Into the Drowning Deep

Abstract

Seven years before the events told in Into the Drowning Deep, by Mira Grant, the Atargatis, a ship sent by a company called Imagine Entertainment to film a mockumentary on mythical creatures in the Mariana Trench, disappears. When it’s recovered, every member of the crew is missing, and leaked footage shows that mermaids ate them and dragged the remains to the ocean. The footage is dismissed as a hoax and Imagine suffers no legal repercussions, but its image is stained. Theodore Blackwell, an Imagine representative, leads a new expedition to find proof of mermaids and restore Imagine’s reputation, in a new ship named Melusine that the company garantees it is much better prepared for such a mission. The crew includes Theodore’s wife Dr. Jillian Toth, a sirenologist, reporter Olivia Sanderson, and many varied scientists, including the Wilson sisters and Tory Stewart, sister of a member of the Atargatis crew that is forever lost at sea. During the voyage, Heather Wilson attempts to reach the Challenger Deep in a submersible but is killed by mermaids, which confirms their existence. Theodore is able to capture a mermaid in a tank, but mermaid attacks soon begin, leading to the deaths of most of the crew. It is discovered that the ship’s shutter systems don’t work, and engineers try to repair it amidst the chaos. As mermaids swarm the ship, Dr. Jillian Toth studies their physiology to save the crew, and Hallie Wilson is able to communicate with the captive mermaid. It is discovered that all the mermaids are male and that the true threat is a massive female mermaid approaching the ship. The Melusine’s safety systems are finally repaired, and Tory realizes that the solution to save the remaining crew is to turn every light of the Melusine on, which successfully keeps the mermaids away. The remaining crew members are eventually rescued.