Book Review - The Deep by Alma Katsu

 

The Deep by Alma Katsu is about a young woman who travels across the ocean on a haunted ship. Annie Hebley decided that she needed a change of pace. She was in a relationship with someone and it took an unexpected and unwanted turn. When she saw that a cruise ship was hiring for maids, she found herself drawn to the prospect of traveling.

Annie is surrounded by some of the wealthiest people in the world. In her small village in Ireland, people never saw that much luxury as she has experienced on the ship and with the guests on board. As Annie tries to do her job and help the guests, she feels an ominous presence. She feels that something is amiss. It doesn’t help that one of the guest’s errand boys dies mysteriously and things are unexplainably going missing. When Annie feels that she finally understands what is going on, the ship hits an iceberg, plaguing her and her fellow guests into a night they would never forget. 

A few years later after that unfortunate night, Annie is trying to piece back her life together.She wants to overcome the trauma of the Titanic sinking. However, one of her friends, Violet Jessop, a survivor from the Titanic’s final journey,  reached out with an opportunity she thought Annie would like. 

The Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, has been refitted as a hospital ship to ferry wounded soldiers from World War I. Violet and Annie both decide to work as nurses on the ship’s sixth voyage. As she takes care of the ship’s patients, she notices one of her charges looks very familiar. 

It turns out the soldier is no other than Mark Fletcher. He was one of Annie’s charges that she had taken care of on the Titanic. She was excited that he survived that fateful night. She always felt a  romantic bond towards Mark and she hopes that since he is on this ship that they could have a relationship together. As she tries to connect with Mark, she feels that something is off and has an eerie haunted feeling like she did when she was on the Titanic. 

I was very excited to read this book as I have read a few books about the Titanic.The book started off interesting. It alternated between the past and present and it was mostly narrated from Annie’s point of view. They did have some chapters that were narrated by the other passengers from both ships along with articles and a doctor’s journal.  It was interesting to learn that the Britannic and Violet Jessop were based on truth.  However, the book would jump back and forth between the characters and the two different ships that it got confusing at times.

My attention and interest started waning around the halfway mark. There were too many characters and their side stories to keep track of. The book would go on for pages without the story progressing at all. The book was billed as a horror and scary book but nothing scary or horrifying really happened and the events that did occur were so spaced apart that it didn't have any spooky appeal. The book started picking up on the last few pages and got interesting. It tied up all the loose ends between the two story arcs. However, I wish this was done earlier because at that point I just wanted the book to be over with. I felt that I would have enjoyed this book more if it was edited down and had more spooky elements to it.