2 Stars

While I had not read anything by Richard J. Miller before, The Sigsbee Deep had an interesting premise and the reviews I saw were positive. It also takes place near and in the ocean, and I am a sucker for that, so I just could not resist. The book promised to be an ecological thriller, maybe even a bit apocalyptic, so it sounded like something that is right up my alley.

The world is at a tipping point as mankind has pushed the environment to the brink. Severe weather had become the norm and the Earth's crust has begun to fracture in places due to the stresses of the new environment. That is how the Pinnellas Peninsula in Florida broke free from the mainland and began to drift away. The people now find themselves on an island and, after initial riots and uprising, have come to settle into a way of life on their new, isolated land. This is not to last, however, as the peninsula is drifting across the continental plate toward The Sigsbee Deep where it will sink to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

The mainland is unable to help the people on the island due to constraints on sending large vessels from the Madrid Accords, an environmental pact created after an ecological disaster. Or maybe they are just unwilling to help. Mays Jackson, who is stuck on the island with his children while his wife is on the mainland, is not going to let his children drown. While he works with the leaders of the island to build boats to get to the mainland before the island sinks, he has his own secret project: a solar-powered submarine to save his family. It will not be easy, though. The waters around the island are infested with giant fish, the Krake, that will attack anything that comes their way. Also, one of the islands residents is on to Mays secret project and determined to take it for his own. And that does not even factor in hurricanes or the hundreds of other things that could go wrong.

The Sigsbee Deep is an action/adventure story that really does not have too much action or adventure until the very end of the novel. The peninsula breaking off into the ocean happens almost immediately and then the story drifts into the building of the submarine for a long, long time. There are brief spurts of tension with the neighbor, Hoss Krule, and some flashbacks to the past, but not a whole lot happens through most of the first two thirds or so of the book. It was sometimes interesting and sometimes boring, honestly, but never compelling. My attention was grabbed by the initial disaster that caused the peninsula to break off, but then it turned to the submarine and just wandered through that. Once the action starts, it does kick into high gear and continues through the end of the story, but it starts way too late in the novel and it brings its own set of issues for the story as well.

The Sigsbee Deep asks the reader for a lot of suspension of disbelief and that is what ultimately leads to the downfall of the story. After the peninsula breaks off, the reader is told there is nothing that can be done to help the survivors. Why? Because of something called The Madrid Accords which is never explained but would lead to a rescue attempt being akin to an act of war. It is tough enough to buy into but then the reader learns at the end (spoiler alert) this is not the case when a governor, not the President, immediately launches a rescue mission. When Mays changes plans from a boat to a submarine, which is infinitely more difficult to build, the reader is led to believe there is no choice because a boat could not possibly hold up to the Krake. But then, when they finally make their escape in the submarine, they are chased out to sea for a couple days by Krule in a boat, not a sub. There are a lot of things in this story that just do not make sense but I chose to accept that and keep moving along. Then Miller turns around and pulls the rug out of everything he set up by changing the narrative and proving those things that seemed wrong from the beginning were, in fact, wrong and only done to try an make the story work. Then they are changed for dramatic effect. I wanted to read this story, then I wanted to like it even though I thought it was going astray, and then I wanted to quit. I stuck it out and ultimately felt cheated. The book gets a two-star review as I finished it and only reserve one-star reviews for books I cannot possibly finish, but it was a close thing. There is only so much that a reader can take as truth when it rings false, but if the reader is asked to believe the impossible, the writer needs to make sure it is true in the world of the novel. that is something that Miller failed at in this novel.

I would like to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this review copy. The Sigsbee Deep is available now.

Climate change has affected the world so much that part of Florida has broken off and is drifting towards the Sigsbee Deep in the Gulf of Mexico where it will sink, taking thousands of people with it. Rescue boats are unable to get to them as the waters are infested with huge Krake, killer fish. Mays Jackson with his salvage yard resources vows to save his children and friends, trying to build an escape craft...entertaining and well written, recommended.