3.5 upped to 4
It's a well plotted and intriguing psychological thriller that kept me reading even if I found it a bit confusing at time.
The sense of place and the descriptions of the places are great, Tabitha is an unreliable narrator and I wasn't a huge fan.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I don't know how the author kept up with all of twists; there were points when I just had to accept them because they came so fast and thick. You aren't going to be able to predict them all even when you think you can.

I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to Net Galley

First of all I love this author and have read every single book she’s ever written! This book certainly didn’t disappoint and in true Catriona McPherson style, I was hooked on the twisty and claustrophobic setting. Brilliant read and I definitely would recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC

I liked the main character and the setting in this one, but I found it be confusing at times. I was hoping for more, but I liked it I just couldn't say I loved it.

It was a slog getting through this book. The plot was confusing and the flashbacks to Tabitha's time in hospital just added an extra layer of confusion for me. The family relationships and communication did not ring true either. The setting was well described though and sounds lovely.
The deaths are not investigated by the police, the group of friends and their children do want to know more so are looking into what happened, but in places their reasoning lost me and by the end, I really didn't care about any of them.
Thabks to Net Galley for the ARC

This is the first book I've read by this author and the premise of a woman returning to her childhood home in Scotland and uncovering deeply hidden family secrets sounded intriguing to me. It's told from multiple points-of-view over a few months in time. The setting is great and the main character, Tabitha, is likable. The author's writing style and the language she uses is poetic. However, overall, I had a hard time understanding what was really going on in the story. I was confused most of the time, which is a shame because the main plot was interesting. I don't know if this is typical of this author's work or if it's a choice made for telling Tabitha's unique story. I found the book challenging, but others may enjoy it.

I received an advance copy of this ebook from NetGalley and Severn House, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Tabitha has had a hard time of it.  She had a mental breakdown when she was a teenager, she's recently found out her husband has been cheating on her, he's making her out to be an unsuitable mother and her son has decided to stay in the settled life he has rather than move with her to her childhood.

However, on moving back to the old renovated church she can't say she blames Albie for not moving.  It's cold, it's bleak and it's bringing back far too many bad memories.  Then her cousin is murdered, she gets an unplanned inheritance and more people around her die.

Tabitha has to rely on tentative new relationships with some locals to try and investigate what has been going on in Hisketh in her long absence.  But some long held family secrets and resentments are about to bubble up to the surface and Tabitha may struggle to come to terms with them.

This story really does have a twisty story arc and the psychological trauma of Tabitha is a major part of that. Tabitha is a completely unreliable narrator as due to her mental health issues we're never quite sure if the information being presented by her is "real and factual" or just her grasp of things.  

I really began to feel sorry for Tabitha early on as she really has had a crappy life and hopefully now that things are in the open, she will struggle less.  Albie, her son, seems to have lightened her load slightly with his visit and Gordo and Barrett have become fast new friends for her.

I found this book quite difficult to get into. There didn’t seem to be any real story path, just an introduction to some bizarre characters. I have to say that this book did nothing for me and I found it a struggle all the way through.

The death of her cousin Davy brings Tabitha face to face with old family secrets. She returned to Hiskith for peace and that's not what she's found. Luckily, Gordo and Barrett are there to help her investigate. She's an unreliable narrator, there's interesting back stories, and it's atmospheric, which makes up for the slim mystery. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read for fans.

Ooo this was all things creepy and claustrophobic with a side order of suspenseful! We start with Tabitha returning home, to where she grew up, after pretty much losing everything - job, house, the custody of her son after the divorce. She is hoping for a clean sheet, a new start, and is just starting to find her feet when an explosion in a nearby loch becomes the catalyst for a whole new world of pain... It is swiftly followed by the discovery of the death of her cousin Davey who she had been getting to re-know since returning home. These two events then conspire to make her confront the demons that she thought she had left behind. They expose family secrets that surround her father and his brother, and the two families that were rocked by another event that I will leave you to discover for yourself...
Well... this was the gift that kept on giving. Just as I thought I had it worked out, the author threw me another curve ball which left me reeling. Yes I did guess something a little early, but that wasn't quite the whole truth, turned out not at all... It's all deliciously convoluted and interconnected with secrets and lies aplenty and more than a very healthy dollop of dysfunctional behaviour. It wasn't an easy book to start with initially as it did meander a bit and got a bit weird quite quickly, but, that said, after it started to come together, it was a veritable race to the finish which left me both reeling and satisfied. I guess what I am saying is - stick with it through the confusion, as there is light at the end of the tunnel and, for me, the destination was well worth the journey!
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Tabitha Muir returns to her childhood home in the remote hills of Hiskith in Scotland after twenty years away. She's lost her job, her house, and custody of her son after a divorce, and thinks this must be rock bottom - but worse is to come. An unplanned explosion at the dam on the loch and the suspicious death of her beloved cousin Davey force Tabitha to confront her past demons.

I found this book quite difficult to get into. There didn’t seem to be any real story path, just an introduction to some bizarre characters. I have to say that this book did nothing for me and I found it a struggle all the way through.

A trio of friends search for the truth in Deep Beneath Us (2024) by Catriona McPherson. Twenty years after leaving her family home in the hills of Scotland, Tabitha returns, having lost everything – custody of her child, the family home, and her job and reputation. Then her cousin Davey is killed in a loch explosion and Tabitha and her friends, Gordo and Barrett investigate the truth of what happened. To begin, the narrative was jumpy as it introduced the protagonists, before settling into recounting the history of the Muir family and the tragedies that befell them. A somewhat disappointing mystery with dull characters and lacking tension, for an okay reading experience. The family’s past secrets and revelation of secrets were mundane and made for an average two and a half stars star read rating. With thanks to Severn House and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Tabitha Muir has hit rock bottom, or at least she thought she had until she is forced to return to her childhood home in Hiskith Scotland. Tabitha has lost her job, her house, and custody of her son. Heading back to the home she left 20 years ago seems to be her only option. Instead of a fresh start or rebuilding a new happy life Tabitha is met with more tragedy, as the unexpected death of her cousin Davey occurs shortly after her return. The suspicious death has Tabitha questioning everything she has ever known and everyone in her life. With the help of Davey’s friends Tabitha begins to uncover long hidden dark secrets. Will this just be another addition to the scandalous Muir family history and who else will be destroyed when truths are revealed.

Deep Beneath Us is a twisty psychological thriller/mystery that was at times slightly confusing. I will say I was thoroughly intrigued with the setting of the Scottish loch because I do love a slightly remote location for my thriller reads. My main issue lays with the fact that I found Tabitha to be hard to connect with as she was a very unreliable narrator. While I appreciate the author’s purpose for this in showing the characters mental illness struggles, it ended up making for a very difficult first half to follow along. I did however, enjoy the additions of the characters Gordo and Barrett and watching them aid Tabitha in piecing together Davey’s death. Overall I found this book to be very unpredictable and twisty with it sadly falling a little short for me. Ultimately the lack of action and continued plot progression through mostly dialogue just personally did not work for me.

Deep Beneath Us comes out June 4th, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Deep Beneath Us by Catriona McPherson is a thoroughly good book, difficult to put down - a very complete novel with a satisfying ending. Having lost her job, her house, and custody of her son after a divorce, Tabitha Muir returns to her childhood home in Scotland’s Hiskith and thinks this must be rock bottom - but worse is to come. An unplanned explosion at the dam on the loch and the suspicious death of her beloved cousin Davey force Tabitha to confront her past demons. Is her cousin's death just another dark episode in the Muir family's tragic history? Davey's closest friends, Gordo and Barrett, help Tabitha try to answer the questions around Davey's death and Tabitha discovers that nothing she thought she knew about herself and those around her is true . . .

A bleak but with a resilient and ultimately irrepressible protagonist, this novel is ultimately uplifting and affirming. Some of the twists and turns, many of them, are dark and tragic and funny… but in the end, Tabitha is content and so was I. The book was a gently read, intriguing and enjoyable, evocative and at times confronting, but well worth the read. I enjoyed this book very much.

Deep Beneath Us is the sixth book I've read by Catriona McPherson, all but one of which I gave 4/5 stars. McPherson excels at psychological mysteries.

When I started this one, I wondered if I'd finish it because the beginning was so confusing. Dealing with mental illness IS confusing and trying to follow the "logic?" difficult.

Then as Tabitha returns home, the plot becomes more and more interesting. Clearer? No. This is one of those books in which you truly do not know what to expect next.

The characters are interesting, and the reader quickly becomes involved with the lives of Gordo and Barrett and their support of Tabitha. The suspicious death of Tabitha's cousin Davy unites them, and the multiple plot twists are provocative.

The background of a dysfunctional family is revealed slowly with each twist throwing the reader off again. Barrett's girls Willow and Sorrell, and Tabitha's son Albie, and eventually, another teenager become a lighter, positive element as the Muire family secrets and lies gradually surface.

I don't know how the author kept up with all of twists; there were points when I just had to accept them because they came so fast and thick. You aren't going to be able to predict them all even when you think you can.

I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for this one.

Read in April. Blog review scheduled for May 22.

Publication date: June 4, 2024 341 pages.

Catriona McPherson excels at crafting creepy psychological thrillers. But I'd say her latest, Deep Beneath Us, is not so much creepy as it is claustrophobic, addressing the themes of mental illness, murder, dysfunctional family dynamics, and the (un)reliability of memory. Narrated primarily by Tabitha Muir from her home on the banks of a remote Scottish loch that may hold secrets, there is very little action. The tortuous plot progresses mostly through dialogue, reminiscence, and musing, and I struggled to make sense of it for the first half of the book. In the latter half, things get even more labyrinthine, but glimmers of facts and the first hope of solving the mysteries emerge.

My favorite characters are the quartet of teenagers who ground the story with their clear-eyed pursuit of the truth and their refusal to give up, although they exhibit realistic teenager characteristics. I also enjoyed spending time in alternate chapters with two men--friends of a recently deceased family member--who have their own secrets and family issues, but who are determined to help their late friend's family deal with their myriad fears, suspicions, and tragedies. Tabitha, the central character, who has lost her marriage, her job, and almost the custody of her son, and who has spent time in a mental institution, is still dealing with her very fragile mental state. I had a difficult time connecting with her, although I held out hope at the end that her life would finally improve. Side note: I would have appreciated a glossary of Scottish words and expressions.

My thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Took me a while to get into this book.
After a while I loved it.
Got intriguing. Also set in Scotland which I love
Would love another book

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House Publishing
for the eARC.
At the beginning of the book I was confused and it took a while for me to get into the story, but once I did, I couldn't put it down.
The Muirs of Hiskiv in Scotland are the family where Tabitha Muir returns to after 20 years. She's been married, had a son, divorced, lost her job and had a stint in a mental home.
Holding on to her sanity is an uphill battle, especially amongst her unstable family. Finally finding the truth amongst all the lies makes for a very satisfying ending for her and the reader.