Those We Drown

By: Amy Goldsmith

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

An ocean-drenched, atmospheric horror debut! Liv's best friend disappears on their first night aboard their dream semester-at-sea program—but is he really sick, like everyone says, or is something darker lurking beneath the water?

It should have been the trip of a lifetime.

When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury cruise ship The Eos for a semester, she can’t believe her luck. Especially since it will offer her the chance to spend time with Will, her ex-best friend, who’s barely spoken to her since the night their relationship changed forever.

But as soon as she steps on board, Liv realizes just how out of her depth she is. With Will, with the rest of the Seamester students—including the brittle and beautiful Constantine, who may be hiding his own ties to the Eos—and most of all, with the Sirens, three glamorous and mysterious influencers who seem to have the run of the ship.

Liv quickly discovers that the only reason she was invited to join the trip is because another girl disappeared shortly after enrolling—and no one seems to know what happened to her. When further disappearances rock the ship and strange creatures begin haunting Liv’s dreams, she wonders: Is the Eos hiding a dark secret within its shadowy decks?

The truth will come at a price . . . only, how much is Liv willing to pay?

©2023 Amy Goldsmith (P)2023 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"The slow unraveling of the mystery is captivating and surprising...An original, suspenseful, and atmospheric debut."—Kirkus Reviews

“Through Liv’s snarky first-person narration, Goldsmith crafts a seafaring tale of grim horror.”—Publishers Weekly

“Quick-fire pacing and stunning reveals around every corner… as dazzling as it is terrifying.”—Kara Thomas, author of That Weekend and The Cheerleaders

Disappointing

The idea had so much potential. I was excited about the plot at first and the first 3/4 of the book is actually promising. It’s a murder mystery meets fantasy almost (with mythical creatures) and yet the ending was entirely predictable and it’s exactly what you think is happening from the very beginning. No surprise twist or fascinating realization. There could have been so many good endings and yet the author didn’t choose any of them. For a bit I thought Liv was being drugged and hallucinating but they mentioned Con’s pill bottles for no reason apparently..? The black cephalopods are never explained. Are they the sacrificed kids? Is that what the hidden knocking was in the captains room? The ending does indeed feel rushed and you are left with tons of questions unanswered at the end. When the book ended I actually said “That was it?” Out loud because I couldn’t believe it. Also the modernization of the story seemed unnatural with so many mentions of “influencers” and WhatsApp instagram and IPads. It just seemed like the author was beating us with reminders that this is set in modern day and it ended up not even being relevant to the story. I kept thinking “we get it already” but I could look past that if the story was better. One review (on the back of the printed copy) said something about “stunning reveals around every corner” and I wonder what book she was reading because this book didn’t have any of those. Our main character was rationalizing away her own observations of the weird events in the story, so how is the reader supposed to know what’s real? Is she delusional? Am I supposed to believe her more than she believes herself? Overall very disappointing.

The narrator was ok. I didn’t hate her performance but I just don’t think her voice was for me. I don’t care for the accent and her voice is kind of shrill. She did not help the main character from coming off as annoying, but in fairness most of that was written into the character.

Had way more potential then it actually was

The plot seemed to be dragging along up until the last few chapters then seemed rushed. The ending had way more potential than it actually was. I give it a 5.9/10.

review

interesting story, well narrated, unresolved ending, felt rushed at the end, was left with a lot of questions

Pulls you in

This book is amazing. It is pull you in with every twist and turn. I enjoyed listening to it and the narrator did an amazing job.