Publication Day Review: Deep Dive: A Jessie Madison Thriller by Terry Shames

Deep Dive: A Jessie Madison Thriller is the second book in the series that began a little more than a year ago with the release of Perilous Waters. While it is always better to read any series in order, in this case, most of the events depicted in that book are covered here, so beginning here would work well. This read is also a far better book.

 

As the book begins, Jessie Madison is at home in her new apartment far from the Bahamas. She is living on the reward money she got after those events. She is, for now, putting off looking for a job as the one job she wanted, being a member of an FBI Dive Team, is still closed to her. She plans on working on the case that the Newport News cops could never solve—the murder of her father twelve years ago.

 

She is reviewing the case materials she has one evening when two men in suits show up at her door. They tell her she is wanted for a briefing. John Farrell at Quantico, her former trainer in the FBI program and the man who booted her out, wants to see her in person and as soon as possible. Instead of calling her, he sent the agents and a helicopter and has told the agents nothing beyond the fact that the matter is urgent.

 

She packs a bag and takes the flight as she knows that whatever he wants could be a way to get back into the program. She soon learns that he reached out because somebody above him wants her for an emergency open position with a USERT (Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team) operating overseas. Contacting her was not his idea, but he did what he was told.  A diver on the team was severely injured a few days ago and Jessie Madison would be sent in as his replacement if she agrees.

 

While he doesn’t answer her questions, or tell her much at all about the mission, he does make it clear that this might be a way for her to get back into the training program once the mission is completed. A door that was welded shut before has now cracked open just a hair. So, it was never really in doubt that she was going to take the assignment.

 

Soon she is with the team in Tyrrhenian Sea near the main small island of Lipari located off the northern coast of Sicily. A World War II plane has been found deep underwater and in a precarious position. It appears that the long dead pilot of the plane was wearing a United States uniform at the time of the crash. The plane may have also contained something so important that the government sent FBI divers to the wreckage on a mission clouded in secrecy. Why they are tasked with recovering an unknown object that may or may not be onboard is just one of many questions that are to be answered in Deep Dive: A Jessie Madison Thriller by Terry Shames.

 

While I personally much prefer the Samuel Craddock Mystery series, Deep Dive is an enjoyable book. Much is going on personally and professionally for nearly everyone in the read and the characters very much come alive for the reader. Then there are the overseas elements, the aspects of the dangerous dives, and stream of nefarious people with their own agendas.

 

The result is a complicated and fast moving read as things escalate in unpredictable ways. Deep Dive: A Jessie Madison Thriller by Terry Shames is a good book and a pleasant way to spend your time, on or off the beach.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3GDVFAH

 

 

My reading copy came from the publisher, Severn House, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2025