Dragged Down Deep by Michael Okon
Twenty years ago, Logan’s father died tragically, with nobody as his witness except 9-year-old Logan. Of course, the authorities don’t believe Logan’s insistence that it was a mermaid that leaped from the water and dragged him under. So, living with a hazy memory, doubting his own mind and reality, Logan has kept that glimmer of truth buried.
But with a career in Cryptozoology — hunting down creatures of myth and folklore— he’s finally searching for proof. And when reports of people going missing and blood washing up on the beach reach his ears, he will go back to the one place he swore never to return to.
Dragged Down Deep by Michael Okon is a spine-chilling story of grief, trauma, and darkness lurking beneath the surface. As Logan hunts down the thing he is most afraid of — the truth of his past — he will be forced to reckon with the unimaginable.
Thrill-Seeking Cryptid Hunter
We meet Logan Osbourne as he dangles from a cliff, camera in hand, trying to capture a photo of the magnificent and mythological Thunderbird, a great creature from Native folklore. People have protected and hidden the Thunderbird for a thousand years, maintaining its secrecy as a myth so that foes do not exploit, kill, or lead it to extinction. So when Logan wraps the 50-pound egg in his arms and feels it begin to hatch, he is on the brink of proving a legend true, of legitimizing and protecting this cultural keystone.
But for everyone with good intentions, there’s someone trying to sabotage those plans. Aimee Dupree, his rival and former lover, shows up in the nick of time, steals his photographic evidence, and disappears. So why risk his life to prove the existence of cryptids, to start up a Cryptozoology department at the university, to beat Aimee to the truth? He has a past to answer for.
Dark Memories Resurface
Logan is tattooed with images of every once-mythical creature he studied, tracked down and uncovered. But one tattoo is still incomplete. The gaps in his memory from a traumatic night make it impossible to recall the last details of the creature’s appearance.
For years, Logan’s father’s life fell apart as he fell deeper and deeper into his obsessions and research, trying to prove the existence of a cryptid — a mermaid. One fateful night, out on the water, Logan came face to face with the legendary Mermaid of Minatuck, just before it took his father’s life — an event that jumpstarted a future of chasing myths and legends.
With threats from law enforcement to keep what he saw quiet, Logan begins to doubt his own mind, clouded by gaslighting and their insistence that his father’s death was a suicide. But is it just that the people in power want to keep the truth hidden?
As an adult, he has flashbacks of the men who threatened to send him to an asylum, and a deeper memory of a strange man in the hospital room, one nobody remembers seeing. Who was that other man? He wonders. It may finally be time to get some answers. When an old friend calls, he knows he has no choice but to dive headfirst into his past and uncover a small-town conspiracy he never imagined.
With a childhood friend missing, events mirroring his father’s death, and deadly disappearances, the signs point Logan towards the Mermaid of Minatuck. Meanwhile, a gang of men on motorcycles is following him, the scuba instructor he grew up with is nowhere to be found, and people around town refuse to discuss the supernatural. Logan is on the verge of something incredible, and it could take everything to uncover the truth, even if it means coming face-to-face with the deadly creature — for the second time.
Flawed and Compelling Characters
In this story, the human enemies are more dangerous than any supernatural enemy. But this Fox Mulder-type has a band of allies: Logan’s best friend and fellow cryptid seeker Elliot; childhood friend and potential love interest Penny; and professor Haversham, Logan’s intellectual connection to cryptids and his father. Each character is carefully drawn and keeps this fast-moving plot racing along to an epic conclusion.
Dragged Down Deep is not only a chilling, page-turning adventure story. It’s a deep exploration into the psyche of a man with a traumatic past, and the lengths he will go to in honoring his father’s memory.
Logan has kept his obsession with cryptids secret. He doesn’t want to become the social pariah that his father was, labeled crazy for speculations and investigations. Rather than let his father — and himself — become a joke, Logan devotes his life to the study of the supernatural.
This character that Michael Okon has created is flawed and believable, and feels so refreshingly human amidst the terrifyingly inhuman creatures of the story. Dragged Down Deep is a must-read supernatural thriller, jam-packed with suspense, adventure, and touching moments of reconciliation. Grab a copy and dive in.
Michael Okon is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres including paranormal, thriller, horror, action/adventure and self-help. He graduated from Long Island University with a degree in English, and then later received his MBA in business and finance. Coming from a family of writers, he has storytelling in his DNA. Michael has been writing from as far back as he can remember, his inspiration being his love for films and their impact on his life. From the time he saw The Goonies, he was hooked on the idea of entertaining people through unforgettable characters.
Michael is a lifelong movie buff, a music playlist aficionado, and a sucker for self-help books. He lives on the North Shore of Long Island with his wife and children. Follow him on social media @iammichaelokon.
