general?

 

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