Beneath the Wake by Ross Pennie, narrated by Dan Willmott.

Thanks to NetGalley, ECW Press Audio and Ross Pennie for an e-Audio ARC for my honest opinion.

What a great mystery novel by a Canadian author! This is my first book by this author, and it is obvious that he knows the subject matter very well for his medical mysteries. He keeps the suspense high during the cruise, with limited time to solve the cause of the deaths. Looking forward to reading more books by him.

The narrator was wonderful.

Highly recommended!

#NetGalley #ECWPressAudio #BeneaththeWake

This one was creepy and I don’t really recommend reading it at night. It was old but I wouldn’t have picked it up myself

This is the first time listening or reading anything by this author, so I didn't really know what to expect. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The narrator was easy to listen to and the book was fast paced and was easy to follow. I highly recommend this book.

A number of young, healthy cruise employees turn up dead while the ship is at sea. A couple of vacationing healthcare professionals join the ship’s doctor to investigate the cause of these mysterious deaths: is it foul play, a burgeoning epidemic, a secretive deathcare service, or something even stranger?

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I’m drawn to stories that even hint at a possible contagion or epidemic, especially during these COVID times, and I’m fascinated by forensic and investigative medicine. The premise feels fairly original—and timely!—and the fascinating cast of characters don’t feel like caricatures or tropes. Even those moments when the story is trying to point the reader in a certain direction turn out not quite as you’d expect!

This is the first Dr. Zol book I've read, and I’m left wanting more! I now need to hunt down previous audiobooks of his escapades!

S U M M A R Y 
The cruise ship is traveling up through Indonesia, hitting many lesser known ports along the way. Zol, his son and his son's friend, and his girlfriend are aboard for bonding and a much needed holiday. Noah is the shipboard doctor who effectively lives on the sea by choice. But what is supposed to be a relaxing cruise is interrupted when a mysterious disease starts picking off crew members one by one. Noah asks for Zol's help, and as more sicken, time becomes crucial in order to save lives. 

 T W  Assisted euthanasia 

 C H A R A C T E R S
I'll be honest, I never really connected with any of the characters. I don't know if it's because I unknowingly entered into a series or because it was just written in a disconnected manner. They seemed well formed and rounded, I simply didn't care for them that much. 

 P L O T 
The plot was believable enough if you hold suspension of belief that Noah and Zol have a common contact and just happened to he on the same boat. However it seemed to start off very slow and seemed to take forever to build up any of the required tension. I did get more invested near the end, but it took quite a while. 

 N A R R A T I O N 
Decent but not stellar. I suppose a little on the dry side but perhaps that was the writing. 

 O V E R A L L 
All right. Decent mystery in the end. I'd read another if I have the opportunity but I won't be rushing out to buy it.

Well, that wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped.

The mystery was interesting initially but I was pretty disappointed by the reveal – the actual way it was revealed and the entire cause of the outbreak. The only thing I liked less than that was the selectively mute kid, Travis, having a POV. Honestly, I can’t think of a single thing that it added to the story and it broke any tension I was feeling.

I guess I wanted something a bit more gritty.

One good thing is that I never felt like I was missing anything by jumping in with the 4th book in a series. And the narrator was pretty good. I loved the Canadian accent. Made me miss talking with my Emotional Support Canadian.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the audiobook!

Beneath the Wake is the fourth story in a medical thriller series by Ross Pennie, but I haven't read the previous three. Nothing was lost on me; I enjoyed this story so thoroughly, I've got to get my hands on them!

To begin with, I think medical thrillers are the sub-genre I've been missing in my life. I love pop-medical nonfic and generic thriller-mysteries, so to put those together was an incredible ride!!!! It was so neat to follow medical treatments on a cruise liner including diagnostics and tracing a deadly, contagious, mysterious illness. So many obstacles I never would have imagined!

Ross Pennie loaded a ton of heavy and fascinating topics into this book, written with such polish that it was easy to follow and retain. In particular, Pennie writes about euthanasia very carefully, treating a very controversial thing with delicacy and respect--I really appreciated that and found it thought provoking. But we also get a peek at synesthesia, ocean politics, and worldwide race and religious tensions from Shia-Suni relations to what it's like to be a person of color in America or Canadian. Between the characters, we get viewpoints from medically diverse pre-teens, a widowed father trying to find love again, suicide, I could go on and on.

This is my favorite kind of thriller. The medical mystery itself was well woven, and the ending was so fun and surprising! But I can't get over how thoughtful it was as well.

Additionally, I read this via audio narrated Dan Wilmott who was excellent. His voice fit the main male doctors who narrate much of the story, but he also did such a great job acting out the preteens boy's voice and other characters! He was so easy to listen to and focus on even as I did dishes or cooked while listening.

Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!