Atria, 2023. 448 pages. Thriller
When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, it’s the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends. But when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing. And when she walks out into the corridor, all the cabin doors are open. To her horror, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty. No passengers, no crew, nobody but her. The Atlantica is steaming into the mid-Atlantic and Caz is the only person on board. But that’s just the beginning of the terrifying journey she finds herself trapped on in this white-knuckled mystery.
I loved the premise of this book. As an avid cruiser, I found myself drawn in and invested in this setting, even though there wasn't much reason to connect to the characters. None of them seemed to experience much character development or growth -- with perhaps the exception of some minor characters (but it turns out, they were plants all along, so that doesn't really count.) There was a sharp change in tone around the 35% mark: this book went from a thriller to a survival story bordering on horror, and that was unexpected to say the least. I also wish the pace were a bit quicker: for a thriller, there is an awful lot of reflecting and remembering that didn't seem to influence the plot at all. I was also a bit mystified by the ending: the way I understood it, she is set up again to be a contestant on another Dark Web broadcast show, but this time it's on a plane? It seems a bit too far-fetched for my taste. All thing considered, it gave me a lot to think about.