There's a lot boiling around under the placid surface of Artos.

Stephen Coonts wood and, beyond, the placid surface of the sound.

Beyond that was a placid surface of water, no more than an inch below the ledge he stood on.

We're always aware of something awful under the placid surface.

He had sensed something like this beneath the prince's placid surface.

Yet under this placid surface there are strong forces of demographic restructuring at work.

Like the river, the play winds and bends, its placid surface giving no indication of the force within.

Yet perhaps in no other country is there so much personal angst beneath the placid surface.

She - or he - made barely a ripple on that placid black surface.

British filmmakers would not for much longer feel free to look behind the placid surface of English life.