Paradise has been lost.
Anchor’s Mercy is locked down, overrun with weepers. The Embrace sits in the harbor, full of survivors, but no one is safe. A horrific fate awaits all aboard while something lurks, eager and hungry, in the waters below. And now, one key survivor is missing. The world watches in horror as the government considers annihilation to be the only option. Until a dossier of confidential files leaks to the public and a resistance begins to rise...
Meanwhile, Ollie Veltman awakens chained to the bottom of a pool, transformed by the twisted experiments of those on his island. A terrifying power has anchored itself within him, and now the remaining survivors -- doomsday cultists -- believe he is a miracle sent to unleash a plague that will drown humanity from the inside out. To rescue his friends, Ollie must learn to trust enemies, and to save his island, he will need to delve even deeper into the tragedies of the past. But to save the world, Ollie must do what no one else can: venture to the very darkest depths of his island and confront the unfathomable truth before it turns him into a monster, forever.
Ryan La Sala is a bestselling and award-winning author known for his genre-defying, queer-centered horror and fantasy, including the Anchor's Mercy duology, The Dead of Summer and Bodies of Water; The Honeys; and Beholder. His work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, and more. He writes to you from New York, overseen by his cat, Haunted Little Girl. He can hold his breath for one minute and three seconds. You can ping him on his shell phone at ryanlasala.com.