Quick Synopsis – The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He’ll be left behind with nothing but the ocean’s haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.

In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape. To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can’t help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep’s adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.

But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machines

Publication Date – Oct. 27, 2026

Bookshop Link – Scorpion Deep by C. G. Drews

Content Notes – This book is a horror fantasy novel and if you’re a fan of C. G Drews, you already know that means there is body horror, gore, mental illness, and blood. There are scenes of drowning, child abuse, death, death of a parent, imprisonment, self-harm, anxiety, panic attacks, and of page torturing of animals.

Other Books I’ve Reviewed by C. G. Drews – Hazelthorn by CG Drews -Book Review and You Did Nothing Wrong by CG Drews – Book Review

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐out of 5

Review – Wake-up kids, CG Drews has dropped another emotionally devastating horror novel. I picked up this book knowing it was going to hurt my feelings and I wasn’t disappointed. CG has such beautiful and haunting writing style. They perfectly encapsulate that awful lovely feeling of wanting to be known so badly that you’re willing to suffer in the name of what you believe is love. Jonathan is that kid who grows up in an abusive household and just tries to bottle it up inside. So, when he wakes up an ancient sea God and that sea God says that he’ll take care of Jonathon, how can he say no?

One of the worst best parts of this novel is the way that CG captures how isolated Jonathon is. Yes he has friends and adults in his life that love him, but they don’t really see him. They aren’t going to save him from the horror at home, if anything that make Jonathon feel worse because they can’t seem to see how bad it is. And Jonathon struggles with believing that it’s his responsibility to keep that violence to himself. I didn’t love is that Jonathon and his two friends are meant to be 17 and grown up in this isolated island off the coast of Maine, but it’s never really talked about how they went to school. Were they homeschooled? Because they never talk about other kids. I know that isn’t really that important to the story, but it bugged me.

Then we have Scorpion Deep, the sea God who convinces Jonathon that he loves him. It’s hard to read about such a toxic relationship, Scorpion Deep can easily see that Jonathon just wants to be enough. He feeds off that insecurity, always making comments about how others will always leave and they never loved Jonathon. This whole story is beautiful and heartbreaking and just ugh! I didn’t love the ambiguous ending; I would have liked to see a little more there (no spoilers).

If you love horror and want something that will also maybe make you cry, you might as well buy stock in CG Drews. I definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.