Dive Team Investigations debuts with Beneath the Surface.  Lynn H. Blackburn has penned an action-adventure-romance that is full of all sorts of potential suspects and motivations.  The story jumps right into the action and readers sort of have to wait to really get to know the characters.

The author writes a story which keeps readers interested, but the focus of the story is more on the relationships.  This allows the book to be less of a intensely eerie plot and yet one in which scary things are happening.  It is more appealing to those who love reading romance, but don’t like especially creepy reads.  Blackburn is able to combine the two genres in a way that feels natural.

The main characters in the story are brought to life and their personalities come through pretty clearly.  So many great options are out there for subsequent books.  Readers will find themselves hoping the next book covers the person they want to read about most. (Don’t worry, the end of the book has a sneak peek.)  One thing about the ending of this book, the author hints at the antagonist’s motivations, but it is never clearly mapped.  The reader is expected to read between the lines, or one might say beneath the surface.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Revell

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Multiple bodies are discovered in various states of decay all appear to be missing heads and limbs, references are made to these throughout the book; brakes are cut on a car resulting in a crash; a person wants to hit someone; report of a person being threatened with a gun; many attempts are made on someone’s life including poisoning, explosions and physical attacks; a character is choked; a person is kidnapped, tied up and threatened with death; a character is fatally shot.

Sex/Nudity:  Report of a person’s marital infidelity; a deceased character is believed to have deceived multiple women into marrying him; non-married characters kiss and embrace.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of parents, marital infidelity, murder.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

No actual usage, but hospital staff suppose a person could be under the influence of some type of drug.