Creatures of the Abyss by Murray Leinster

Creatures of the Abyss by Murray Leinster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I listened to the LibriVox free audio version, narrated by the wonderful Mark Douglas Nelson.

Radar expert and electronic engineer Terry Holt has been recruited by a scientific expedition in the Phillipines to make underwater listening devices. They won't tell him what his inventions are meant to investigate. And that makes him mad.

He has some ideas though. Orejas de ellos, the things who listen, have been the explanation by fishermen about strange catches of fish. Are they real or just superstition? What are the mysterious shooting stars that seem to fall with such frequency into the Luzon Deep? Why do mysterious swarms of fish gather in one specific area of the ocean?

Had Leinster been reading Jules Verne? Had he been reading H.G. Wells? Or is this a completely new creation? Those are the questions I repeatedly asked as I vacillated between three different theories about the mysterious "fish herding" and who is doing it. As Leinster always does, I was glued to this adventure story investigating what comes from the abyss, which may be deadly, especially to those who are set on discovering the truth. I will disclose only this ... I was very surprised by the end of the story. Bravo, Murray Leinster.