Review: Poseidon’s Children by Michael West (4/5)

By Amanda Amaya

The cover art alone should warrant a good review for this book.  The illustrations throughout the book help as well, but ultimately it was the “about” blurb that reeled me in (pun intended):

Man no longer worships the old gods; forgotten and forsaken, they have become nothing more than myth and legend. But all that is about to change. After the ruins of a vast, ancient civilization are discovered on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officers find a series of derelict ships drifting in the current--high-priced yachts and leaking fishing boats, all ransacked, splattered in blood, their crews missing and presumed dead.

And that's just the beginning.

Vacationing artist Larry Neuhaus has just witnessed a gruesome shark attack, a young couple torn apart right before his eyes ... at least, he thinks it was a shark. And when one of these victims turns out to be the only son of Roger Hays, the most powerful man in the country, things go from bad to worse. Now, to stop the carnage, Larry and his new-found friends must work together to unravel a mystery as old as time, and face an enemy as dark as the ocean depths.

The concept of this book is insanely imaginative.  Drawing on extensive knowledge of the deep, Mr. West creates truly horrifying creatures that literally leap out of the pages.  The illustrations help, but if the reader has ever seen a Discovery Channel special on the deep blue sea, then it will come in handy.

It starts like Jaws. There is something in the water.  But luckily someone happened to witness the attack, and that starts the ball rolling.

The following chapters seem to introduce more and more characters in a riveting way.  Many seemingly unassociated characters (marine archeologists, Coast Guard members, the Mafia) are fleshed out.  As soon as the reader starts to get tired of the seemingly endless character introductions, they all begin to tie in together.

Michael West

And the character development is excellent.  All of the “unrelated characters” are so strongly developed so the reader will have a sense of confidence to where the plot is going toward the end of the book.  The reader can literally see how one character will react with a given situation without any major unnecessary surprises.

The plot is well developed.  No insane twists and turns, and despite the subject matter, it is actually believable.  I particularly loved the author’s description of the “transformation” that some of the characters go through. 

The entire thing is very well written.  No lazy author here!  The words are dramatic without being cliché, and you don’t get the sense that the author opened the thesaurus and started randomly picking descriptors.

Although, at least in my version, there seemed to be a few words cut off at the end of some sentences, especially when turning the page.  I tried changing the size and the font (I have a Kindle HD) and this did not remedy the situation.  I was still able to piece together the general gist of the sentence, however.

I give this book a 4-star rating. 

Overall it is a good and captivating read.  I will definitely think twice before heading into any ocean.  And I will NEVER swim at night.  

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About the Reviewer:  Amanda Amaya was born in Texas, moved to Pittsburgh for 25 years, and now she’s back in the Lone Star State.  She has been a nurse for a decade.  She loves to read and will usually read anything.  She prefers to focus on self-published authors and may consider writing herself one day.  She is also a newlywed and a mom.  You can check out her work at the examiner.com and on her blog The Eclectic Bookworm.