After a deadly summer, Ander accepts an invitation to The Oasis, the world’s first underwater research lab turned luxury vacation spot, in hopes of reviving his VIBE content and spending time with his crush, Liam. But when a vengeful spirit is unleashed, the guests are hunted by a terrifying force lurking in the water. As bodies pile up, Ander must find a way to escape the nightmare beneath the sea before it’s too late. Who will survive?
Overall, this is a really fun and intriguing follow-up story. The first half to the story, focusing on the ability to get over the previous massacre at the summer camp, trying to make a long-distance relationship work now that the two are on opposite sides of the country, and the references to getting back into the habit of creating content for his social media pages following the slew of hectic action undertaken. This type of PTSD and hoping to overcome it comes off incredibly realistically, especially for the sake of being a teenager during this period, as this vulnerability and realistic take come together incredibly well. When the opportunity to visit the underwater bed and breakfast comes about where not only can them come back together to rekindle their relationship together but to also use the visit to get back to a sense of normality with posting again, it feels like a logical enough connection to make by undertaking the offer and going along.
With this focus on the first half of the novel, the introductory walk-through of the facility and what goes on down there gives everything a solid grounding for each of the characters. With the other couples showing up there being given their own distinct feel and flavor to make them all standout, with the bickering sisters and the friendly gay couple alongside the main pair from the previous story, this group of guests mesh nicely alongside the work done for the administrator of the facility, her daughter, a doctor on site that carries out her research, and the all-purpose assistant who's supposed to help them when they go through their activities around the weekend. With the whole group shown to become fast friends with a series of interactions bringing them down to the quarters where everything takes place, hosting a dinner together, starting impromptu dance celebrations, or exploring the facility together, it all brings them together into a group that's quite fun to be around and develop the necessary sympathy for what's about to come.
That explodes in the final half when the book turns into a blood-drenched slasher offering incredibly strong slashing scenes against the dwindling group. The unleashed spirit is given a decent enough backstory to rationalize the rampage as a means of revenge against the staff of the facility for stopping his perverted and deranged actions toward them when he was alive, the sudden bursts of violence here include the manipulation of sea creatures to attack the group, strong confrontations with the indestructible killer inside the doctors' lab or out in the common-area lounge, bringing about some chilling scenes as well as the somewhat sickening bloodshed as the kills are ramped up a notch into a graphic outburst of splattered entrails and oozing wounds. Wrapped together with a solid series of advancing connections to the strange crystal necklace that ties into what went on in the first novel, with what could potentially happen in the further sequel, this is a genuinely enjoyable offering with a lot to like.
If the story is to have any issues, it's mainly in the overlong build-up to the actual slashing and horror happenings. We get so much detail and general hanging around exploring the amenities of the bed-and-breakfast, looking into how everything works, what type of activities are present for guests, and getting to see the burgeoning friendship develop between everyone, that it takes quite a while before anything happens. It's well over halfway into the story before that comes about, which is not in the slightest bit detrimental due to how much fun it is to be around these people, but due to the book rushing through the slashing in the back-half as everyone starts getting knocked off in rapid succession this is highlighted to a degree. As well as some bizarre bit of contrivance to avoid keeping their phones yet again that doesn't feel earned, these are the issues to be had with the sequel.
4.5/5
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