Into the Drowning Deep (Rolling in the Deep, #1) by Mira Grant, 4 stars

[Jen]

As expected with Mira Grant this one takes a while to get going but once it does it really gets going. Grant has done the usual job of doing enough research to make her imagined stories seem almost plausible and that makes them all the more gripping but slower to take off.
Mermaids are legends found in most cultures so why not suggest that the pollution caused by humans has driven them out into oceanic trenches? Why would they not eat us if we went poking our noses where they don't belong, other apex predators do? Why could they not be intelligent and have their own language(s)?
This story sets out to suggest an imaginative solution to all the ships which disappear or show up again as ghost ships. In doing so it gives an almost plausible answer to the questions above and shows how callous mankind really is. What sentient being would not avoid us? Why should they not eat us since we eat almost everything else and would probably eat them given half a chance?

A fascinating idea.