Generally, I really enjoy Darcy Coates’ books, so I felt torn between rating From Below 3 or 4 stars, then settled for 3 due to the ending, which I believe didn’t fulfil its potential.

While different to the books of hers I’ve read previously, it was also creepy right from the start and alluring throughout. Even though there were quiet a few characters, I felt connected to them and felt the mix worked well. The flipping between the past and present also worked well.

There were certainly a few pulse raising and intense moments scattered through the book however, my biggest complaint would be that the plot was really long winded. Descriptions of the diving scenes simply were too detailed for me and dragged on too long. Although saying that, if you’re interested in shipwrecks and deep sea diving, I think you’d love it.

The premise of the book is clever and unique, therefore I was disappointed that the execution was simply put a bit flat. I wish there had been more elaboration on the supernatural elements, history and even character backgrounds. Even though it was tied up nicely, the ending felt rushed and unfulfilling - I was left wanting more.

I love the cover which caught my attention to this book. The story involved a shipwreck that happened sixty years ago. Some parts are scary. Some parts I felt stayed with me like if it was haunting me. Definitely a good interesting story.

I've always heard that Darcy Coates is one of the best authors in horror genre second only to Stephen King but I hadn't had a chance to read any of her books yet. So thank you @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for the ARC.

I totally understand why the author is so famed though. There were moments the story had me completely gripped and absolutely convinced that what she was writing was real. It was really difficult for me to get away at times and there were times when I needed to stop reading because some scenes were way too realistic. I loved the multiple POVs, and I wanted to see more of some scenes from other's POV as well. Although I didn't really find the characters relatable, I didn't think it took away from the book.

Though the one thing I didn't enjoy was the ending. I don't know what it is with me and endings 😂🤦‍♀️. It just felt a little anti-climactic. And that's the only reason it has a much lower rating than I would have otherwise given to this book.

From Below is an atmospheric story that leaves the reader confined, compressed, and gasping for more. Not only is it a haunting supernatural story but it is one that takes the reader into the deepest and darkest of places in the most unexpected of ways.

The characters, the setting and the plot are all left to a degree unexplained or lacking details and I enjoyed that aspect because it really adds to the uncertainty of the story. As the reader, I felt all the emotions of the characters and the guessing as to what was going to happen next. I liked the unreliable aspects; they only deepened the haunting feeling.

I was surprised that this is not a typical haunting story, that the “supernatural” aspect (no spoilers) was a 180 from what I was expecting and that had stunned me (in an effective way). The writing is great as well, this author really has a handle on how to create stories that really make the reader feel and be a part of the adventure.

This story is a great one to read on those dark gloomy, rainy days when the world feels compressed and a bit lonely. I can only imagine how much more impact the story would have.

I enjoyed this read and continue to enjoy this author’s many stories. I received an ARC via NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press and I am leaving an honest review.

Three stars from me, which means I liked it. I have learned that I really cannot go wrong when searching for a new read and discover that a new Coates book is available. Now that I have read many of Coates's books, I typically know what to expect, and I am never disappointed; From Below is no exception! Not only has it met my expectations, it has continued to fuel my desire to read more, more, and more of Darcy Coates's haunts, spooks, etc.

Review to come May/June to blog/goodreads.

I received this book from Netgalley/publisher in exchange of an honest review.

My second Darcy Coates book I was approved for on Netgalley and I just had to read it! I was in the mood for something dark. Spooky. Gruesome. And while the book was scary and scared me to not sleeping for a night.... it was also sadly lacking and I struggled to get through it. I kept looking at the percentage of my Kindle to see how far I was.. and each time I was like, but wait it feels like 10% how is this just 2%???

This will be a good/not so good review.

😍 LOVED that we got two timelines. The one in which we see the ship still sailing/going and all that happened aboard. From just mere fog and strange stuff to tapping in the walls to things crawling around to people just dropping themselves of high places to well... there is more and it isn't good. It was so creepy and I loved how we got, through this, some answers. Though I am still confused. Haha. It also clearly showed what people would do when things would go scary/harrowing and there is no way out. There are people who are doing OK-ish... but there are also people who just go craycray.
And then in the now we follow our divers as they discover and explore the Arcadia. Underwater. Finding an entry point. Figuring out what in the hells name happened here. Seeing flashes of something just outside the corners of their eyes. See how the shipped had looked, and see how it deteriorated with the years. Read the messages. See the holes. And know that something is very fucked up about this.
😍 Roy was such a character. Yes, he was a bit of a dick and at times he was just insensitive, but in the darkness of everything he did bring some light-hearted moments. And he did some amazing things when things got harrowing. Yes, he was scared shitless, but he did his best to help his team.
😍 The claustrophobia of it all. You are in a ship, 300 feet under water, there is no easy ways out, limited oxygen, tons of scary crap slowly starting to happen. At times I was just gasping for breath because it got so tight, so is there going to be a way out?
😍 Of course I knew, thanks to the blurb, that the Arcadia was bad. But I could have told you that from the moment that they saw the ship on the bottom of the sea/lake that it was a bad place. That it was one to avoid. It just didn't vibe right.
😍 The dead bodies. GOD. There were already some twitches here and there in the beginning, but as the story continues there is more and more that you are like: Wait... did I just read that right? Did that eye blink? Did that leg twitch? It really added to the claustrophobia. You have to get out because the air is running out... but then there are dead bodies who would love to add you to their dead family. Lovely right?
😍 The cover! I just adore it!
😍 I was really happy that we got the POV of not just Cove, but also others in the team (and in the past parts we got 2 of the crew). Hestie's was, next to Cove's, a favourite of mine. I just loved this girl. She was sweet, smart, and while she was scared out of her wits she stayed strong and even tried to lead and do bigger things.
😍 The burrowing disease. Fuck me, but that just terrified me. When the divers first saw holes I was like, eh, maybe people just tried to dig out even if that is a bad idea/just weird, but then we learn more on the holes and I was like FUCK those holes and just avoid at all costs. NOPE NOPE NOPE.
😍 The eyes that shimmer in the darkness. Just flashes here and there.

😶 How American it all just was. I mean, seriously. I get that there is a quota to be met, but you would think that they would at least give you some money if you can at least get some footage, but apparently one just has to push through and almost die because otherwise no payment.

😑 I would have liked to get more deets on Vanna from the start. Even a hint would have been nice. It isn't until the end that we get a Vanna POV and learn of the answers. By then though? I didn't really care anymore. I was like, nothing happened, so it is probably all good and dandy.
😑 Sean was such a dick. I mean, excuse me, wtf is wrong with you that you are searching through people's stuff. Yes, I get that you are frustrated and that you want to get to the bottom of things, but entering someone's room? Reading stuff? Opening lockers? Nope. And even later he constantly tried to override Cove's authority. I just wanted to yeet the guy over the ship's railing a few times.
😑 I have always been so interested in diving.. but dang, no thank you for now. I mean, it just wasn't exciting to read about decompression this and decompression that or how there were all these terms for stuff.
😑 I am still not sure what is going on with the ship? I mean we get all the puzzle pieces but then things are contradicted again or said that something else also could be the cause and I just don't know anymore. I mean, the dead bodies clearly were real, but what was in the walls? Did the ship resurrect the workers who died in there or something?
😑😒 It just seemed to drag on and on. I recently read Gallows Hill which is a nice 480 pages whereas this one is 352. However if I had to answer which one felt the longest? I would go for the 352 pages one. The 480 one? I flew through that one. Yes, there were some pacing issues, but nothing that made it seem like I was just being dragged along. This book, even in the scariest moments.. I just felt bored. Yes, terrified, but also bored. There were multiple parts that could have been written just a bit better, less repetition, less dialogue more action. It just felt like something was missing. It just felt so stretched out.

😬Aidan. I am sorry boy, but dang, I just wanted to punch that kid. For multiple reasons but all for endangering the mission. Not being honest about his supply of oxygen times 2, to the point that he barely made it to the surface. Listening to some old man and endangering himself and Vanna and then of course the rest as well. Not being honest about his credentials. How no one noticed he was constantly panicking was magical to me. LORD, that kid was just constantly panicking. But the real kicker why I wanted to punch Aidan was near the end. And I will put this one under spoiler tags. [spoiler] Why the fuck were you wearing that necklace in the first place? Why the FUCK would you, after all that you went through, barely making it out alive as it is, go back for it. Not only risking your fucking life, but also those of your team, because of course they will come back for you. Those last chapters just had me raging. [/spoiler]

So yeah, not a hit for me, such a shame as it sounded like I would really enjoy it! I just love horror about claustrophobic places. That you cannot escape from easily. That will get you. But it was just too slow, the pacing could be better, and Aidan just needs to be punched and Sean yeeted of the ship. Oh well, here is hoping the next books by Darcy Coates, who is still one of my favourite horror writers, is better!

An enjoyable thriller with plenty of tension and suspense, Hints of the supernatural make this a stand out in the genre for me. Darcy Coates does an excellent job of bringing to the page the dark and claustrophobic feel that makes underwater and deep sea books so creepy and unsettling. I liked the use of two timelines and the effort Coates put into making the shipwreck of the Arcadia a character in its own right. The pacing was fantastic, with the speed and intensity of events ramping up with each chapter.

I would recommend this title to fans of Rick Mofina and Amy Cross. Thank-you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

The book was very suspenseful. I felt the tightness while I read-the dive suits, being underwater and unsure if their air would hold. It fell flat in the “horror” department. Nothing too gruesome or gory. I felt the ending was slightly disappointing as it was wrapped up quickly. Good or bad, I kept thinking I knew where the book was going, but it went in a completely different direction, but I still wanted more and still had questions at the end. The writing kept me on my toes and made me want to continue reading. I loved getting the POV from the past and present-above and below the water.
60 years after the SS Arcadia sunk, it has been located more than 300 miles off its routine course. Cove and her team are set to make documentary about the SS Arcadia. Similar to the Titanic, the Arcadia was transporting passengers and cargo and sunk at sea. The documentary is to be made with footage of the wreck and give some insight to what happened and where did everyone go? No survivors and no bodies were identified. Due to a malfunction in robotics equipment, Cove and her team will dive to the ship and be the first to discover the shipwreck. As the team uncovers years of history, they feel a pull to the ship and it’s contents. What lurks behinds it’s walls? What happened to everyone?

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen for the ARC!

I was hooked from the start. Such a great mystery! Do yourself a favor and go read this book. LOVED IT

4.5 rounded up
This one scared the heck out of me. I had to stop reading one night because everyone else was out and I was scared reading it home alone. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to be terrified reading this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Darcy Coates for the advanced copy of From Below in exchange for my honest review.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this book, and unfortunately once I did it was concluded pretty quickly, so in my opinion it could have been a bit shorter. I didn't really connect to the chapters that were told before the Arcadia sunk, and I think the present day chapters could have potentially covered what I found interesting about those chapters.

Not a whole lot phases me when it comes to books but this one definitely had a creep factor, add the element of being hundreds of feet deep in the ocean, and there were definitely moments I found myself holding my breath.

From Below will be on US bookshelves June 7!

Wow what a ride this was! I was on the edge of my seat basically from the beginning. Darcy Coates is one hell of a talented writer & I can’t wait to read more by her.

No light. No air. No escape.

Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard waits...

Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course...a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean's surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.

Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia's rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished.

But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them.

Because once they're trapped beneath the ocean's waves, there's no going back.

This read like a horror movie, it was so good, so intense & super atmospheric. The storyline was written seamlessly & everything came together in the end. My only gripe is that at times it was very wordy, almost overkill on some descriptions. They also seemed to be reiterative in certain scenes and/or descriptions of things. Other then that, this was a masterpiece!

From Below review
Disclaimer: thanks to Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars

A ship lost at sea. Cryptic, increasingly frantic radios for help before it all went dark. Sixty years later, the wreckage of the once great SS Arcadia has been found. Only problem? It lies in frigid waters over 300 ft—not exactly an average daily dive.
Enter tv adventurer Cove and her team of variously qualified experts who are more than ready to face the challenge.
But, what begins as a typical wreck exploration quickly morphs into a chaotic and terrifying situation with no clear answers save one—their oxygen is running out, and the dead have nothing but time to wait.
I generally can’t get enough of Darcy Coates, even if I’ve become a bit habituated with her brand of Haunted House. So, I was thrilled to see this would change up the setting a bit, dramatically amping up the tension to a quite literally suffocating level.
She did a good job of mounting the tension while also making most of the situations believable enough. Her research into technical diving seemed fairly well done, with mostly negligible problems easily forgiven since this is fiction and could easily be a slightly more advanced tech. Although some of the typical poor decisions made in every horror movie/book were present, it wasn’t unbearable.
Really, my only complaints were wanting to have a bit more fleshed out characters who had potential, but didn’t quite become 3D. I also wish we got a little bit more lore on what happened to the ship—it took chapters to build up and then mostly repeated without giving new information.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense, the environment, and building dread I’ve mostly only read in space horror. Definitely recommended for any thriller, horror, or even maritime adventure reader.
#arc #netgalley #darcycoates #maritimehorror

This was my least fave of the Darcy
Coates books I've read so far.
It took awhile for it to pick up but
once it did, it couldn't stop, Darcy has a way to draw me in even when the subject matter isn’t my favourite.


Recommend if you like sunken ships,
haunted places and the ocean.

60 years after the Arcadia has sunken 300 feet into the gloomy depths of the ocean along with all it's passengers and crew, the wreck has finally been discovered. Cove and her dive team are filming a documentary on the exploration of the ship in hopes of uncovering the truth on what happened during the ship's final days and what led to it's disappearance along with all the bodies...

The story jumps from present day of exploring the shipwreck with Cove and her team to a countdown of the final days during the sinking of the ship in 1928 - told from the perspective of a crew member. The mystery slowly unravels from a mist that turns the passengers insane to a well preserved shipwreck where years later the unsuspecting divers reawaken a curse.

This is a creepy underwater zombie story!  The idea of getting nitrogen narcosis or of your tank running out of oxygen while trying to escape the undead in an underwater setting, made  for a real claustrophobic scare.
This is a slow burn mystery with lots of build up and tension between the characters. I enjoyed both perspectives for the most part but preffered staying in the present timeline more than the flashbacks. It was interesting to see how things unfolded in 1928 with the passengers getting paranoid and hearing scratches in the walls but I felt it dragged at times and could have been cut down. The escape scenes were spectacularly done, it really had my heart pumping as the menacing zombies gave chase in narrow and dark corriders with little options of escape.

If you're a Coates fan and enjoyed Voices In The Snow, then you may enjoy this since the undead are reminiscent of the mansion's creatures. Just prepare for a slow mystery and some long drawn out scenes.
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Darcy Coates' stories are all different that I've read so far and I'm very impressed with the variety. The premise she chose here was perfect; like space, the sea is another environment rife with fodder for horror elements. Pretty much loved this, and how Coates manages maximum creepiness paired with a feeling that things will generally work out.

So, yeah, nothing like starting with an already scary plot foundation, deep sea diving, and adding a ship that went missing under weird circumstances, and supernatural elements. Like our protagonist mentions, professional divers can die in familiar waters. The unskilled and barely qualified crew in this story, plus the truly unsettling features of the area they're diving, begin us on a high level of Scary from the start.

The team was full of strong and mostly smart women (well, they chose to dive on a spooky wreck when things were already going wrong so I can't credit too much but...), one of whom was even Māori which was nice, but most character mentions felt secondary to the plot. The focus is on the ship, the sheer volume of creepy atmosphere, and trying to figure out what's going on. The dual timeline trick was used well here, I think - it wasn't overtly obvious in either timeline what was happening and that juicy tension kept absorbing me, keeping me reading past my bedtime.

Coates just keeps adding elements to make the walls close in on you, literally - having both hydrophobia and claustrophobia, I was genuinely creeped out, rare for me in all my horror reads. She skillfully leaned on the idea that when drifting in the dark, your path only lit by a headlamp, even the mundane becomes terrifying. That specific concept of abandoned places, but with incongruous things like tables, glasses etcetera left behind, as terrifying spaces.

And then the root of the spookiness. I can't say I was pleased with the sorta-explanation, but the book was executed well in terms of frightening me and painting an atmospheric picture. I came away with "really enjoyed" which is my standard for four stars. Looking forward to reading more Darcy Coates.

This is an absolutely fantastic, extremely claustrophobic story about a dive team who go to explore the recently discovered wreck of a ship (the 'Arcadia') lost almost a century earlier.  The story is very original and the atmosphere and suspense so terrifying and knicker gripping I have no finger nails left!  A genuinely scary book, and not just for the supernatural element.  The idea of being more than 300 feet underwater in freezing seawater and almost constant darkness left me breathless even before....well, I'n not going to spoil it.  

Easily my favourite Darcy Coates book to date and I cannot recommend 'From Below' enough.

FROM BELOW is spooky, underwater goodness!

I really enjoyed the slow burn tension, mystery and suspense. The idea of being deep in the ocean visiting a ship graveyard sounds absolutely terrifying. No light. No air. No escape. EEK.

Although this one was a bit longer than I would have liked, and my attention waned near the end, I still enjoyed the story overall.

Thank you to Netgalley for my arc!

Darcy Coates is a master of scary and this book is no exception. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

Darcy Coates is one of the most amazing contemporary horror writers. Her novels are always extremely spooky and nerve wracking.

The theme of this book is quite eerie in itself. Underwater horror always gives me the shivers, as I’m afraid of venturing into deep water.
What lies in the dark murky depths of the sea, in the carcass of a long dead ship?

The book centers on Cove, a documentary film maker who is researching a ship called the SS Arcadia that sank in the Sea of Bothnia, way off course, with no survivors.
The only clue to what happened is a mysterious emergency message left before it disappeared. No one has been able to figure out what happened to the ship or its crew.
Cove has the chance to figure it out after the ship is finally located, and assembles a crew for the documentary, made up of Roy, Vanna, Hestie, Sean, Devereux and Aiden.

They have three days to get the footage they need, but things aren’t as simple as they think because the Arcadia is hiding a terrible secret. Things start to go horribly wrong and events take a dark turn.

The novel moves along in two timelines of the past and the present. The time before the ship sank, and what transpired before the tragic event in 1928- and the present time with Cove and her crew.

The descriptions and the atmosphere of the book are the best part and a horror reader’s dream come true. They are absolutely chilling and haunting. The scenes described of the sunken ship underwater are vivid and terrifying. Once you pick this book up, it’s hard to put down before you come to the end.

I would definitely recommend this book for horror fans as it’s sure to send a chill up your spine!

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader’s copy for an honest review.