ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Tabitha Muir has hit rock bottom, or at least she thought she had until she is forced to return to her childhood home in Hiskith Scotland. Tabitha has lost her job, her house, and custody of her son. Heading back to the home she left 20 years ago seems to be her only option. Instead of a fresh start or rebuilding a new happy life Tabitha is met with more tragedy, as the unexpected death of her cousin Davey occurs shortly after her return. The suspicious death has Tabitha questioning everything she has ever known and everyone in her life. With the help of Davey’s friends Tabitha begins to uncover long hidden dark secrets. Will this just be another addition to the scandalous Muir family history and who else will be destroyed when truths are revealed.

Deep Beneath Us is a twisty psychological thriller/mystery that was at times slightly confusing. I will say I was thoroughly intrigued with the setting of the Scottish loch because I do love a slightly remote location for my thriller reads. My main issue lays with the fact that I found Tabitha to be hard to connect with as she was a very unreliable narrator. While I appreciate the author’s purpose for this in showing the characters mental illness struggles, it ended up making for a very difficult first half to follow along. I did however, enjoy the additions of the characters Gordo and Barrett and watching them aid Tabitha in piecing together Davey’s death. Overall I found this book to be very unpredictable and twisty with it sadly falling a little short for me. Ultimately the lack of action and continued plot progression through mostly dialogue just personally did not work for me.

Deep Beneath Us comes out June 4th, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Deep Beneath Us by Catriona McPherson is a thoroughly good book, difficult to put down - a very complete novel with a satisfying ending. Having lost her job, her house, and custody of her son after a divorce, Tabitha Muir returns to her childhood home in Scotland’s Hiskith and thinks this must be rock bottom - but worse is to come. An unplanned explosion at the dam on the loch and the suspicious death of her beloved cousin Davey force Tabitha to confront her past demons. Is her cousin's death just another dark episode in the Muir family's tragic history? Davey's closest friends, Gordo and Barrett, help Tabitha try to answer the questions around Davey's death and Tabitha discovers that nothing she thought she knew about herself and those around her is true . . .

A bleak but with a resilient and ultimately irrepressible protagonist, this novel is ultimately uplifting and affirming. Some of the twists and turns, many of them, are dark and tragic and funny… but in the end, Tabitha is content and so was I. The book was a gently read, intriguing and enjoyable, evocative and at times confronting, but well worth the read. I enjoyed this book very much.

Deep Beneath Us is the sixth book I've read by Catriona McPherson, all but one of which I gave 4/5 stars. McPherson excels at psychological mysteries.

When I started this one, I wondered if I'd finish it because the beginning was so confusing. Dealing with mental illness IS confusing and trying to follow the "logic?" difficult.

Then as Tabitha returns home, the plot becomes more and more interesting. Clearer? No. This is one of those books in which you truly do not know what to expect next.

The characters are interesting, and the reader quickly becomes involved with the lives of Gordo and Barrett and their support of Tabitha. The suspicious death of Tabitha's cousin Davy unites them, and the multiple plot twists are provocative.

The background of a dysfunctional family is revealed slowly with each twist throwing the reader off again. Barrett's girls Willow and Sorrell, and Tabitha's son Albie, and eventually, another teenager become a lighter, positive element as the Muire family secrets and lies gradually surface.

I don't know how the author kept up with all of twists; there were points when I just had to accept them because they came so fast and thick. You aren't going to be able to predict them all even when you think you can.

I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for this one.

Read in April. Blog review scheduled for May 22.

Publication date: June 4, 2024 341 pages.

Catriona McPherson excels at crafting creepy psychological thrillers. But I'd say her latest, Deep Beneath Us, is not so much creepy as it is claustrophobic, addressing the themes of mental illness, murder, dysfunctional family dynamics, and the (un)reliability of memory. Narrated primarily by Tabitha Muir from her home on the banks of a remote Scottish loch that may hold secrets, there is very little action. The tortuous plot progresses mostly through dialogue, reminiscence, and musing, and I struggled to make sense of it for the first half of the book. In the latter half, things get even more labyrinthine, but glimmers of facts and the first hope of solving the mysteries emerge.

My favorite characters are the quartet of teenagers who ground the story with their clear-eyed pursuit of the truth and their refusal to give up, although they exhibit realistic teenager characteristics. I also enjoyed spending time in alternate chapters with two men--friends of a recently deceased family member--who have their own secrets and family issues, but who are determined to help their late friend's family deal with their myriad fears, suspicions, and tragedies. Tabitha, the central character, who has lost her marriage, her job, and almost the custody of her son, and who has spent time in a mental institution, is still dealing with her very fragile mental state. I had a difficult time connecting with her, although I held out hope at the end that her life would finally improve. Side note: I would have appreciated a glossary of Scottish words and expressions.

My thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Took me a while to get into this book.
After a while I loved it.
Got intriguing. Also set in Scotland which I love
Would love another book

Deep Beneath Us is a mystery set in Scotland on the edge of a loch. Tabitha returns to her homestead after losing all that she holds dear: her job, her husband, her son. But returning home does not give her the peace she desires; instead, she is plunged into the drama and mystery that surrounds her family and is the key to understanding why she was hospitalized for psychiatric problems as a teenager.

This was the first time I had read anything by this author. I found the reading to be quite easy, the mystery compelling and interesting, and the characters, all of them, even the weirdos, utterly charming. I highly enjoyed this book, The writing is fresh and interesting. In Tabitha's dream sequences, I did have a bit of trouble following her train of thought, but honestly, I think that was the point.

This book is told all in one timeline, but from multiple perspectives. There is no objectionable material in this book.

I found this book to be highly engaging. I read it in about 48 hours (would have been sooner if I didn't have daily responsibilities!). I was rooting for Tabitha and Davey the whole time, even when their secrets were revealed. This book could also be classified as "complicated families," and boy, does this family really take the cake at being complicated.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more from this author. I found myself wanting their to be a sequel so I could know what happened to all the characters that I had grown to know and love through reading this.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House Publishing
for the eARC.
At the beginning of the book I was confused and it took a while for me to get into the story, but once I did, I couldn't put it down.
The Muirs of Hiskiv in Scotland are the family where Tabitha Muir returns to after 20 years. She's been married, had a son, divorced, lost her job and had a stint in a mental home.
Holding on to her sanity is an uphill battle, especially amongst her unstable family. Finally finding the truth amongst all the lies makes for a very satisfying ending for her and the reader.