Title: Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1)
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Release date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte BFYR
Pages: 303
Source: Publisher

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother’s death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family’s homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock’s daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there’s more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

Lies Beneath is not your Disney mermaid story.  It’s a dark tale of murderous mermaids with a little romance thrown in for good measure.  It’s one of the best mermaid books I’ve read.

Calder is not like his sisters.  He does not enjoy killing innocent humans; he has to do it though.  His sisters, however, seriously love killing people and they have their next victim picked out: the guy responsible for the death of their mother, Tom Hancock.  They need Calder’s help though.  They need him to get close to Hancock by getting close to his daughter Lily.  This plan involves some stalking, lying, and just being a creeper in general.  It does not involve Calder falling in love with Lily.  But he does…

Calder may act like a total creeper but he’s actually a pretty sweet guy (except for the occasional murders.)  He’s a victim of his circumstances and he just wants out.  He doesn’t think about how this might affect others at first but he does eventually realize his selfish ways and attempts to change them.  Deep down he seems like a good guy with a good heart, one that is capable of true love.  Lily is also a good person and it’s more easy to see that with her.  She’s a bit naive at first but she does grow up throughout the book.  She is kind, caring, funny, smart, and imaginative.  She clearly loves her family and would do anything for them.  Her relationships with her sister and parents were one of my favorite things about the book.

The sisters are pure evil.  They want revenge and they don’t care who they hurt in the process (not even their own brother.)  They get pleasure from murdering people and they are truly creepy mermaids.  I would stay out of the water near these girls. But while they were sufficiently creepy I felt that they could have used a lot more development.  I never felt like I knew their motives.

The plot isn’t very fast-paced for the first 1/4 to 1/2 of the book but it is by no means boring.  There is a lot of history given as well as some build-up of relationships.  And while there is a bit of insta-love between Calder and Lily it’s not bad.  It’s more insta-attraction then anything.  (Lily does realize he is kind of a creepy stalker.)  Their relationship is more of a slow build and I think it will really take off in the next book. (Although I’m not sure what that one is going to be about.  Things were pretty resolved at the end of this one.)

Overall, Lies Beneath is an interesting, unique take on mermaids.  I highly recommend this one for all you skeptics out there.  (I’m not really a mermaid fan but I loved it!)

Looking for more reviews?
The Brain Lair’s review
Literally Jen’s review

Series:
Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1)
Deep Betrayal (Lies Beneath #2) – March 12, 2013