Calder White is a killer. He is drawn to the positive emotions put out by normal people, and once he drags them beneath the surface of the water, he is able to absorb these emotions as his own. His three sisters are much the same, and as a group they have the power to mesmerize humans and pull them down into watery graves. Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown Delacorte June 2012 Life isn't all fun and games, however. Calder and his sisters are on a mission to kill one man in particular, and they won't rest until he pays for the suffering he has caused them. Only now have they finally found him: the man who killed their mermaid mother. Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown is a story about mermaids (and one merman). But Brown takes a more evolutionary view of mermaids. These aren't the fairytale versions that we've grown up to love and revere. Instead these are the evil sirens of legend that pull men and women to their deaths. They have evolved in the depths of the water with skills and abilities that make them the perfect bait to draw in unsuspecting humans for the basest of purposes: to feed. What is amazing about this story is that the plot and storyline are actually quite simple and direct yet ultimately very compelling. The entire story is told in first person by Calder, and seeing the world through his eyes gives the reader a very different and, at times, disturbing viewpoint. Love, death, and revenge are seamlessly intertwined for him and his views on killing people are both horrible and beautiful at the same time. But at it's heart, as strange as it sounds, this is actually a love story and, at the same time, a story about coming of age. There are a few minor details that I found a bit far fetched, and there are are quite a few twists at the end. Still, my only real complaint about this story is that I felt it ended too soon as I would have greatly enjoyed reading more about this merman and his life. Even if you aren't a fan of mermaids, you should definitely take a look at Lies Beneath.