Bones of the Deep. A Thriller. Sample chapter

A luxury tall ship. A stolen mer-saint. The sea always takes back what is hers. Marine archaeologist Eve Calder has one chance to make her career. She's helped steal the find of a lifetime: the preserved skeleton of a non-human "saint" entombed in a hidden cave on a South Pacific seamount. Now the bones lie sealed in a pressure-controlled case in the hold of the SV Southern Crosswind, a historic tall ship full of tourists sailing from Fiji to Vanuatu. It's the only way to move the relic quietly, away from local eyes and awkward questions. But as the ship leaves the shelter of the reefs and enters true blue water, something begins to move in the depths beneath her keel. Shadows circle in the bioluminescent dark. Hull-shuddering impacts echo through the timber. Strange clicks and inhuman wails vibrate up through the hull. The local crew whisper about sacred shrines and sea spirits. And then the first body hits the water. Far from land, hemmed in by rising storm and failing systems, the Southern Crosswind is besieged by a civilisation from the deep: terrifying merfolk who will kill to reclaim their holy dead. A thriller with teeth, perfect for readers who love monstrous merfolk, ocean survival, and endings that don't flinch. Sample chapter, written by J.F. Penn, narrated by the digital voice of J.F. Penn using ElevenLabs