Published by Penguin Audio on 6th March 2020
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: Bought, Net Galley
Pages: 391
Amazon UK
Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic. This is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the passengers of the ship from the moment they set sail: mysterious disappearances, sudden deaths. Now suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone during the four days of the liner's illustrious maiden voyage, a number of the passengers - including millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, the maid Annie Hebbley and Mark Fletcher - are convinced that something sinister is going on... And then, as the world knows, disaster strikes.
Years later and the world is at war. And a survivor of that fateful night, Annie, is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, now refitted as a hospital ship. Plagued by the demons of her doomed first and near fatal journey across the Atlantic, Annie comes across an unconscious soldier she recognises while doing her rounds. It is the young man Mark. And she is convinced that he did not - could not - have survived the sinking of the Titanic...
Brilliantly combining fact and fiction, the historical and the horrific, The Deep reveals a chilling truth in an unputdownable narrative full of unnerving moments and with a growing, inexorable sense of foreboding.
I have no idea how to feel about this book, to be honest. I went in expecting a really chilling ghost story, but that’s not what this is.
Yeah, it was an interesting approach to the Titanic and the sister ship Britannic, and the storylines with Annie, Mark etc were interesting and kept me listening to the audiobook. But it all got a bit muddled with the “ghostly” element and when you find out the “truth” I felt it was a bit meh. But the reasoning behind the truth, I got on board with that.
I am so disappointed as I have heard so much about this book and I wanted to devour and love it! I did devour it and I did love it, but not as a ghost story, it wasn’t chilling, it was a story of loss and heartbreak when you look into detail about the book.
I loved being on board the Titanic, and when you get to that fateful night, it is still a shock, because you kind of hope that it won’t happen. The same with the Britannic, but as much as I felt meh, I kind of liked that there were forces at play here that could have caused the sinking. The reasoning behind it all, now that was heartbreaking in itself.
The narrator, Jane Collingwood, well I would listen to anything she narrates! She was a dream to listen to and she made me care about these characters. She brought them to life and their fears and plight became my own.
If you go into this book without the preconceptions of a haunting tale, you will love this historical retelling of these great events, and using some of the real passengers too. I thought it was done delicately and with love. Although one character near the end who was bartering to get her and her husband on the lifeboats riled me. The thing is, you know it would have happened!
I feel the more I write this review, the more I know I did enjoy it. It was a haunting tale, but it wasn’t a haunting.
Until the next time xxx
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