Sea Castle by Andrew Mayne – Review

Published: February 21, 2023

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Series: Underwater Investigation Unit #4

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Pages: 312 (Kindle)

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Synopsis:
When a young woman washes ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach, Sloan McPherson of the Underwater Investigation Unit is called in to consult. Sloan’s instinct says murder, but even then, there are too many questions.

For answers she reaches out to Gwen Wylder. The Miami homicide detective is notorious for being manipulative, bitter, a tyrant to her peers, and wicked smart. And she demands something in return from Sloan: fresh insight into seemingly unrelated cold-case murders and disappearances—and a possible serial killer trolling the Florida coast.

As loose ends of the old files begin to come together, another woman disappears. Sloan and Gwen are certain she’s the newest link in a deadly chain. They are determined to track her down before she dies, but they soon find themselves in uncharted waters. And the deeper Sloan and Gwen go, the stranger the case gets.

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This is the fourth and most recent installment in the Underwater Investigation Unit series. In the aftermath of the events of Sea Storm, the UIU has been disbanded and our three members have been somewhat scattered to the winds. Sloan and Scott Hughes are working for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, though in different capacities and George Solar is sort of lying low. Much to my despair, Solar and Hughes didn’t have much presence in this installment and while I love Sloan, the guys really round out the cast fantastically.

When a dead girl washes up on the beach, Sloan is sure it was more than an accident. Her persistence earns her the ire of her current boss and so she sets forth to get some answers on her own. This means winning over the prickly Gwen Wylder, a homicide detective as tenacious as Sloan. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t like Gwen at all. I was suspicious of her and found her willful stubbornness and difficult personality rather grating and that tainted my enjoyment of the book overall. 

That being said, the mystery in this one was great and returned to the roots of the UIU series. Sloan’s suspicions about the body found on the beach lead her on a hunt for a clever, manipulative serial killer who seems to be preying on the emotionally vulnerable. There were some incredible twists and turns and the ending was quite a surprise! While I didn’t love this one as much as the previous three books, I’m eagerly awaiting more installments in the Underwater Investigation Unit series! I do hope we see a little less of Gwen and more of Hughes and Solar though!