Nick Prasad has always enjoyed a quiet life in the shadow of his best friend, child prodigy and technological genius Joanna ‘Johnny’ Chambers. But all that is about to end. 

When Johnny invents a clean reactor that could eliminate fossil fuels and change the world, she awakens primal, evil Ancient Ones set on subjugating humanity. 

From the oldest library in the world to the ruins of Nineveh, hunted at every turn, they will need to trust each other completely to survive…

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Sometimes it’s the blurbs that get me.

Yeah.

I mean, there’s any number of reasons why I might feel drawn to a particular book. Word of mouth, a glowing review from a friend, a really gorgeous cover. But something about blurbs from other authors really does it for me.

So, to see glowing blurbs from authors like Chuck Wendig, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia (among others) for Premee Mohamed’s book BENEATH THE RISING was more than enough to spark my interest in this book. Add in the fact that Premee Mohamed is fucking hilarious on Twitter, and I was sold.

And wow. This book is a fucking wild ride. Like some bananas coming-of-age mashup of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, but all jacked up on cosmic horror.

When you take away all the sci-fi/adventure/horror elements of the book, you’ve got a story about two teenage best friends. Nick Prasad and Joanna Chambers, better known as Johnny (and sometimes just John). Johnny is a super genius. Like maybe the-smartest-person-in-the-whole-entire-world level genius. The story is set in an alternate version of the post-9/11 early aughts, and Johnny’s inventions and innovations have literally touched the lives of nearly everyone on the planet.

And Nick is just a bit more…average. Caring for his younger siblings, working at a grocery store, and maybe not-so-secretly pining away for Johnny. And although her work keeps her traveling all over the world, they always wind up back together. Besties.

Johnny invents a clean energy source that will change everything about this planet, but in doing so, she unleashes literal hell on earth. The Ancient Ones. Nightmare fuel monsters from another dimension. Johnny & Nick’s globetrotting quest to save humanity begins.

Shit gets weird.

And creepy.

And funny.

And sad.

I read BENEATH THE RISING a bit slowly, and only at night. Which kind of enhanced some of the creepier elements, for sure. Premee Mohamed has really written something with one foot (or tentacle) in lots of different genres, and the end result is just a lot of fun. She also has a great ear for dialogue, and this story is packed with the kind of brutally scathing banter that only the best of friends can get away with.

The relationship between Nick & Johnny is complex, and watching them navigate their own flaws & friendship while also trying to rid the planet of of these horrifying monsters makes for some really compelling reading.

I was about halfway through this when I learned that there’s another book coming in this series, really soon! A BROKEN DARKNESS is out at the end of March, and I’m extremely ready!