Genre: Sci-Fi Romantic Suspense Heat Level: 2 Word Count: 54, 920 ISBN: 978-1-77130-636-2 Editor: JS Cook Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Who Saw the Deep by Christine Klocek-Lim

Heat Level 2
$4.99
SKU 978-1-77130-636-2
Stock
Read Description and Excerpt
Wishlist

Create Wishlist

When Noah moves back home after grad school, he doesn't expect a simple handyman job to turn deadly. Amelia seems like a sweet old lady with a run-down house, but appearances can be deceptive. When an alien ship lands in her woods, Noah discovers that everything he believed about Earth and human civilization is wrong.

Amelia already gave her heart to one man—does she really want to let another one inside? Even though Noah is everything she ever wanted, can she really trust him? He seems like a good person, but her family's genetic legacy is more important than romance.

When all their secrets are laid bare, Noah and Amelia discover that the survival of their species may be more dependent on love than either could have imagined. Civilization endures because of anonymous acts executed by ordinary individuals. And love, especially in the face of betrayal, is worth everything.

ep1small.jpg
 
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) 2012 Semi-Finalist Winner
 
"This novel is well written, original, and clever."
—Publisher's Weekly
 
 
Excerpt:
 
“Noah, hold up.”

He ignored her. She dug her heels into the ground and hung on. He stopped, reluctantly turning. She looked at his face, so dear. The rain had matted down his hair, the brown strands sticking to his cheeks. She reached up, picking apart some of them, letting her fingers linger over his eyelids. She’d liked him almost from the first moment he’d come to her house, hands shoved into his jeans, face tired. She let her fingers fall down to his lips and his expression softened.

“We don’t have time for this,” he said gently. She shook her head, drew him closer. He came willingly and she dug her nose into his chest as they clung to each other. When she lifted her face, he kissed her roughly, as if afraid she wasn’t real. She hung onto him, kissing back until the chill from the rain disappeared and all she could think about was the heat between them. He groaned, kissing down her jaw, hands shaking.

“I’m not dead,” she said.

He hugged her tighter, trembling. “Your skin was all black. God.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Um, ewww.”

He choked out a laugh. “Yeah, it was certainly gross. I waited for you to disintegrate, but you never did. I grabbed you and the house collapsed around us as I ran. I didn’t know what to do.” He pulled back. Amelia couldn’t tell if he was crying—the rain soaked them both.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you about me.” She sighed. “I didn’t know if I should tell you.”

“Leah doesn’t believe you, does she?” he asked, voice soft.

A pang of terror raced through her as she thought about facing her daughter again.

“No. I tried to explain it to her but she thinks I’m crazy. It’s not like I could demonstrate.” She turned away, began walking down the trail again. “I mean, how do you explain this to your daughter?” She waved at herself.

Noah slung his arm around her shoulders. “What happens if you kill yourself?”

From the light tone of his voice, Amelia knew he had no idea. “I would die for real,” she said, flatly.

He stopped, face drawn. “Okay, I could see how that would be bad.”

She snorted. “Why do you think there aren’t more of us running around? The women in my family are immortal. We live and die and then come back to life. Like pushing a reset button. One of us could conceivably do this forever.”

Noah shuddered, clearly thinking of the larger picture.

“Exactly. And yes, before you ask, some of us tried. My mother told me stories about a few of our ancestors who went insane after centuries of rebirth. She mentioned one who forced a slave to kill her every year so she never aged.” Amelia’s step faltered.

“So how come there aren’t more of you?” Noah asked.

“We have two weaknesses: we can kill ourselves and we can kill each other.”

“But that means—” he broke off, his voice cracking.

“Yeah. We eat our own.”

Product Reviews

Score: 5 out of 5 (based on 4 ratings)
leave a review
5/5
Long and Short of It Reviews
Written by undefined on 19th Dec 2013

Imagine seeing a strange object fall from the sky and noisily crash into the woods nearby. Would you call for help or run into the forest to investigate? The characterization in this novel is slow and subtle at first, but eventually even the smallest clues are tied together in ways that I never would have anticipated. I was especially interested in watching the friendship between Amelia and Noah develop during the first half of the plot. At first glance I never would imagined that they’d share so much in common, and it was fascinating to see two people from such different stages in life find so many things that unite them. While the pacing remains steady throughout the story, the climax includes quite a bit of information that is vitally important in order to understand everything that is happening. My sole criticism of this piece is minor, but I would have preferred to learn certain facts a little earlier on in the plot so that there was less competition for my attention when the tension reaches its highest point. With that being said, postponing the revelations does make sense given the subtly creepy atmosphere of earlier chapters. Ms. Lim knows exactly how to paint a thin veneer of dread over what otherwise appears to be a perfectly ordinary day, and her ability to find the dark underbelly of even the most mundane chores and experiences plays a large part in why this tale earned such a high rating. This book desperately needs a sequel. While all of the most important questions find answers, I am extremely interested in finding out what happens to Noah and Amelia after Who Saw the Deep ends. The final chapter drops hints about the future that made me wish the narrative would never end. Who Saw the Deep is a must-read for anyone who loves alien invasion stories or heart-stopping mysteries.If these genres are up your alley, go pick up a copy today!

5/5
A must-read
Written by Long and Short Reviews on 14th Dec 2013

Imagine seeing a strange object fall from the sky and noisily crash into the woods nearby. Would you call for help or run into the forest to investigate? The characterization in this novel is slow and subtle at first, but eventually even the smallest clues are tied together in ways that I never would have anticipated. I was especially interested in watching the friendship between Amelia and Noah develop during the first half of the plot. At first glance I never would imagined that they’d share so much in common, and it was fascinating to see two people from such different stages in life find so many things that unite them. While the pacing remains steady throughout the story, the climax includes quite a bit of information that is vitally important in order to understand everything that is happening. My sole criticism of this piece is minor, but I would have preferred to learn certain facts a little earlier on in the plot so that there was less competition for my attention when the tension reaches its highest point. With that being said, postponing the revelations does make sense given the subtly creepy atmosphere of earlier chapters. Ms. Lim knows exactly how to paint a thin veneer of dread over what otherwise appears to be a perfectly ordinary day, and her ability to find the dark underbelly of even the most mundane chores and experiences plays a large part in why this tale earned such a high rating. This book desperately needs a sequel. While all of the most important questions find answers, I am extremely interested in finding out what happens to Noah and Amelia after Who Saw the Deep ends. The final chapter drops hints about the future that made me wish the narrative would never end. Who Saw the Deep is a must-read for anyone who loves alien invasion stories or heart-stopping mysteries.If these genres are up your alley, go pick up a copy today!

5/5
Awesome
Written by undefined on 11th Nov 2013

I am a fan of all Christine's Books, this is by far my favorite. The story gives you a sense of realism, that makes the characters real. It is not your usual Sc-Fi story. It does not have little green or big green monsters roaming around, but human beings trying to save earth from invaders. It brings a sense of togetherness, and family values. While still keeping you on the edge of your seat wondering who will prevail.

5/5
Not so alien
Written by BP on 11th Nov 2013

So aliens aren’t little green men? Huh. Well, in Who Saw The Deep aliens are a little bit closer to us than we tend to think. By combining sci-fi with old myths, Klocek-Lim creates a believable scenario through a fast-paced plot. More than by the technical sci-fi stuff, which I’m not very good at, I was drawn by the questions raised by the novel’s storyline–the implied suggestion that we’ve become alien to ourselves, that we’re trying to invade and/or destroy our own planet. The juxtaposition of sci-fi and myths, of the inconceivable quantum technology of the shuttle and the forest it lands in. Of the scary weaponry and the simple (is it ever?) power of love. It all perhaps suggests that we’re relying too much on the artificial, the technology, instead of relying on our roots, origins, nature. Or maybe we’re just supposed to reconcile the two aspects, use one with the help of the other, and vice versa. But let’s move on to the characters and story ... Noah and Amelia. Their relationship is gripping from the start. Despite the age difference, it feels so natural and right. Klocek-Lim’s portrayal of Amelia is wonderful. She’s so unusual and surprising that one has to love her. I actually preferred her in the first part of the novel, precisely because of this unusualness. What I would perhaps want more of is Noah’s backstory. The novel focuses mainly on Amelia, we get only a glimpse at Noah’s unhappy return to his father’s house, but we hear little about why he’s not happy and what spurred on the return and his abandoning a career in IT. The supporting characters are well developed, too, especially Jamie. I loved how his crazy beliefs were finally vindicated, but poor man has little time to celebrate this with the events developing so quickly. The story unfolds with a fast pace, perhaps faster in the first part and slows down in the second (but maybe that’s me not being a sci-fi geek again). Noah being the sceptic helps make the first sightings of the unusual shuttle believable, and from then on, the events build up, strengthening the relationships between characters and revealing their motivations. Even in the thick of the action, we never get only the technical aspect of the events, the characters’ emotions are always involved and that’s what makes this novel a good read. It’s sci-fi, but anyone can relate with Amelia’s and Noah’s struggle because it’s presented through how they feel and think, not just through nano-materials and quantum technology. To paraphrase the novel’s blurb - the anonymous acts of ordinary individuals keep the civilisation afloat, but they also make these individuals extraordinary and worthy of being the protagonists of such a good novel.

Similar Items