Charlie Book lives and works aboard the Christabel, a half-sunken ship located off shore in Galveston, studying a growth of mangrove trees that have made the ship their home. On a dangerously stormy night, his ex Ruby Cahill appears along with a woman named Johanna and an infant, looking for safety and shelter on the Christabel. Soon Charlie, Ruby, Johanna, and Charlie’s research team becomes involved in a struggle to save the baby from supernatural forces. This dark paranormal horror read is told from multiple points of view and the audiobook is well-characterized. It’s perfect for fans of the supernatural and of atmospheric settings.

I really wanted to like this book, it had all the right elements, witchcraft, estranged sisters and a super creepy setting; a rusting old boat with mangroves growing through it. Unfortunately, it fell into the tired trope of female witches as evil hags who need to sacrifice a baby. The setting was outstanding, and I’d love to see it used in another book

This is such an amazing book. It had on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen next.

This is a difficult book to review. I would give 3.5 stars if I was able to do so. This book is very effective in so many ways. Golden is a master of build up and describing sudden horror in a really great way that creates a jump scare on the page (or audio). There are so many great scenes of horror in this book and the setting is top tier. However, the way that the villains are portrayed and the overall feel that I got from the male/female interactions, who was bad, who was good, who were the heroes, who saved the day, were strangely old fashioned for the book as a whole. Again, there are so many good things about this book but overall it could have been so much more.