I had high expectations for this book - Alma Katsu, the master of horror historical fiction, taking on the Titanic? Sign me up! I'm a huge fan of everything Titanic-related, and I loved Katsu's The Hunger. My expectations were somewhat met, but not in the way they thought they would be.

The Deep is not "horror" at all, if anything just a little bit creepy and unsettling. The book, told mostly from the perspective of stewardess-cum-nurse Annie Hebbley, switches back and forth between the Titanic's maiden voyage and the wartime travels of the Britannic, Titanic's sister ship made into a hospital vessel during WWI. The Titanic scenes feel more like a society drama between all of the first-class passengers, intermixing real-life figures like J.J. and Madeleine Astor with fictional characters like Mark and Caroline Fletcher. The "spirit" that passengers begin to feel on board is almost like a sneaky, tricksy poltergeist, throwing a spanner in the normal works of high society gossip.

Aboard the Britannic, Annie is brought on as a nurse tending to soldiers with war wounds, shaken at being on board a ship so similar to Titanic after spending years in an insane asylum after the sinking. When she finds that one of her patients is a man who she thought had drowned on the Titanic, a man who she knew very well, Annie is even more shaken.

The writing and pacing in the first 80% of the book was engaging - I much preferred the Titanic scenes to the Britannic scenes, and I ended up really enjoying the drama of the first-class passengers: the romance, the secrets, the intrigue, the scams. However, I was waiting for a good ending to tie it all together, a few perfectly timed reveals to make sense of it all. I didn't feel that we got this, and I ended the book feeling more confused than satisfied. Overall, The Deep was a fairly entertaining read - and the audiobook was fantastically narrated - but the strangely complex and unsatisfying ending would lead me to not pick this one back up again. However, I still love Alma Katsu, and I can't wait for her next releases! Thank you to GP Putnam's Sons for the ARC via Netgalley!

I was compelled to read this book since it is about the Titanic and its sister ship, the Brittanic. I appreciate that the author worked in so much historic fact, including the incredible coincidence of Violet Jessup surviving both nautical disasters.

The ghost story element was only secondary for me, but it played a big part in the story. Perhaps that is why it was not quite my cup of tea. The writing was done well, but the plot was confusing at times, which I found hard to follow. Especially as it got near the end, I found myself rereading parts to understand what was really happening.

Although I didn't love this book, it is a well-written novel that incorporates a lot of history, including about some of the most famous passengers on the Titanic - the Astors and Guggenheim among them. For those who appreciate a good ghost story, they may enjoy it even more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for access to an advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Deep is the first book that I’ve read written by Alma Katsu. I was intrigued by this book because it is a horror story set in the past. Then, it was inspired by the ships that sank before – Titanic and Britannic.

The story was not fast-paced. Instead, the slow-paced narration helped in giving an atmospheric and suspenseful aura. While reading this, it makes me feel like I was rewinding my timeline to visualize the settings. It also gives me this creepy feeling while finding out the mystery that surrounds the sinking of Titanic and what happened there. As I keep on finding more clues, the story keeps on dragging me to learn the other secrets hiding somewhere, and why the Britannic might share the same fate as its sister ship.

I loved how the author weaves this story. How I can jump from the Titanic timeline to Britannic timeline through Annie Hebbley. I can see how these sister ships shared the same destiny and what lies behind the tragedic events. Is it just their fate to sank that day, or is there something more to it? I also love how she used the names of a real person as her characters in the story. It makes me think that this book was just like a journal of the events inside Titanic and Britannic.

Our main character is Annie Hebbley. She was onboard on Titanic when it sank in 1912, but she survives. Now, she was asked again to become a nurse aboard its sister ship, the Britannic. Annie is definitely an unreliable narrator since the start, and her being the narrator only adds to the confusion and mystery of what really happens before Titanic sank.

Overall, this is one hell of a ride from the past. I enjoyed the mystery and the other elements it has. I really love how the author comes up with the idea of retelling the events in Titanic and Britannic with horror elements. I will definitely check her other books.

Are you looking for historical events with a touch of paranormal? Then, I recommend this to you. Are you just looking for something to read? Then, try reading this book!

Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy via The Fantastic Flying Book Club.

I'm excited to be a part of THE DEEP blog tour with The Fantastic Flying Book Club from March 10th - March 16th, 2020!

I received an ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam's Sons via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.

All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.

Content Warning: Adult sexual content, Adultery, Death of a minor, Near-drowning, Gambling, Drug use (Cocaine), Illness, Thievery, Disaster (ship sinking), Injury due to war, Body horror, Suicide, War, Miscarriage

"The troubled mind can never know itself.
That is the sad truth of madness."

The Deep is inspired by the story of Violet Constance Jessop, a survivor of both the Titanic and Brittanic tragedies in the early 1900’s. Entwining elements of the paranormal makes this naturally eerie tale all the more so. Author Alma Katsu proves her capability at writing an enthralling story historically based and detailed that subtly draws the reader deeper into the complexities of each characters’ story.

Written from multiple perspectives, real-life characters like Madeleine Astor, William Stead, John Jacob Astor, and Benjamin Guggenheim (along with several others), and fictional characters like Annie Hebbley Caroline and Mark Fletcher, add immensely to an already intricately designed plot. The story jumps between past via flashbacks and “present” of 1916 and focuses mainly on the story of Annie Hebbley’s experience upon the Titanic as a stewardess and on the Britannic as a nurse.

"For all that was said about the Titanic, how superior it was, how well designed, how glorious and noble--as though it were a person, with a person’s traits--it would do nothing to save them. The Titanic was indifferent to the humans crawling on its decks and would willingly sacrifice them to the sea."

On its maiden’s voyage, the travelers on the Titanic notice odd occurrences. When a young servant boy of a wealthy family perishes aboard, it sets into motion a quick and haunting four days before the great ship’s imminent disaster. What andwho are instrumental in it’s sinking is the question that keeps the reader on the edge of their seats until the final page. Many points in the story intentionally make the reader question what is real or isn’t, to uncover what is actually happening with these characters. A slower start allows for vital detail to be cemented for the pace to anchor, then quicken to where the story reaches its revelation. The frenzied increase in the pace parallels Annie’s story arch.

In a time where societal change is volatile, women find more of a voice, but still remain risking their reputation by the actions they take. Many times, women, and the restrictions they have and the injustice of some, lie at the center of the inspiration for much of this story-line. In brief, a fateful love-triangle is the focal point of romance throughout the events of The Deep. Adultery, lust, and money also drive many aboard the Titanic, and create problems for many.

"They never learned, it seemed. Never changed. You couldn't save them from themselves."

This read is enthralling on multiple levels, and will certainly appeal to readers across many genres. Combining incredibly detailed information on the historical, dashing in paranormal, romance, and steeping it all into lore makes this truly an unique read.

Vulgarity: Some.
Sexual content: Quite a bit - includes adultery.
Violence: Quite a bit considering the nature of the content.

My Rating: ★★★★

Very interesting story.

I loved the context, makeup, and storyline.

The plot was nicely executed.

I look forward to more writing by this author!

Story
The premise of The Deep is what initially drew me to this story. Titanic and ghosts? Sign me up, please. However, after reading it I felt slightly disappointed. This wasn’t what I expected story-wise. I loved the Irish folklore surrounding the story, but my biggest complaint is the lack of ghosts.

I love reading about ghosts and ghost stories, this one was just a bit lacking. It needed some tension and angst, and it wasn’t as creepy as I thought it would be.

Writing
Other than that I thought the writing was amazing. Katsu has a way of pulling you in with her characters, which were all really fleshed out and given interesting stories. There were no big info dumps and the author gave through character backstories and worldbuilding in a believable way.

The author put a lot of research into this book and it shows. The descriptions of both the Titanic and Brittanic were beautiful, and the writing was just overall amazing.

Characters
I did feel like some characters were unnecessary, but it doesn’t annoy me that much since they were all so well written. I loved each of their stories and it really makes me want to read Katsu’s other books.

Retellings and reimaginings are my jam. Add to it the fact that it's reimagining of the sinking of THE Titanic and it's sister ship Britannic, of course I HAD to read this book. Also I've been meaning to read Alma Katsu's work for a while now so I was over the moon when I got to read an eARC of The Deep.

~5 REASONS TO READ THE DEEP~

~The curious case of Human Nature~

One of the reasons I adore Agatha Christie's books is that she deals with human nature. Poirot doesn't just look around for clues, he looks into the personality of each suspect to find the criminal. Something about the way Alma Katsu writes her characters reminds me of Agatha Christie. I was utterly fascinated with the characters, many of whom were real people on-board the Titanic. The author deftly weaves each character arc and I love how she took real people and gave them a whole backstory that mixed reality and creativity, such as Madeleine Astor, Lady Duff Gordon, W.T. Stead and the two boxers Les and Dai. I personally love that the author made the boxers queer and their chemistry was so interesting to read about.

We have original characters too such as our protagonist Annie and the couple Mark and Caroline who are an important part of the mystery. Of all of them, it was Caroline who intrigued me the most and I kept turning the pages (clicking the pages? considering it was the eBook) wanting to know more about her past, especially the past involving Lillian, another very intriguing character.

'She is not mad.
But there is something in her that is hospitable to madness'

~The alternating timelines~

Generally I'm wary about alternating timelines. Unless they're done well, they're jarring and annoying. I did not have to worry about that in this case because Alma Katsu does it brilliantly. She knows just the right moment to stop with the 1912 plot and switch to 1916, making me want to know more about what just happened. And I also loved the parallels drawn between the two ships and at point the plot lines blurred but not in a bad way; rather in a way that makes you go "OML WHAT JUST HAPPENED EEEP"

~The atmospheric quality~

I really love reading about historical fiction with a slight touch of the supernatural; the blending of fact, fiction and fantasy which gives a very atmospheric feel to the story. Because of some reviews I'd thought the book included horror but after reading it, I mainly find it atmospheric and chilly but definitely not scary enough to be called horror (and that's coming from me who is too scared to ever fully watch IT). BUT even though it wasn't scary, the book has the perfect atmosphere for the reality and the supernatural to entwine. There were scenes where I got goosebumps because it felt like I was there on board the ship watching things unfold around me.

~The writing style~

As I said just above, this book made me feel i was IN it and this is totally due to Ms Katsu's writing prowess. The beautiful descriptions, the scenes where the characters are not sure whether they are actually seeing something or imagining things and the description of the fateful night were all done so magnificently and I can't wait to pick up her other books.

~The mystery itself~

Right from the first page, the author makes us ask questions. Who is Annie? who was she before she set foot on RMS Titanic? What happened to her on the ship? What is the mystery surrounding each of the passengers on the ship? And most importantly, which of them are going to survive? I rushed through the whole book in less than 24 hours because I needed all the answers. The plot brings together the plot lines of every character in an expert manner that I can't help but admire.

"It wasn't trust, or intuition, but something else that had swooped in, in the absence of both, to guide her."

~The Deep is more than just a reimagining, it truly brings Titanic and her sister ship Britannic to life along with characters both real and fictional; b;lending fact, fiction and fantasy to give us a story that is truly an experience. ~

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Deep

Author: Alma Katsu

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: March 10, 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction/Horror/Paranormal

Recommended Age: 15+ (horror, gore, slight violence, paranormal activity)

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Pages: 320

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic.

This is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the passengers of the ship from the moment they set sail: mysterious disappearances, sudden deaths. Now suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone during the four days of the liner's illustrious maiden voyage, a number of the passengers - including millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, the maid Annie Hebbley and Mark Fletcher - are convinced that something sinister is going on . . . And then, as the world knows, disaster strikes.

Years later and the world is at war. And a survivor of that fateful night, Annie, is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, now refitted as a hospital ship. Plagued by the demons of her doomed first and near fatal journey across the Atlantic, Annie comes across an unconscious soldier she recognises while doing her rounds. It is the young man Mark. And she is convinced that he did not - could not - have survived the sinking of the Titanic . . .

Review: I thought this was a great horror book for the most part. The story was intriguing and the characters were developed. The setting was creepy and uninviting, like any horror book should be, and the author did well to research this story as fact and fiction are woven interchangeably throughout the book.

However, I got so lost on occasion with the dual POV running side by side. The switching back and forth and the overlap of characters make this sometimes hard to follow.

Verdict: I really enjoyed this read!

This ghost story set onboard the Titanic weaves historical fiction with supernatural suspense, but ultimately, I didn't feel that the combination worked here.

Historical fiction knows no bounds, which is what makes the genre imaginative. The ability to craft something new, exciting, and even twisted, using the known, the historical, if done right, can be as thrilling as cutting through your neighbor’s yard, not totally sure that their mangy mutt is locked away indoors. You get away with it? That rush is magical.

Alma Katsu dives into the tragically bitter waters of the horrific Titanic and Britannic sinkings with The Deep, a creepy “what-if” adding to the bygone doom. Within, Katsu postulates that, icebergs aside, something ominous forced its way into that ice-y mix. And it wasn’t Dewar’s White Label.

The Deep has a tightly-researched and well-executed plot filled with real, and real-annoying, characters. The ghostly play comes too late in the game and serves as nothing more than a mere raft for yet another pair of star-crossed lovers to hold onto in the long dark night.

Katsu introduces Annie Hebbley, a nurse on the Britannic, now a converted hospital ship helping with the war effort. There she is reintroduced to Mark Fletcher while the reader is introduced to their time together on the Titanic through a series of flashbacks. There, Annie is a maid to Fletcher, his wife Caroline, and their thematically-named infant daughter Ondine (Latin meaning "little wave"). Annie takes an immediate liking to Ondine and does her best to care for the little tyke while navigating the bulkheads of the Titanic and its first-class citizenry alike. When accidents, deaths, and the occasional séance turn up the paranormal level, Annie realizes wicked forces are at work but is helpless in preventing the disaster. After surviving the Titanic, she begins to feel the same demonic doom on the Britannic.

Like many b-grade horror films of the eighties, the supernatural menace teases are more satisfying than the payoff. Katsu takes her time to build a large network of supporting cast members. Her research went deeper than simply watching the James Cameron movie. Ultimately? Those stories are flotsam and jetsam in the wake of the sinking; both forgotten and unnecessary. Too much time was spent on those supporting mechanisms and, ironically, does not go, ahem, deep enough on the backstory between Annie and Mark.
The Deep surfs instead of dives and sinks without the aid of an iceberg. Katsu succeeds in drawing on the deep history of tragedy but the ultimate scare fizzles rather than flares. A fun read for those who like their macabre set to prime-time CBS.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the deep read.

This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Deep, is based on Violet Constance Jessop, on the incredible survivor of both the Titanic and the Brittanic

The Deep, by Alma Katsu

An astonishing type of paranormal that will have wide appeal among historical fictional readers

Stunning atmospheric prose and exquisite imagery, Katsu captivates the reader in such a way with the history of the RMS Titanic and its sister ship the HMHS Brittanic.
This haunting story grabs the the reader complete attention. As this erie tale unfolds you will be immersed into the lives of the passengers and crew. Giving the reader just enough historical details entwined in to her own creative imagination.

In 1912, Annie Hebbley, an eighteen year old Irish girl escaping a scandal is eager to leave her small Irish Northern town, travels to Southampton England. Annie than takes a job as stewardess aboard the disastrous, Titanic.
The luxurious and decadent, ill fated ship contains everything imaginable for the privileged. Annie Along within Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, are in the mind set that something sinister is going on with disappearances . . . Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic.
And then, as the world knows, disaster strikes.

This paranormal infused historical fiction novel is told in dual timelines- 1912 aboard the Titanic and 1916 the Britannic

Four years later, hiding from the world within a psychiatric hospital, Annie struggles with her past and all that she has been through. After receiving correspondence from her friend, Violet Jessop, another survivor of the Titanic. Annie has agrees to work as a nurse on board the Britannic (the Titanic's sister ship). The Britannic has become a war hospital ship during wartime. A stark difference than the majestic Titanic.
It also has eerily identical layout as the Titanic, along with a deeply unsettling ghostly presence of a man. One Annie thought she had lost, who she has been thinking of is completely drawn to. Readers will slowly come to understand the true nature of Annie’s often strangely odd behavior.
The authors impeccable character development is what makes this book a phenomenal book. I was completely engaged with the storyline right from the start and the pace and tension didn’t slow down until I closed the book. What a wonderful read with intriguing meticulously plotted mystery, along with notable researched historical elements.

“A ship so massive, and here we are, trapped on it, nowhere to run.” She shivered “One is always trapped within oneself though”

The Deep was a well written historical fiction mixed with a supernatural/horror twist. As with her other novel, The Hunger, it’s a famous historical event with a bit of a what if horror scenario involving the supernatural. The research for this book was definitely done and I felt that it told a fictional story while aligning with the events of history.

I loved the writing, the cast of characters, and alternating time frames as Annie worked on Titanic and her sister ship, the HMS Britannic.

For some reason, it felt a little underwhelming, but I’m not actually sure if it was me or the book. I am going through a huge slump and have rated the last few books at 3 stars and I feel like, while The Deep was good, it wasn’t quite good enough to pull me out of that slump.

If historical fiction is your thing, you enjoy horror/supernatural, The Deep should definitely be on your TBR.

Ah, Titanic. The ship of dreams. Or nightmares, as it turns out. Well, I knew I was in for some historical, horrific goodness after reading the author's The Hunger last year and legit devouring it. One of the first notes I made on my Kindle this time was "I'm going to end up down a Titanic Wikipedia rabbit hole, I can feel it". And how true it was! I think my favorite part of Ms. Katsu's books is that she somehow seamlessly intertwines the real with the fantastical. Usually, I have some disbelief that I must suspend, but not here. Somehow, it seems almost like it was a true part of the Titanic story. Honestly, screw Rose and Jack, I'm here for the ghosts.

This book weaves us through two timelines: That of the Titanic, and that of the Britannic. Both real, both ill-fated, and both containing two of the same women. One is Violet Jessup. She's legit, she was actually on both ships, and I'm not saying you'd want to jump ship if you saw her joining your Caribbean cruise but... actually, that's exactly what I'm saying. But for our purposes, the story mainly follows Annie Hebbley through both timelines. She's an interesting character, perhaps not a fully reliable narrator (which you'll see from the start, no spoilers here!), but the true thrill is seeing her interact with so many others. Some of them actual humans who were on the Titanic, some fictional, all wholly intriguing.

Because one thing that none of this motley cast of early twentieth century seafarers are is boring. Everyone had layers upon layers to their story, and no one was what (or who) they seemed at first glance. The question that penetrates both timelines is this: is there more to the happenings on these doomed ships than meets the eye?

Bottom Line: Get ready to go down an old-timey, character-driven exploration of these famed ill-fated ships, all while wondering if there's something paranormal, or just plain old bad luck.

Annie was a stewardess who was lucky enough to survive to sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Four years later, she’s aboard another ship, the Brittanic, as a nurse during WWI.

<i>The Deep</i> is told through multiple timelines and the paranormal element is deeply present, weaving through the characters and pages as we dive through the ships and their histories.

I had a hard start with this novel but I was glad I finished.

Is there any other event in history as ironically tragic as the sinking of both the Titanic and Bittanic? Sister ships destined to the same watery grave. In The Deep, Alma Katsu the author of previously reviewed The Hunger, explores both tragedies and connects them in a ghostly manner.

The Deep is mostly about a young woman named Annie who is a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic and finds herself aboard the Brittanic, the hospital ship for those wounded in World War I. The story flashes between the times on the Titanic and times on the Brittanic both of which carry secrets and deception at each turn. Annie finds herself infatuated with a passenger aboard the Titanic named Mark and his infant daughter Ondine, but what she doesn’t know is that past and present will wind together in an eerie and earth-shattering way.

I’m going to start by saying that I really enjoyed this novel and it was honestly a lot different than The Hunger. The Deep feels more Lovecraftian at first and less horrifying than The Hunger. The ocean calls out to passengers in a way that I feel very much encapsulates Lovecraft’s writing style. “The call of the void.” is mentioned and it sent shivers down my spine because it made me reminisce on my readings of The Call of Cthulhu. The overall tone was very different than what I had previously read, and while I very much enjoyed The Hunger, The Deep is a very different and interesting beast.

Another well done piece of this story is the foreshadowing. In the very beginning, this is stated in comparison from the Brittanic to the Titanic,

This ship is much safer than the other one, they were assured. No need to be nervous.

And to me, someone who already knows the outcome of both the Titanic and Brittanic, it still sent a shiver down my spine and built the excitement. I had to know how Katsu decided to sink both ships and I wanted to know how she decided to tie them together. I had so many questions about an event I already knew about from history class. It was thrilling.

There was also another underlying theme that I found very interesting. That theme is motherhood. Aboard the Titanic, there is the young baby Ondine, her mother, and father, and there is also a pregnant woman aboard. Katsu does an excellent job of showing the struggles and the fear of being a new mother/father. I am a new mother and one quote stuck out to me,

“Ever since having his own child, he’d noticed he’d gotten more sensitive to mortality–he used to be aware of it brazenly so. Now it whispered to him, tapped his shoulder, and distracted him when things were quiet.”

This one quote is so accurate that it forced me to keep reading. Since having my son I find myself struggling with things I had never struggled with before. I cannot for the life of me watch a show where a baby’s life is at risk. It causes me to go into a full blown panic attack. For me, The Deep touched on this in a way that I didn’t expect but it was readable. I felt myself getting anxious but not so anxious I was forced to quit. It expressed parental anxiety very well. That previous quote is how I feel all the time.

My only disappointment with this novel is that I didn’t feel near as scared as I had thought I would be. I expected the paranormal aspect to start picking up and this one is a slow riser. I wanted to be afraid of “the monster” but even when the paranormal twist is revealed it didn’t frighten me so much. I expected more fear based off where I left after The Hunger, but you could chalk that up to me expecting it to be something that Katsu didn’t intend for it to be.

Overall I give The Deep a 4/5 stars. It’s a slow fright with relatable themes and semi-realistic frights. I definitely recommend The Deep along with its predecessor The Hunger. Now available for purchase, you have to pick this one up!

The premise of this book—that a mysterious spirit or otherworldly creature may have had a hand in the sinking of the Titanic—intrigued me more than the actual story did, unfortunately.

I was looking forward to a historical, gothic-y novel set aboard a ship, and enjoyed the beginning as we were introduced to Annie, a stewardess on the Titanic who also goes on to work on its sister ship, the Britannic, four years later. We follow her both in 1912 and 1916, and I was intrigued to see how the two timelines would connect.

However, we are soon distracted from Annie's story by the supposedly glamorous, and rather trivial side-stories of rich passengers aboard the Titanic, and of two boxers who serve to mostly cause trouble on board (it is unclear to me why these two were even included other than to cause drama). Rather than learning more about a creepy presence on board and what it actually does, we spend a good portion of this book following rich passengers around as they all say "hmm something doesn't seem right," but we never really see what that something is.

There wasn't enough of this spiritual presence to add any level of creepiness to this book. So when the two timelines wrapped up in the end, and we see a big reveal of this supernatural element, I found it kind of startling and sudden. Why didn't this happen earlier? I was left wanting more, and feeling unsatisfied.

We are also meant to become attached to the character of Annie, and I felt confused about her the entire novel. I suppose some of her confusing behavior is due to what is revealed at the end, but even so, she flits from emotion to emotion with no real explanation of why, which confused me. Yes, she may be a unreliable narrator, but even so I felt that more could have been done to flesh her out as a character. We get barely any information about her past, even though that does play a somewhat significant role in the story itself.

I just wish more time had been devoted to Annie and the other central characters (of which there are three), so the story was more streamlined and simplified. I think this story tried to cover too much, and ended up losing some of the magic promised in its premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Transworld Digital for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Strange thoughts come to her through the cold: Here there is no beauty.

This was super interesting honestly. I’ve never really been one to think about the Titanic, although I know a little bit about the story. Just the basics, that on its maiden voyage, it ran into an iceberg and almost everyone on the ship died. It was a tragedy, and so many lives lost. They even had an episode about it on Supernatural, and boy wasn’t that interesting.

Anyway, this book also talks about the sister ship that I really don’t know much about: the Brittanic. Similar in names… interesting.

We start off with someone drowning, and we don’t know who it is. It’s interesting to hear the inner thoughts of someone drowning though, and it definitely wasn’t something that I was anticipating. The prose in this novel felt almost magical, and it really kept me engaged from the beginning. I also really appreciated that we got to see some of what happens to women in asylums, and why some people would rather live there than out in the “real world” so to speak. I think coming from Annie’s perspective reminded me of some of the conditions that women had to endure in the UK when they weren’t perfect.

Yeah, this book definitely spooked me, and I think that Katsu is definitely a queen of the terrifying. I tried to read this before bed, and honestly I was kind of scaring myself with the content that I had to switch books to something lighthearted before I was seeing ghosts and monsters in the dark everywhere. As a matter of fact, I’m kind of freaking myself out while writing this review because that was definitely scarier than I thought it would be.

While I don’t know if I would read more horror novels from Katsu – just because I’m a scaredey cat – I think that she is definitely an amazing author and I’d definitely would read a book from her again… as a buddy read. I’m telling you, I’m still a little freaked out about this one but boy was it really good. Really entertaining and I’m still thinking about it.

This was a book that never seemed to me to know quite what it wanted to be. A fiction of the Titanic, telling the story of certain crew and passengers? A mystery of the tangled lives of a first class family and a stewardess? A ghost story?

The majority of the story circles Annie Hebbley, a stewardess on the Titanic, who meets various first class passengers: William Stead- a newspaper man and expert on the supernatural who has ghosts of his own to worry about; Maddie Astor who worries that a rival’s curse has brought evil to her and her unborn child; and Mark and Caroline Fletcher, who have too many problems to count in their new marriage. Plenty of people have things they feel guilty about, but are passengers experiencing group hysteria or is something more supernatural at work?

Between the time changes from the Titanic to the Britannic and the writing style, the story jerks back and forth, and I often forgot what was happening when the story shifted back. It could have done with more suspense and supernatural because the narrative bogs down with characters that don't contribute to the mystery, and few of the main characters are particularly likeable enough for me to really have been driven to find out what was going on without the lure of something ‘extra’ going on.

Overall I found this a disappointing and unsatisfying read. Not enough horror or supernatural to keep the suspense going, but too much to be just another Titanic story. Disconnected enough to never quite figure out what was happening until the end, where I was still left with questions. Sadly, the biggest one being: why was I supposed to care?

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

The cover art is so attractive and eerie - I could not wait to read it. Historical mystery on the Titanic? Sign me up. It starts off with this character Annaleigh in the asylum years after the the accident and then you are put on the time of the boat. It was all very interesting until about 1/4 of the way in and it lost my interest. Unfortunately I was not able to finish the rest of the book even really pushing myself to.

The Deep
Alma Katsu
Transworld Digital, March 2020
ISBN 978-0-525-53790-8
Hardcover

From the publisher—

Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic.

This is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the passengers of the ship from the moment they set sail: mysterious disappearances, sudden deaths. Now suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone during the four days of the liner’s illustrious maiden voyage, a number of the passengers – including millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, the maid Annie Hebbley and Mark Fletcher – are convinced that something sinister is going on . . . And then, as the world knows, disaster strikes.

Years later and the world is at war. And a survivor of that fateful night, Annie, is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, now refitted as a hospital ship. Plagued by the demons of her doomed first and near fatal journey across the Atlantic, Annie comes across an unconscious soldier she recognises while doing her rounds. It is the young man Mark. And she is convinced that he did not – could not – have survived the sinking of the Titanic . . .

Not too long ago, I listened to the audiobook of Alma Katsu’s The Hunger and, truthfully, I was mesmerized by the ominous atmosphere she created. That ambience comes largely from my knowing ahead of time what really happened with the Donner Party, the ineffable tragedy of it all, and the promise of The Deep was that it would give me much of the same feeling. I didn’t do audio on this one but visually reading it didn’t lessen the effect.

Was the Titanic imbued with a supernatural touch as the author suggests? Maybe, maybe not, but there is no doubt that the ship’s story is full of ghosts and belief in the occult was popular among the wealthy at the time so Ms. Katsu taking it a bit farther is not really out of line, is it? Even with a sizeable passenger list and crew, there do seem to be an inordinate number of deaths and peculiar events that the people on the voyage can’t truly explain in “normal” terms and then, of course, there is that awful night.

When stewardess Annie finds herself, four years later working as a World War I nurse on board the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, perhaps it’s not surprising that she would come across a wounded soldier who was also on the Titanic’s fateful voyage. Annie carries her own demons with her, though, so possibly her memories are tricking her into thinking that Mark can’t be there because he could not have survived the sinking. Then again…

Ms. Katsu’s real strength lies in her storytelling and on her ability to bring people and historic events to life. The Deep is a compelling tale that could, if you believe just a little, be truth and, might I add, it’s immeasurably enhanced by including a real woman, Violet Jessop, who has to be one of the luckiest seafaring women ever. Well done, Ms. Katsu!

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, March 2020.