That's a good point about the nature of the world building and the structure of the first book. I really liked the feel of it calling back to ghost stories, which isn't there in book two.

I've read the first two books in the Newsflesh trilogy, the entire Parasitology trilogy, and Into the Drowning Deep (and the prequel short story). Of those, the killer mermaids are by far my favorite. I love creepy ocean stories and killer mermaids and now I need to reread them. Again.