Atomic Coffin - by Benedict Anning (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Hunt for Red October meets The Thing when a British spy in East Germany, codename Thistle, uncovers a hidden USSR underwater base with a terrifying secret, blending deep-sea dread and psychological horror in a high-stakes thriller that will captivate fans of S.A. Barnes and Daniel Kraus.

December 1984. SIS field asset Heidi Sperling (codename Thistle) exfiltrates from East Berlin with the sole copy of a critical intelligence leak: a naval log containing a solitary message received from a previously unidentified Soviet submarine.

Incredulously--impossibly--it seems the vessel, known only as TK-15, has been sitting motionless and undetected in the waters between Scotland and Iceland for three whole years. And now this latest message reads: ACTIVE.

Picked up by the Royal Navy's submarine HMS Viking, Heidi is thrust into a black ops mission: find TK15 and neutralize it at any cost. But as her only ally on board the Viking falls sick, she realizes this modified vessel is far more than a Soviet experiment to gain an upper hand in the nuclear arms race. Here, in the crushing depths of the North Atlantic, it seems something darker has awoken--something that cannot be contained by any superpower.

As Heidi's own reality twists around her, an unknowable force cripples the Viking's defenses and drives its crew to madness. Trapped in the deep, Heidi has no choice but to find a way to save the remaining crew and stop TK-15 for good, before it steals what's left of her mind...

Review Quotes

"Atomic Coffin, then, is brilliantly original must-read horror. Anning has fused a claustrophobic submarine-set Cold War thriller with a genuinely terrifying Event Horizon-style nightmare, and the result is tonally terrific, a nightmarish descent which will have you clinging to your armchair every single fathom."--Ed Crocker "- Grimdark Magazine"

"Anning infuses the narrative with 1980s nostalgia, from cassette tapes played on a Walkman to nuclear war jitters, but keeps the focus on more timeless fears of loss of memory and dissociation from reality. With echoes of the film Event Horizon, this gripping tale of psychological terror is sure to win Anning plenty of fans. "-- "- Publishers Weekly "

"This is a truly remarkable book that achieves everything it sets out to do. More from Benedict Anning soon, please!" --Cat Treadwell "- Fantasy Hive "

One of the best recent science fiction, fantasy, and horror.-- "- The Guardian "

About the Author

Benedict Anning is a Surrey-born author and short fiction writer living just outside of Edinburgh with his wonderful cat, Penny. After a stint in creative studies at sixth form, independent exams, and later ancient history at university, Ben spent three years as a bookseller before moving to the third sector where he now works for a local animal shelter. An artist at heart and fan of all things eerie, Ben has a special love for twisty horror fiction where the setting is a principal character, and things just aren't quite right. Atomic Coffin is his first published novel.