Once Derek swam the seas as a merrow, but once he saw human Tad on the shore, he took human form and never looked back.  Years later, Tad is killed in a boating accident—or is he?  Derek’s old friend Kellen, a fellow merrow, arrives one night, claiming he knows where Tad is.  Kellen says he will give Tad back…for a price.

Undertow is a strange and very suspenseful story.  Merrows were a creature I’d never read about before, so learning about them was fascinating.  I sympathized with Derek’s total desolation at the loss of his lover, and his confusion and hope when he discovered Tad might not be gone after all.  Kellen, Derek’s old friend, at first seemed to be a true villain.  His cold, calculating nature was chilling.  Later in the story, both Derek and Kellen become more fleshed out and three-dimensional.  The only character I didn’t feel like I knew was Tad.  Derek talks and thinks about him, but I never got to see what he thought or felt about any of the bizarre events in the story.  There is a lot of action and suspense toward the end of the tale as Derek struggles to rescue his lover.  I was drawn in by the suspense and kept on the edge of my seat until the end.  While I enjoyed this story, I feel that the suspense overshadowed the romance.  I knew Derek wanted to save Tad, but since I only knew Tad through Derek, I wasn’t as emotionally invested in the story as I wanted to be.  Still, if you’re interested in the paranormal and learning about unusual legends, you will like this book.