Book Review: The Crushing Depths by Dani Pettrey

The Crushing Depths (Coastal Guardians #2). Dani Pettrey. Bethany House (2020). 320 pages. Genre: Romantic Suspense, Christian Fiction.

First Line: "Late September.  Thirty-eight miles off North Carolina's Coast. Greg Barnes clinked along the grated metal steps, his boot heels rasping with each shuffle as he headed topside for a much-needed breath of smoke."

Summary:  Coast Guard Investigative Services agent Rissi Dawson has been assigned a new partner.  When he walks in however, she is stunned.  Her new partner is Mason Rogers, the boy who was in the same foster home with her when she was a teenager.  The boy who always comforted and protected her when things went bad.  She hasn't had contact with him since the day he aged out of care.  

Rissi and Mason are assigned to investigate a death that happened on oil rig off the coast.  There are too many coincidences in the case for there not to have been foul play.  To complicate matters, many of the sailors believe in a curse and are convinced that is what is causing bad things to happen.  Will Rissi and Mason be able to uncover the truth before more deaths occur?

My thoughts:  I rarely read books in a series one after another.  But, after reading the first book in the Coastal Guardians series, I couldn't wait to see what happened next.  The Crushing Depths picks up just a few weeks after The Killing Tide ends.

Rissi Dawson is a character we were introduced to in the first book.  We were given glimpses of her past.  I was eager to learn more about where she had come from and what she had endured.  My curiosity was satisfied in this book.  Not only that, but Mason, the boy who always watched out for her and who she had a crush on, has reappeared in her life.  Now they have been paired together in a work environment.  Fortunately, both are professional enough to realize they need to focus on their work.  However, both wonder if the other feels the same.  The romance is realistic and sweet.  

The mystery of what happened on the oil rig is complicated.  The death is deemed an accident.  But, the circumstances are too specific to be a coincidence.  As Rissi and Mason investigate, their lives are put in peril.  There is plenty of action and suspense.  As part of the investigation they need to find out more about the curse that many of the sailors believe in.  It was interesting to learn about this.  There were many layers that needed to be uncovered.

A secondary storyline involves Noah and Brooke, a Coast Guard Medic.  Someone is stalking and threatening her.  She thinks it is an ex-boyfriend.  However, as Noah investigates, the threats keep coming.  Some of them were chilling.

Once again I enjoyed the team working together.  The dynamics between them are a lot of fun.  I also enjoy the unique setting and job that they do.  I don't live near an ocean and know very little about what is involved in the Coast Guard.  This is an interesting way to learn a little about it.  

This was an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. 

Quotes:

"Instead of an apartment, he'd gone with a cool seventies-style beach cottage on the sound side of Wrightsville Beach.  Tall marshes dotted the waterways on her left.  The sound of seagulls squawking contrasted with the beautiful silence of the white-and-gray egret standing regally at the marsh's edge."

"'That was the first and only time I saw Senior Chief smile.  He went on to explain that there's military bearing and gentlemanly bearing and that the two aren't mutually exclusive.  That talk anchored in my brain.'"