CG Drews, New York Times-bestselling author of Don’t Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.

The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He’ll be left behind with nothing but the ocean’s haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.

In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.

To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can’t help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep’s adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.

But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I love how haunting CG Drews books are. I’ve read all of their Young Adult books and their adult debut. Drews understands horror on a mental level and their books are all so beautifully haunting while also slightly disturbing. This was no exception.

Jonathan Covey lives on Kelcarrow, a damp, rundown island he can’t wait to leave. Summer is almost over, and all of his friends are heading off to college on the mainland. What they don’t know is that Jonathan didn’t get accepted, so he’s about to be left friendless on the island with his ailing grandfather and unhappy childhood memories. In a moment of total desperation, he makes an offering to Scorpion Deep, a sea god most of the locals treat like a fairy tale. He offers to give Scorpion Deep whatever he wants if he can just get out of this suffocating town.

And it works. The god appears and Jonathan is terrified, but he’s also pulled toward this ancient thing that seems just as obsessed with him as he is with it. Then scales start growing down his spine, and the god’s devotion turns bloody. Jonathan decides the only way out is to destroy the monster, but taking out a god is no easy feat, especially one as powerful as Scorpion Deep.

There are so many layers to this story, and the reveal of what was really happening totally surprised me and punched me in the gut (Dres is great at this.) I’ve read enough of their books that I honestly shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was so wrapped up in the world and the characters that I wasn’t waiting for the twist, even though in the back of my mind, I knew one was probably coming.

This book is full of allegory, and it has a lot to say about neurodiversity, mental health struggles, loss, abuse, and despair. The character’s are richly layered and the story very affecting. It’s dark and gritty and scary, but it’s also heartbreaking. And the thing is, the fear and the sadness come from the same place, so the scary parts hurt and the sad parts are unsettling.

I listened to this one, and Mark Sanderlin handled the narration really well. He captured the emotional layers perfectly.

I know horror isn’t for everyone, and this one is heavy. But if you want a scary story that is deeply layered and goes after your head and your heart, and you don’t mind a reveal that leaves you a little shook, this one belongs on your list.