After loving her [book:The Hunger|38092115], I had such high hopes for this but sadly it doesn't live up to that earlier book for me. Katsu's writing is still fluent and involving and this starts off well as Annie, an Irish girl and survivor of the Titanic, takes a job as a nurse on the Titanic's sister ship, now a hospital ship in 1916.

The narrative flits between the two voyages both of which, as we know from history, end up disastrously. I expected more of the creeping terror of The Hunger but there are no shivers here despite much talk of spirits, demons, silkies, sirens and a folkloric sea-witch.

The Titanic story focuses on the elite passengers: Guggenheim, Duff-Cooper, Astor; the 1916 story starts off with war-time detail then seems to forget about it... the final 'twist' made me, I confess, roll my eyes a bit.

I'd still say that Katsu's prose is a step up on many commercial writers but I expected more creepiness from this. The historical evocation works well but I just wasn't convinced by Annie's tale.

I’m a sucker for stories set around Titanic and this one was a creepy good tale, seamlessly blending fact and fiction, atmospheric and often very disturbing.

The research is impeccable, Alma Katsu giving you a real feel for both of these doomed ships, into that she throws an eclectic mix of characters both real and imagined. Throw in some ghostly goings on, huge insight into the trauma of war and disaster, plus an eerie obsessive central theme and you have a real winner.

The writing is superb, involving and genuinely absorbing the reader into the thrills and perils of ocean travel of the time where something unnatural lurks there in The Deep…

Very good indeed. Another to watch in 2020. Highly Recommended.