Joined in 2023 
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By pleasing coincidence and neat symmetry, my first ARC of 2022 ( A Fatal Crossing) and this one, which will probably be my last, both happened to be thrillers set on cruise ships. Even aside from the setting, the two had a surprising amount in common - simplistic writing, far-fetched plot, and a ridiculous number of murders - but overall "The Cruise" was a much better book. During a New Year’s Eve party on a large, luxurious cruise ship in the Caribbean, the ship’s dancer, Lola, goes missing. Onboard, no one really knows who you are or where you came from so it’s easy to escape your old life and start a new one, should you want to.
Two weeks later, the ship is out of service, laid up far from land with no more than a skeleton crew on board. And then more people start disappearing… Catherine Cooper is a freelance journalist writing for many national newspapers and magazines, specialising in travel. She also makes regular appearances as a talking head on daytime TV. She lives in France with her husband and two teenage children. This is the second novel I read by this author and after having been impressed with her debut novel The Chalet I couldn’t resist this new mystery set in another secluded location. I’ve not been on a cruise ship yet but the author seemed to know the ins and outs of life on a cruise ship so well and described it so vividly that I almost feel as if I’ve been on one after reading this novel.I understand why the subplot was introduced and the ending tied everything together with an odd, lopsided and strange bow, but the book just wasn’t for me. My other cruise was with a lovely group of ramblers on Fred Olsen’s Boudicca where instead of getting the coaches to go sightseeing we would do walking tours on the stops – a much smaller ship and a very different experience. Both good though! The plot flits between past and present and at first I did not understand how it all linked together. Once the truth is revealed and it all begins to come together it makes so much sense; it left me shook and made it impossible to put down. I’m working on it at the moment and it’s set partly in an overwater resort in the Maldives and partly in the home counties. Again, lots of luxury, great food, and a few deaths! I had no idea where this story was going to lead me! No idea! What a journey it was! Jeez! Mind Blown! I love the twists and turns, and I did guess who one character was but not the one you think.
Two weeks later, the ship is o ut of service, laid up far from land with no more than a skeleton crew on board. And then more people start disappearing… I also found it disappointing when the ship was then put out of service, though admittedly with a skeleton crew. Several reasons – I was partly inspired by the cruise ships moored off the South coast of England during Covid and fascinated by the fact that they are obliged to have a skeleton crew onboard.I also find it interesting that while cruising is of course one of the safest forms of travel, every year several people go missing from cruise ships, and quite often, no one really gets to the bottom of what happened. This is hard to review in any depth for fear of spoiling something, but I’ll say I am not sure I really liked or connected with the characters. But I’ve found in a thriller that it doesn’t matter if you want to figure out who did it or what is going on and that was the case for me. Who killed Lola and what does this have to do with the secondary plot line. There was a lot of layers to this and it never felt like too much.
On the whole I enjoyed this story it had plenty of twists and turns but it was a little far fetched. To me it seemed absolutely enormous and I regularly lost my way trying to find my (rather lovely) stateroom, but since then obviously they have almost doubled in size! I added the Chalet and The Chateau to my TBR but never got around to reading them, so this is my first Catherine Cooper read. And Wow I am not sure what I just read. As the title indicates, the story starts on a cruise but then jumps to a seemingly unrelated story about a teenage girl found after being abducted years ago. Of course in a twisty thriller, no theory is ever off the table, but I must say if you figure this one out, you should probably be writing the thrillers instead of reading them.After this tragic event the ship is laid up (out of service) for two months, with just a skeleton staff. The staff are doing their best to move on - but when other deaths begin to occur they start to wonder more about Lola. Was she murdered? And why? Overall it did feel like two different novels mushed together however it didn’t suit. There are ways to mash two story lines together however these two where very out of it. The pacing was decent, the few twists were quite clever (if sometimes predictable), and the cruise-ship setting was convincing (as some of you may know, I love a good maritime setting - but equally, a bad one will really p*** me off). The stories in both timelines were engaging, and although the characters were superficial, I still wanted to know what would happen to them at each cliff-hanger, and would have read this in one sitting if I'd had that luxury. Much of the novel is set on a cruise ship on its way to the Caribbean. It’s a lovely way to travel in a book when you can’t go for real, or afford to go on a cruise. This is the life! Not if you’re a member of crew or a dancer though as they have some tough dealings to contend with. Their jobs would be happier if they didn’t have the passengers to deal with! The plot is as chilling as the setting: this is the perfect read for a cold winter's evening ’ ROBIN MORGAN-BENTLEY
A MASSIVE shout out for the audiobook, what a production, I particularly loved the narrator for Antonio - he was fab! We get to know Alice who works on the cruise ship and runs the restaurant and a few other characters also have their own chapters.We are always delighted to hear from authors. We are currently open for review requests and we are happy to review a wide variety of genres. Please submit your information below and we will be in touch asap. A glamorous ship. A mysterious cast of passengers. And a New Year’s Eve party that goes horribly wrong… I listened on Audible and it was a fun narration overall. The last third really ramped up the pace and couldn't wait to see how everything settled. I do plan to read The Chalet by this author (which I own). There’s something timeless, effortless and massively fun about Cooper’s writing and I swapped between reading the book and listening to the audio for this one. The audiobook has multiple cast members, which lends itself incredibly well to the format and helps it feel more like an old fashioned radio play. The narrator reading Antonio is especially expressive and really conveys both the desperation and anxiety wrapped up in that character. All of the cast are really good though and imbue each of the different characters with a distinct and clear voice. As the book moves through different timeframes and is told from various perspectives, this really made the audiobook stand out and it is definitely one of my favourite ones I’ve listened to. The cast of characters are fantastically drawn and as with her previous novels, Cooper treats her readers to a host of unlikeable, damaged, toxic and distinctly human individuals. I loved how everybody had a secret, everybody had a past and I relished trying to work out how they all slotted together. Needless to say, I didn’t guess exactly how these characters were linked, but when that final reveal came it all made perfect sense! I didn't expect that ending, and I LOVED it!! Despite loving it, it feels wrong to love it! So bloody wrong, but right at the same time LOL
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