Hardcover, 352 pages
English language
Published July 19, 2016 by Gallery/Scout Press.
"Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. But as the week wears on, frigid winds ship the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for--and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something has gone terribly wrong."--Page [4] cover.
A decent locked room mystery written in a direct, easy style.
When I first started listening to this book I thought, "Oh, great...a woman has witnessed a murder and no one believes her. It's "The Lady Vanishes" but on a boat." However, as the story developed there were some interesting plot twists and unexpected reveals that redeemed the book for me. It is probably one of the better mysteries I have read (although, I rarely read mysteries so keep that in mind).
There's a lot of alcohol in this book...
I listened to this as an audiobook and... the poor narrator tried her best I'm sure to do a "Scandinavian" accent but there was nothing Scandinavian about it, it sounded more like The Swedish Chief and it was a little annoying.
Most people who enjoyed "Gone Girl" and "Girl on a Train" will probably enjoy this thriller, by the author of, "In a Dark, Dark Wood." I can't completely knock it because it was a page-turner than I plowed through in two days on a beach vacation. It started strong and reminded me of an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit with a fixed cast of characters to choose from.
My issues with it:
1. I hate unreliable protagonists. I just wanted to smack this woman and tell her to stop drinking.
2. The ending was a let down. After taking hundreds of pages to build the suspense, you can just wrap it in a chapter. That makes me think the author was under deadline pressure and decided to take a shortcut.
3. Loose threads. There were a few early elements that had a lot of potential to put a bow on this story, …
Most people who enjoyed "Gone Girl" and "Girl on a Train" will probably enjoy this thriller, by the author of, "In a Dark, Dark Wood." I can't completely knock it because it was a page-turner than I plowed through in two days on a beach vacation. It started strong and reminded me of an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit with a fixed cast of characters to choose from.
My issues with it:
1. I hate unreliable protagonists. I just wanted to smack this woman and tell her to stop drinking.
2. The ending was a let down. After taking hundreds of pages to build the suspense, you can just wrap it in a chapter. That makes me think the author was under deadline pressure and decided to take a shortcut.
3. Loose threads. There were a few early elements that had a lot of potential to put a bow on this story, had been subtly woven through the story and resurfaced at the end. Instead, they were completely neglected, which not only robbed this book of a nice final ZING, but also left me with niggling questions about why the author even included them.
So. I'm going to say that most people who seek out thrillers for beach reads will enjoy this. I just wanted more from it.
Imagine that you see something on a cruise that is pretty unbelieveable. This is what happens with the main character in this book, Lo. She's having a crappy life at home, so she decides to go on a week long cruise. Telling more would ruin thisbook, with all the twists and turns, but this wasa really goodbook over all. Lo wasn't the best of characters I've ever read, but I didn't particularly dislike her. The story moved along at a pretty good pace, and it actually did leave me guessing a few times.
Another thing that kept me guessing was why this was a Psychological Thriller. Yes, there were some mind games in the book, but I guess I'd have put this book in a who done it type mystery, with some Psychological elements thrown in, for good measure...
I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469460259s/22557272.jpg|41107568] earlier this year. Perhaps I only have room in my heart for one alcoholic girl who suspects she's witnessed foulplay, but I spent a lot of this book being annoyed by, not feeling sympathetic for whatshernameLo, and I think it's because I had already been through this with Rachel. My friend who read this first and then watched the Girl on the Train movie that just came out, had a similar response in that she was sympathetic towards Lo but couldn't stand Rachel. So I do think it has something to do with how similar the characters, and the storyline to an extent, are.
Perhaps had I read this first, it would have been a 3 or so for me, but I just never got into this, and I spent …
I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469460259s/22557272.jpg|41107568] earlier this year. Perhaps I only have room in my heart for one alcoholic girl who suspects she's witnessed foulplay, but I spent a lot of this book being annoyed by, not feeling sympathetic for whatshernameLo, and I think it's because I had already been through this with Rachel. My friend who read this first and then watched the Girl on the Train movie that just came out, had a similar response in that she was sympathetic towards Lo but couldn't stand Rachel. So I do think it has something to do with how similar the characters, and the storyline to an extent, are.
Perhaps had I read this first, it would have been a 3 or so for me, but I just never got into this, and I spent a lot of time being annoyed at Lo. Take a fucking ambien if you can't sleep. How about you stop drinking every single night? Actually, I was turned off by the first chapter because I wasn't expecting that attack, and I honestly almost put the book down at that point, so I think things just never got better for me. The book itself is probably fine, it just wasn't for me.
Kinda similar-ish to The Girl on the Train, but really good!
