'The Vanishing Deep' does have potential to be quite interesting, especially the water world that Scholte creates. I'm turned off by a couple things, however -- (1) the harsh, cynical nature of Tempe, which can seem forced at times, (2) the underwater environment & the civilization as portrayed in the excerpt -- too many mysterious things are thrown at us too quickly without enough backstory or context to figure them out. Also for me, the young woman on the cover resembles Katy Perry, so that's all I can think of when I see it.