The Deep - Review

Title: The Deep

Author:  Alma Katsu

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 recognizes 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:  This is the second book I’ve read by Alma Katsu.  The first one I read was The Hunger, and I loved this one just as much as that one.  This novel is marketed as horror, but it’s not so much scary as it is atmospheric.  Good historical speculative fiction involves a lot of research, and this author definitely does her research!  There are no weird moments where something is off and it pulls you out of the setting. 

     The Deep reads like a really good gothic horror.  Not a lot of blood, guts or violence, but plenty of uncomfortable creepiness.  There is a mystery that isn’t solved until the very end.  It’s a ghost story.  And we already know the ultimate end of the Titanic and the Britannic, so it adds a bit of a sense of urgency to the story.  We know this isn’t going to end well.  I highly recommend The Deep to anyone who enjoys reading. 

***I was provided a free copy of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Publisher:  Penguin Group / Putnam

If you like this book you may want to read:

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

The Toll by Cherie Priest

The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey

The Vanishing - Review

Title:  The Vanishing  

Author:  Sophia Tobin

Synopsis: “On top of the Yorkshire Moors, in an isolated spot carved out of a barren landscape, lie White Windows, a house of shadows and secrets.  Here lives Marcus Twentyman, a hard-drinking but sensitive man, and his sister, the brisk widow, Hester.

     “When runaway Annaleigh first meets the Twentymans, their offer of employment and lodging seems a blessing.  Only later does she discover the truth.  But by then she is already in the middle of a web of darkness and intrigue, where murder seems the only possible means of escape…”

Review:  I’m going to be straight up and tell you right now that The Vanishing is dark and terrifying.  I read it in pretty much one sitting.  I started reading it sitting on the couch after dinner last night while SuperSteve was watching television.  I took a break midway to brush my teeth, put on my pajamas and climb into bed.  I finished at 11:30pm last night.  That’s an hour and a half after my bedtime, but I just couldn’t put it down!

     I requested this novel to review based solely on the cover.  It’s different, it grabbed my attention.  I thought it might be a light historical romance.  It is not!  Be warned, it is full of triggers.  There’s rape, drugs and the death of a child within these pages.  It started out a little slow, but the description of the moors, and the isolation found there, drew me in.  It was probably around 30% of the way in when I realized I was not going to sleep until I was finished with The Vanishing.  Even after I finished reading and turned out the light I lay there in the dark wide awake and thinking about Annaleigh and White Windows.  I'm immediately buying more books by Sophia Tobin and I highly recommend this novel to anyone who can deal with the aforementioned triggers.
*****I was provided a free copy of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.****

Publisher:  Simon Schuster UK

If you like this book you may want to read:

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

The Widow’s Confession by Sophia Tobin

Dracula in Love - Review

Title: Dracula in Love
Author: Karen Essex

Synopsis: “London, 1890. Mina Murray, the rosy-cheeked, quintessentially pure Victorian heroine, becomes Count Dracula’s object of desire. To preserve her chastity, five male “defenders” rush in to rescue her from the vampire’s evil clutches. This is the version of the story we’ve been told. But now, from Mina’s own pen, we discover that the story is vastly different when told from the female point of view.”

Review: This retelling of Dracula from Mina's point of view was wonderful! What if the vampire wasn’t the bad guy? What if the bad guys were the men trying to prevent women from gaining a foothold in Victorian Society? This book provides illuminating insight into the struggles of women during the Victorian era. Parts of Dracula in Love made me angry. In particular the number of women being diagnosed with “female hysteria”, a man’s attempt to control strong women, pissed me off. The Count was as sexy as ever, and I loved Essex’s portrayal of Mina as a strong woman through the ages.

I love gothic novels. Give me a creepy setting, dark characters, maybe throw in a dungeon and a foggy cemetery, or a deserted castle at night and I’m in heaven. Many of my favorite books are considered “gothic romances”. Bram Stoker’s Dracula in particular is one of the books that I read over and over. Thus said, I strongly recommend that readers read Dracula before reading Dracula in Love. I loved this novel, but I don’t feel that it would have had the same impact on me had I not been familiar with Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Dracula in Love is going on my “keeper” shelf.

Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 978-0385528917

If you like this book you may want to read:



The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (ISBN: 978-0316070638)



The Master of Blacktower by Barbara Michaels (ISBN: 978-0060878146)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (ISBN: 978-0143106159)