Lying in the Deep by Diana Urban is about a young woman who tries to escape her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend who betrayed her. Jade is looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime. She will get to visit 11 countries in 4 months aboard a luxurious cruise ship. She couldn’t wait to move on and experience all that the cruise has to offer, only to find out that the people she is trying to escape are also on the trip with her.
Her obsession with the couple begins to grow as she spends every moment trying to analyze what went wrong in the relationships. She tries to analyze what went wrong with her relationships with her ex and ex-best friend. Her obsession becomes an issue when someone ends up murdered. Then more of her friends are dying and Jade has become the prime suspect. She will have to figure out who is behind these crimes before anyone else ends up in a body bag.
This young adult novel is a closed room thriller with a few twists and turns. I thought Jade was an annoying main character. She was too stubborn and stuck in her own head. When she wanted to find out the truth over her relationship, she was basically stalking the couple. To me, her character seemed stereotypical: The sweet and caring character that everyone seems to love. She always tried to see the best in people even when there were so many clues pointing to them being the bad guy. When she realized that one character could have prevented another from dying if they spoke up earlier, she still tried helping that character instead of having them face any consequences.
Some of the dialogue and characters seemed one dimensional and juvenile. They seemed to make silly mistakes that I would assume someone younger would do. I was also surprised that a scene in the book mentioned the characters doing meth. I feel like that seems out of place for college students. The book did reel me in the beginning but then it started petering out towards the end because it seemed unbelievable and far fetched.
