Having read Cooper’s previous books – ‘The Chalet’ and ‘The Chateau’ – I knew what to expect. Glamorous settings, a small cast of seriously dodgy people and a twisty mystery that I wouldn’t be able to predict!
I wasn’t wrong!
This novel is set on a glamorous and luxurious cruise ship in the Caribbean. When one of the dancers goes missing, everyone assumes it is a tragic accident or suicide – and not the first accident to hit the cruise line. Later, as the ship is laid up with only a skeleton staff on board, strange things begin to happen – and it seems that no-one is safe when the crew’s secrets begin to come to the surface…
I loved the cruise ship setting – it’s a great location for a claustrophobic thriller as there is (quite literally) no escape when the ship is held so far from land. The fact that the ship has a small crew because it is being refurbished works well – this makes for a limited, closed circle of suspects and it allows readers to engage with the different characters. As with Cooper’s previous novels, they aren’t all a nice bunch and have some pretty shady secrets, which doesn’t always make for sympathetic reading.
The plot has a dual timeline so the cruise ship strand is only one (albeit the main) element. There’s also the story of a young girl being raised in unconventional and unpleasant circumstances. The two strands seem hugely at odds with each other tonally and it’s difficult to see how they will converge. In fact, a lot of the story is pretty unpredictable and there’s plenty of twists to keep you reading. My only niggle was that a few of the things seemed a little far-fetched, although this didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the novel.
If you’ve enjoyed Cooper’s previous books then you’ll know what to expect here – and it delivers. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants a bit of escapism with a side order of tension and claustrophobia! You won’t want to put it down – or perhaps book a cruise either!
This book isn’t released in paperback until November but is available for pre-order. My affiliate link is below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases:
Header photo by Josiah Weiss on Unsplash.
I would love to read a thriller like this one that takes place on a cruise ship because it isn’t so weird for someone to disappear on there. I’ve heard about many real life cases before so even if some things were a little far-fetched in the story I think that would help with the realistic aspect of it all.