BOOK REVIEW: ​NINGEN BY LAURA MAURO

 
Darker Worlds have been putting out a few of these, lately; long short stories/novelette/novella length tales with a distinctive black white and red cover art design. I’m literally the millionth person to observe that the Kindle seems to have single handedly revived this format, which is excellent for a short horror tale you can read in an hour or two, but hey, it’s still true, so.
 
Ningen is a story that that takes place entirely under the sea, as an international rescue team (no, not them) works to try and salvage a russian sub that has sunk under mysterious circumstances, and if possible rescue any survivors. Our POV character is Mike - a fascinating character who has always felt at most at home in the depths of the ocean. He’s a very insular character, thoughtful, but pragmatic and not especially imaginative or expressive. It makes him a canny choice for protagonist, because that pragmatism, and insider perspective on the process of walking the sea bed at colossal depths, serve to highlight the alien nature of the environment - his very matter-of-fact perspective imbuing his surroundings with an eeriness that more purple prose might have rendered absurd, or overwrought. Instead, Mauro, through her narrator, allows the eeriness of his surroundings to speak for themselves.
 
Given the length of the tale, I don’t want to get too much into how the plot develops; not least because I think you’ll get more out the less you know going in. But the evocation of this extraordinary setting has thematic resonances with the developing story, and the choices Mike ultimately faces. There’s a sense of murk, pressure, and oppressive cold, alongside an uneasy, weird beauty that is brilliantly realised.
 
This is utterly assured writing from an author whose work still seems to be growing in poise and stature almost story to story. Between this, Naming The Bones, and Letters From Elodie from New Fears 2, Mauro is fast becoming a must-read voice in the horror genre. 

​NINGEN BY LAURA MAURO

Tragedy has befallen the Russian submarine, Ussuri. Without explanation, the vessel has been lost to the depths of the ocean, all hands aboard presumed lost. A team of deep-sea divers has been dispatched to investigate.

What they will discover is the infinity of depths and landscapes that become only more alien to them. And as the team themselves are stricken by yet another tragedy, they must face the increasing reality of the possibilities that lay below. That what awaits them could be the ultimate truth. Or madness.

Or both.

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