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The Sea Hides Its Dead

Megan Bontrager

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Trapped in an underwater cave, a group of academics must face a series of deadly, supernatural trials—each one demanding they confront their darkest sins—in this chilling aquatic cult horror debut from Megan Bontrager. Grad student Caro has no idea what she wants to do with her life, but when an opportunity arises to act as a research assistant on an anthropological expedition for her professor and lover, Edward Beck, she doesn't hesitate. Beck assembles a team of academics and professionals to study the ancient sea-based Cult of the Leviathan, and the expedition descends into the sea caves where the cult is said to have dwelt. But when the cave entrance collapses, trapping them inside, the expedition finds they are not alone in the darkness. Surrounded by strange artifacts and scattered bones, an ancient trial has been set in motion. One by one, the members of the expedition will be tested and forced to atone for their greatest sin. . . or die.

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Posts about this title from Boozhoo Books

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Jul 26

[Hello Friends,\ \ I have been screaming busy at work and will be for the next two weeks, but after that I expect a bit of a reprieve! (read: I will get better at posting more regularly!)\ \ BIG NEWS FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS COMING\ \ If you've been thinking about upgrading, now is the time. Paid subscribers:\ \

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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Mar 4

Carnalis by Tiffany Morris\ \ You know I was obsessed with Tiffany's Indigenous sapphic swamp horror novella Green Fuse Burning, so I cannot wait to dive into Carnalis!\ \ Wealthy party girl Lauren hungers for human flesh. Her girlfriend Alex, a recently injured dancer, is trapped in Lauren's toxic and deadly spiral. The looming threat of capture may prove to be less dangerous than Lauren herself and the lengths she will go to satiate her needs. Will Alex be next on the menu?\ \ Rich bitches? Cannibalism? My favorite!\ \ The Curse of Hester Gardens by Tamika Thompson\ \ We Need to Talk about Kevin as if written by Jason Reynolds and Tananarive Due meets Model Home by Rivers Solomon in an innovative twist on the haunted house novel: about a mother desperate to protect her sons from the twin specters of gun violence and otherworldly menace in their public housing project.\ \ Haunted house horror in the projects? Are you kidding me right now? \ \ Also, blurbed by one of the greats: “Ringing with lyricism and suspense, The Curse of Hester Gardens is a compelling vision of the horror of trying to raise sons in public housing haunted by violence. Despite ghosts and the uncanny, the true terror is the trap of poverty, which tests a mother's love to its limits. Tamika Thompson's sharp characterization and insightful storytelling make this a must-read.” —Tananarive Due, Los Angeles Book Prize and Bram Stoker Award winner, The Reformatory\ \ Indigent by Briana Cox\ \ Live-in handyman Xavier seems to be the only one who notices. Or cares. After a chance encounter with the culprit leaves him infected with something horrifying, Xavier is thrust into a surreal nightmare of starvation and consumption all too familiar to his gentrifying Atlanta neighborhood.\ \ Succumbing to his infection, Xavier is drawn into the cobbled-together family squatting in Leigh Pierce's basement. People who, through a myriad of doomed roads, fell into the same self-destructive cycle of indigency, harboring dark secrets... and darker appetites. Trapped in a dynamic of codependency and complicity, Xavier and his family- new and old- are forced to confront the cost of survival in a world that has disregarded them.\ \ A horror that goes after healthcare? Yeah. Sign me up right now. \ \ Aviary by Maria Dong\ \ A young woman undertakes a terrifying journey―and a terrifying transformation―in this genre-blending speculative suspense novel set in South Korea and the US which mixes fantasy, gothic vibes and queer longing, with a shot of feminist body horror.\ \ This is a horror about violence, power, exploitation and transformation. NEED.\ \ The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager \ \ Trapped in an underwater cave, a group of academics must face a series of deadly, supernatural trials—each one demanding they confront their darkest sins—in this chilling aquatic cult horror debut\ \ Academics studying a sea cult? Trials underwater in a cave to survive? Inject it into my veins. This is crazy. \ \ Will you be adding any of these to your TBR?\ \ As a reminder, any book purchased through my bookshop this month, benefits Black Walnut Books, an Indigenous, Woman and Queer owned bookstore. Check these books out below!

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Posts about this book from across Bindery

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Jul 26

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Judging By The Cover\ \ judgingby_thecover\ \ • Jul 19

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[Every Sunday after Link and I finish our walk, I sit down and think about what all of my books had in common. Sometimes there's an obvious theme. Other weeks, I don't notice it until I'm writing this post.\ \ This week, every story was about what happens after life refuses to go according to plan. Not one of these characters ends up where they expected to be. Instead, they're forced to ask a difficult question: Who do I become now?\ \ \ \ In The Sea Hides Its Dead, that question is wrapped in eldritch horror. Caroline enters an underwater cave expecting an academic expedition and instead finds herself trapped in a nightmare. But beneath the cults and cosmic horror is a story about breaking free from manipulation and learning to trust your own instincts again. The monsters are terrifying, but Caroline's greatest battle is reclaiming herself.\ \ Brighter Than Before asks the same question in a much quieter way. Claire's marriage ends, the future she imagined disappears overnight, and she has to build a new life from scratch. I loved that the novel doesn't offer one grand, life-changing moment. Instead, it reminds us that healing often looks like a series of small, brave decisions that slowly become a new beginning.\ \ \ \ Then there's Yes, Chef, which proves reinvention doesn't have to be dramatic to be meaningful. Jack is grieving both the loss of his mentor and the career he thought he'd have. Poppy is desperate to prove she's more than the image everyone has created for her. Together, they rebuild their confidence, their purpose, and eventually a future neither of them expected.\ \ Not That Kind of Proposal surprised me for a similar reason. Underneath the witty banter and romantic tension is a story about letting go of the life you thought you wanted. Gracie spends so much of the novel believing her happily-ever-after looks one particular way, only to discover that the future she'd been mourning was never actually the one she needed. Sometimes the best endings are the ones we couldn't have imagined.\ \ The only book that didn't fully land for me was The Last to Drown, but even it explored this same idea. Kaia joins the rafting trip hoping it will help her process profound loss. While the mystery didn't surprise me the way I'd hoped, I appreciated that the emotional journey centered on moving forward after tragedy rather than remaining defined by it.\ \ I think that's why this week's reading resonated with me.\ \ It's easy to think of books as escapes, but the stories that stay with me rarely encourage us to run away from our lives. Instead, they remind us that none of us get the life we planned.\ \

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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jul 8

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Are you feeling the heat? I know that where I live, Summer is here in full swing. I'm melting and wishing that fall weather was here already. \ \ While we're all withering under the sun's rays, I've put together a list of five different horror subgenres with some book recs in each that are perfect to read this time of year.\ \ So stay inside, pour yourself an ice-cold drink, and gulp down these books!\ \ Folk Horror \ \ \ \ Photo Credit\ \ Folk horror is perfect for almost any time of the year! With rituals and folklore a plenty, these books will suck you into their pages.\ \ Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss-- A family reenacts the Iron Age deep in the wilderness where the past begins to bleed into the present.\ \ Monumental by Adam L.G. Nevill-- A group of kayakers enter forbidden land and stumble upon an ancient sacrificial ritual.\ \ Withered Hill by David Barnett-- A woman wakes up in s small village with no memory of how she got there and finds out quickly that she can't leave.\ \ Double Walker by Michael W. Conrad-- A couple vacationing in Scotland experience a tragedy while on a hike in this chilling graphic novel. \ \ The Residents Of Honeysuckle Cottage by Elizabeth Davidson-- A couples fresh start to a remote cottage just outside a small village slowly turns into a nightmare.\ \ Slasher \ \ Photo Credits\ \ Is it truly summer if there isn't a slasher movie playing? Did you know that slasher horror books are so IN right now?\ \ My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones-- A teenage girl obsessed with slashers believes one is starting up in her small town. \ \ Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley-- A wellness retreat turns into a deadly slasher.\ \ Under The Blade by Matt Serafini--A woman who survived a summer camp massacre finally returns home after two decades on the anniversary of the slaying, awakening true evil once more. \ \ Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning-- A canceled sitcom star goes to an adult summer camp and gets trapped in the middle of a slasher.\ \ You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron-- A scare camp where guests pay to be scared turns into a real life horror movie.\ \ Ocean \ \ Photo Credits\ \ The ocean will cool you down as the summer sun beats on. Just don't let it devour you like these novels...\ \ Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant-- A research crew investigating the last location of a ship discovers deadly sirens.\ \ The Deep by Nick Cutter-- A man travels to the bottom of the Marianas Trench to a research facility to check on the scientists investigating the possible cure of a worldwide disease.\ \ Whalefall by Daniel Kraus-- A man dives into the ocean to search for his father's bones and gets swallowed by a whale.\ \ The Sea Hides It's Dead by Megan Bontrager-- A group of academics in an ancient sea cult get trapped in an underwater cave.\ \ Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield-- A woman comes back changed after being trapped deep underwater in a submarine for months.\ \ Theme Park \ \ Photo Credits\ \ Take a trip to an amusement park this summer and have a chilling time. \ \ Hide by Kiersten White-- A completion for a sum of money playing the game of hide and seek turns deadly if found.\ \ FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven-- A theme park gets hit by a hurricane and the employees trapped in the park quickly turn on one another. \ \ Shock Waves by Matt Kurtz-- An explosion near a theme park releases monsters upon the park.\ \ Ride or Die by Delilah S. Dawson-- A girl trying to impress a popular group of girls winds up in the abandoned part of an amusement park where she might ride to her death.\ \ A Cold Night For Alligators by Viggy Parr Hampton-- A determined CDC epidemiologist goes rogue to tackle a mysterious outbreak in Savannah, only to find himself entangled with a pair of urban explorers.\ \ Survival \ \ Photo Credits\ \ Fight for your life on your trip/vacation.\ \ The Ruins by Scott Smith-- A group of friends get trapped on ancient ruins and must fight for their lives.\ \ This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer-- A woman and her team discover an untouched cliff face and make it their mission to be the first to climb it.\ \ The Anomaly by Michael Rutger-- A tv show that focuses on hidden mysteries try to find a hidden cavern only to find it and get trapped within it.\ \ The Hunger by Alma Katsu-- A retelling of the fateful Donner Party.\ \ The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn--A group of friends get trapped in a cabin by both a snow storm and deadly creatures.\ \ Join for free or login

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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jul 5

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\ \ July is here and with it comes some new Horror books. Below you can find the books I am most excited for this month.\ \ Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle-- Fashion influencer by day and grave robber by night, Poppy Stringer is on call when Eddie Michaels—a flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar and queer icon—unexpectedly dies. All Poppy has to do is retrieve Eddie’s body from the medical examiner’s office, but what starts as a routine delivery quickly goes off course when Eddie wakes up. Now, Poppy must fight for her life in a blood-soaked night of carnage and fabulous entertainment all across Palm Springs.\ \ Home Sick by Rhiannon Grist--A troubled woman seeking a fresh start in the Scottish countryside believes her neighbour may be behind the strange disturbances in her home in this psychological horror debut. (I've read this one and loved it!)\ \ The Sea Hides It's Dead by Megan Bontrager-- Trapped in an underwater cave, a group of academics must face a series of deadly, supernatural trials–each one demanding they confront their darkest sins–in this chilling aquatic cult horror debut\ \ We Sent Them Down Singing by Libby Edwardson-- In the small coal camp of Jubilee, West Virginia, Phinnie “Skinny” Caldwell has been plagued with nightmares of the last time she ever saw her mama alive and the man responsible for stealing her away: Zell Dorsey. When Zell Dorsey returns thirteen years later, alone, Skinny is determined to find out what really happened. As she uncovers disturbing truths about her mama’s fate and Zell’s sinister plan, she turns to Happy Walker, her school bus driver and the closest thing she has to a father. However, nothing can prepare them for what they find: Behind Zell Dorsey’s charming veneer, is a creature both older and far more evil than any devil, and he’s hellbent on turning everyone Skinny loves into oil-slicked monsters.\ \ The Winter Folk by Jen Julian-- A woman returns to the mysterious lodge in the woods where she once worked, and to the inscrutable creature that bound her there, in this haunting Appalachian gothic horror from singular voice Jen Julian.\ \ Ripped Up The Middle In Two by Viggy Parr Hampton-- New mom Sadie is struggling with the reality of caring for her three-month-old daughter-the loss of identity, autonomy, and selfhood are grinding her down. When a casual stroll with the baby leads to the discovery of a secret trail leading to a miniature door hidden deep in the woods, Sadie’s world unravels even further. Who put the door there? Why does the trail only appear when Sadie is alone? Why is the door surrounded by a clearing full of tiny bones? And, most terrifying of all: What lives behind that door, and what will it do to her baby. \ \ Corpse De Ballet by Megan Kearny-- Arriving at Saint Anselmus in the middle of the year, Rosamund Hammond is ready to practice hard and prove she deserves to be there. But something at this boarding school doesn’t feel right.\ \ It turns out that just before Rosamund enrolled, a student disappeared without telling anyone. Was it really a leave of absence—or something more sinister? Together with her new roommate, Rosamund spirals deeper and deeper into an obsession with the truth. As the school prepares for its showcase performance of Coppélia, can she commit to her hard-earned ballet dreams while solving the mystery that’s haunting her—or will she lose herself in the process? (LOVED this graphic novel!)\ \ A Penance For Crows by Shannon Morgan-- An unnerving, hypnotic, modern gothic thriller set on a remote Irish island, where an artist is caught between deadly secrets, ancient superstition, and echoing madness. \ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/q8axn89CSmTgQ7mGHzif/)

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