[BOOK REVIEW] TRENCH MOUTH BY CHRISTINE MORGAN

6/8/2021

if you’re looking for human-fish genetic mutations butting heads (and fins) and if you’ve been screaming out for a more developed creature-feature, Trench Mouth will give you plenty to get your teeth into.

I’ve read a lot of creature features over the last few years, but Christine Morgan’s Trench Mouth goes bigger, goes bloodier, goes deeper that any of the others which is simultaneously its greatest strength but also where it might not quite hit the mark with all readers.

So what’s it all about? We have giant sea creatures and we have scientists carrying out genetic mutations on willing volunteers in a secret subsea research station… In fact, there’s so much going on it’s quite difficult to know where to start, and it feels as though Morgan had that problem too, with the first five or six chapters all being titled ‘How it begins..?’ And while forward momentum is a little slow at first as we rush through a series of parallel events, we get treated to Morgan’s fantastic prose. Having enjoyed Morgan’s White Death a couple of years back, I knew I was in safe hands in that regard. You immediately feel immersed in the world, even if you’re not quite sure how it all comes together.

The vast majority of Trench Mouth’s action takes place far beneath the waves in and around a research station called Fathom Five which is located close to the Mariana Trench. Early in the novel, a group of eight volunteers are making their way to this research station for the purpose of some kind of mysterious experiment they’ve signed up to. The details of this are unknown to the volunteers, and only drip-fed to us through conversations between the scientists, which keeps this element intriguing. Each of the volunteers has a good reason to want to escape their life and volunteer for something which could alter their bodies in unknown ways. Reggie is a surfer whose reputation has been ruined after he shared a video of a group of dolphins getting a little frisky with his girlfriend (which later leads to one of the most bizarre presentations of dolphins I’ve ever read); Hunter and Tanner are the You-TuBros, a pair of vloggers constantly seeking more extreme adventures; Nikos and Ellen are deep-sea divers with a dark secret; Lenka is an former Olympian seeking to adapt to become better still; George is ex-military; and Shandee is a former performing ‘mermaid’ forced out under the misguided belief that there are no black mermaids. Each character is well developed (well Hunter and Tanner come as a pair) so they all feel genuine, and the decisions that the make are logical, which is all too often a failure in this type of story.

Before we get to their experiments and their transformation, we get to meet some of the extraordinary creatures beneath the waves including an enormous whale, the oldest turtle in existence, a gigantic squid and most extraordinarily, a ginormous anglerfish. Some of these creatures even get their own POV chapters, which helps us to understand them better. One aspect that really stands out is the level of research that has gone into this work. Morgan knows her stuff when it comes to these creatures and it shows here. Their anatomy, their habits, feel authentic here, even if their size is extraordinary. The fact that it’s humans encroaching on their domain is not lost here either. If anything, we get a little too much exploration of the threats, and it’s the only point the pace slows a little too much.

On Fathom Five to add to our volunteers, we also have a cast of characters, starting with the mastermind before it all, Dr Yale. She comes across as more than just your archetypal mad scientist, though that is definitely her purpose. Vance is the head of security, and when he’s on the page there’s usually tension, especially between him and the volunteers. We also have those that pilot the sub-sea vessels, scientists and cooks, but of all of those, the most interesting are Raf and Hobbs. They’re an odd pair of scientists observing the process, often seeing things in different ways. Hobbs is obsessed with Lord of the Rings, and his dialogue with Raf is always entertaining.

All of these characters and factors lead to the novels biggest weakness. We’re over 50% of the way through the novel before we see our volunteers, our guinea pigs, our ‘sea monkeys’ as they’re dubbed, in action with their newly developed skills and mutations. That’s not to say that what goes before isn’t of interest or doesn’t move along with a decent pace. We have a rather lengthy episode in which Fathom Five comes under attack from the giant squid, and as much as I enjoyed this, at this point I wanted to know what was going to happen to our genetic experiments.

Most of the characters involved here are minor characters, so while the writing remains engaging, while the scenes are full of action and carnage, I wasn’t as invested as I was in the story of the volunteers, and when I got to those genetic mutations, I was rewarded. Each of the volunteers mutates in a slightly different way that relates to their personality. Lenka’s mutations, for example, fit with her desire to gain greater speed. The pace only picks up in this second half. As formerly mentioned, we start with a high number of characters, and by this point we’ve thinned the herd a little. By the close, the body count only rises, some as result of our genetic mutations, some as result as the other threats in the water.

Throughout, the writing is excellent, whether that be the description that brings this underwater world to life, the dialogue, or the fast-paced action. The structure of the novel takes us through multiple viewpoints, and it always feels like Morgan is making the right choice in who takes us through a particular scene.

All too often we see writers take short cuts when they write a creature feature. They decide their characters are only there to be slaughtered, that their monster is there to be a menace and nothing more. That’s not the case with Trench Mouth. While Morgan starts with a stereotype in some regards, she makes the characters and the creatures here real. That’s not to say this forgets its B-movie origins. At times, Trench Mouth is hilarious. It’s clear Morgan had fun with the dialogue with these characters as they throw in one-liners at appropriate times. The inspiration of ridiculous action movies is clear too with some over-the-top scenes, but never to the extent where it becomes a parody. I found myself smiling as I was reading so many scenes here, and sometimes grimacing too, because when it starts to get gory there are chunks flying all over the place.

If you’re after a shallow dip in the waters, this might not be the book you’re looking for, but if you’re ready to plunge into the depths seeking huge creatures threatening the work of mad-scientists, if you’re looking for human-fish genetic mutations butting heads (and fins) and if you’ve been screaming out for a more developed creature-feature, Trench Mouth will give you plenty to get your teeth into.

TRENCH MOUTH

BY CHRISTINE MORGAN

Fathom Five … a state-of-the-art oceanic research facility, suspended far below the surface. There, in the dark and the deep, a team of top-notch scientists study the ecosystems and denizens of an aquatic environment as alien as another planet.

There, they also conduct illicit experiments upon hapless human subjects, with the goal of giving our species a chance to adapt to a changing world. Or, at the very least, to create mutant freaky fish-people, because, why not?

Oh, the arrogance and hubris of genius! Oh, the freaky things that already dwell in the strange, hostile depths! In the cold, crushing, silent pressure of a blackness lit only by eerie bioluminescence. Things that don’t take kindly to intruders Things that are ancient, and enormous, and hungry.

Things like … TRENCH MOUTH.
Think Sea Lab of Dr. Moreau meets Jersey Shore, plus enough gore and body parts to fill entire coal hoppers; add to that, Morgan’s uniquely visual style that rams it all in our faces in glorious Technicolor.
—Ed Lee, White Trash Gothic

This is exactly the kind of book I love. Supersonic pacing. Blood spilled on every page. A grisly weird-science techno-thriller set in the crushing stygian darkness, Morgan’s Trench Mouth lures you in and leaves you gasping.
—Lee Murray, three-time Bram Stoker nominee, and author of Into the Mist