Submerged by Alton Gansky - A Book Review

Ohhh, a scary Sci-Fi book! I was really glad Submerged was a book so I didn't have a modern screen version flashing in front of my eyes as I read the prologue. Mr. Gansky's verbal description was enough to make me go Ewww, gross.

Did I quit reading Submerged? No, way. I was hooked. By the time I finished the book, late one night all alone in the mountains of North Carolina in a strange cabin, I was almost too spooked to turn off the light. Now that's good writing. I'm not easily scared by reading material. The last time a book frightened me this much was in the early 70's when I tried to read In Cold Blood. Now, that book I returned to the library unfinished. But In Cold Blood was about a real situation and this one I knew was fiction.

Alton Gansky has written a tight, page turning novel with characters that are engaging. As Henry Sachs lies dying in the hospital, his son Perry and a couple of friends drive to Nevada in search of clues to Henry's mysterious illness. In reading Submerged I could feel Perry's desparation as his mission drew him away from his father's bedside. He wants to find the answer to his father's illness, yet he yearns to be with his father and support his mother as she waits the final outcome of her husband's illness.

The group's journey is delayed and nearly ended by interference from government troops trying to keep everyone away from the area known to only a few as Lake Loyd. The top-secret underground base located beneath Lake Loyd seems to be the source of some fantastic incidents affected anyone entering it.

Henry Sachs and a team of scientists investigated the base four decades earlier, and now two of them are dead. Two members of the team remain. One of them is not expected to live out the week. The other one, Dr. Victor Zeisler, joins Perry's team in search of answers. He alone appears to have not been affected by the illness that has killed the other two members of the investigative team, Monte Grant and Cynthia Wagner. Why is Zeisler still alive?

Will Perry's team find the answers they seek? Will they make it out of the hidden base alive, or will they be affected by the unknown illness as well? Will Henry Sachs live through his ordeal? And what is the source of the power that drives the mechanisms inside the base?

Submerged is a thought provoking novel. It will speed up your heart rate. This is another novel you need to read during the light of day. It is not a book to read just before bedtime, unless you like having nightmares.

kmparis