Into the Sunken City - Dinesh Thiru

In the slowly sinking city of Coconino, Arizona, the days are long, the money is tight, and the rain never stops.

For Jin Haldar, this life is nothing new—ever since her father died in a diving accident, she’s barely made ends meet for her and her younger sister, Thara.

Enter Bhili: a drifter who offers Jin and Thara the score of a lifetime—a massive stash of gold hidden in the sunken ruins of Las Vegas.

Jin knows it’s too dangerous. She stopped diving after her father’s accident. But when her sister decides to go, Jin’s left with only one choice: to go with her.

A ragtag crew is assembled—including Jin’s annoyingly hot ex-boyfriend. From there, a high-stakes heist ensues that’s beyond even Jin’s wildest fears. Crumbling ruins, sea beasts, corsairs, and a mysterious figure named João Silva all lie in wait. To survive, Jin will have to do what she promised herself she’d never do again: dive.

For a book about diving in a world of never-ending rain, it's surprisingly dry.

The characters are bland, the "sea beast" makes like one appearance and dips (pun intended), I couldn't care less if they found the treasure or not, the "rain that never stops" was never really explained and of course... the "experienced" pirates are easily defeated by a single teenage girl

We're supposed to believe that Jin and her ex were madly in love, but for some reason, I didn't think they had any chemistry. They seemed more like good childhood friends which would've been enough for me, but the author was pushing for them to end up together and I didn't like that. I would've even preferred if they stayed "exes" and just continued on as friends.

As I mentioned above, the world-building wasn't developed enough. We're supposed to believe the rain just started falling one day and never stopped resulting in many natural disasters, of course. But why? At one point in the book they even mention there might be a way to stop it, but it is never explored. I honestly expected the story to focus on this a bit more instead of just this "quest to find the gold."

The only thing I liked about this book is its main character - Jin. That girl is so resourceful, so smart, and quick-thinking, and she would do anything to give her sister a better life. She's been taking care of them both since their dad died diving and she's been doing a great job. I absolutely loved her as a character and her relationship with her sister.

All in all - a decent concept with lots of potential, but doesn't deliver on the emotional aspect and world-building.