Dark Dive by Andrew Mayne – Review

Published: March 12, 2024

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Series: Underwater Investigation Unit #5

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 296 (Kindle)

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Synopsis:
Searching for a missing diver takes a Florida detective on a deep-diving adventure in a gripping thriller by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Sea Castle.

After the Underwater Investigation Unit’s disbandment, public outcry ushers Sloan McPherson and her partner, former navy diver Scott Hughes, back into the depths of crime solving. But Sloan’s return comes with a personal case.

Longtime family friend Fred Stafford has disappeared. Left behind: his abandoned truck in the vicinity of an unmarked sinkhole and new findings that have Sloan second-guessing everything she thought she knew about the man. There are his gambling debts, his association with a treasure-hunting band of underwater cavern junkies called the Dive Rats, and most alarming of all, a discovery in Stafford’s storage shed that raises the stakes even higher and plunges Sloan into an unfathomable mystery.

As Sloan’s investigation unfolds, a tragic Florida cold case, local superstitions, and a shocking conspiracy collide. For Sloan, finding Stafford and uncovering the buried secrets of the past soon drag her deeper into the dark unknown than she feared.

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I was very much delighted to return to the classic Underwater Investigation Unit storyline with more diving than politicking. This is the fifth installment in the series and I was surprised that it actually toned down the action overall after what felt like continual plot escalation.

Dark Dive begins with an unusual prologue, following a Native American woman running from a predator of the two-legged variety through an area fraught with danger and dark legends. In the present day, the UIU is back together, with the addition of the cantankerous Gwen who was introduced in the previous book. It starts out with Sloan performing a dangerous dive in alligator infested waters to secure tow lines to a van, which seems like very familiar territory. I wasn’t surprised to find that she runs into trouble and Hughes has to pull her out. This experience leaves Sloan shaken for much of the book and makes the once confident diver begin to second guess her skills and even her career choice. 

The actual mystery takes its time in developing – Fred Stafford, a friend of the MacPhersons, has disappeared and his girlfriend calls Sloan with her concerns. Cue Sloan digging into Stafford’s personal life and history, thus uncovering all sorts of interesting secrets. For such a short book, Andrew Mayne sure crams in an incredible amount of plot! The UIU investigation takes Sloan and Scott Hughes all over south and central Florida to numerous underwater caves trying to ferret out Stafford’s whereabouts and what might have happened to him. I spent most of the book wondering where the Native American woman from the prologue might fit into the modern day portions of this tale. Even after finding out, I think the entire prologue could have been skipped.

Though I was delighted to return to a dive-heavy story, I didn’t feel quite the same level of impact from this plot that I have in previous books. It was good and very entertaining, but it seemed to be more a set up for a crossover or an expansion of the series’ scope in the next book.