Review: Nothing is Ever Simple by G.R. Matthews

What better way to follow up reading a slightly depressing story during a hurricane than reading a story that takes place underwater because of severe flooding during a severe flood, amirite?

I’m currently only able to do this review on my phone, so forgive me if this goes really wonky.

Corin’s back and now he has a job and a little money. Life is good, but when are things ever that simple?

Recovering from injuries sustained on his last repair job, he is offered the chance to travel, to leave Tyler’s city, his home, and see a little more of the world under the oceans. An easy job, easy money and a bit of rest, nothing can go wrong.

“Nothing’s really changed since we left the surface and came to live beneath the waves. The rich get richer and the poor struggle to get by. Those with money escape justice and those with none feel the full wrath of the law. There has to be a better way and, one day, I hope someone finds it. Until they do, I’ll keep my head down, my fists up and live a simple life. Beer, whiskey, work and sleep. Rinse and repeat till death.”

“I said go away, boy. You’re spoiling my evening meal.” I pointed with my left hand towards the exit and whilst they focused on that gesture, palmed the fork with my right. Anything can be a weapon and if they wanted to fuck with me, I was going to fork with them.

Oh, Corin… that’s a bad idea… but you’re kind of a bad idea machine sometimes, aren’t you? This event certainly starts a fun adventure, at any rate.

This story is a an adventure that can be enjoyed without having read the previous one, but I’m glad that I read Silent City first so that I got a proper introduction to Corin, his Fish-Suit, and his snark.

Corin Hayes, freelance diver, alcoholic, repairer of underwater thingies, sneaky bastard and all around haver of some shite luck is at it again… being all those things. He gets into a bar fight with the wrong sort of people while out in a different city on a job, who then blackmail him into doing a shady job for them. It gets worse for him from there. Poor Corin. He was just trying to be a good guy. After the job is done, he’s gotta clear his name, because Corin may not have much, but he has his self-respect, goddamn it!

This one was an action packed romp through all kinds of shenanigans, both in and out of his Fish-Suit. Corin remains an awesome character to hear tell his tale. It’s full of cool little references that if you’re a nerd like me, will probably make you smile. Everything from TNG to referring to ‘the classics’ by lumping a few names I know quite well in with names like Shakespeare and Salinger. In fact, there were a few names I recognized in this story, blended right in. I loved it! The flooded future is a very interesting place, really!

The only criticism I have for this one is that it could use a tad more editing. Normally, I’d be the first person to write down any mistakes I found and let the author know about them, but in this instance, with my being displaced from home right at the moment due to the aforementioned hurricane and flooding, I didn’t really have the chance with this one. Either way, all small stuff and pretty infrequent, but they’re there. I did receive an ARC of this novel from the author, so for all I know this could be a moot point if it’s an unedited version, but whatever. 😄