I always feel torn about books like this one. There are so many flaws, and yet, I still sorta enjoyed it.
The main character, Lo, is a travel journalist who is setting out on the maiden voyage of a luxury yacht, headed to view the Northern Lights in Scandinavia. Days before leaving on the trip, her apartment is burgled while she is home, she has a huge fight with her boyfriend, and is generally on edge.
The first night on the boat, she hears a commotion in the room next to hers (a room where she had earlier spoken with its resident), and then a splash of something going overboard. She opens her veranda door and notices a blood smear on the door of the next room, and is convinced she sees a hand sinking under the water. She is understandably freaked about what she assumes is a murder, and immediately starts raising hell to get answers.
Her testimony is called in to question because of the amount she had been drinking, her recent traumatic experience, and her existing mental health struggles. Regardless, she keeps digging, trying to find answers as to who went overboard – especially since the crew claims that the room was unoccupied and no one on board matches the description of the girl she spoke with the day before.
So, ok. The premise is kinda cool. She’s essentially trapped at sea with a handful of passengers and crew, and can’t go to the authorities for help. I like these tense, suspenseful, no-way-out mysteries where the plucky heroine has to get to the bottom of the mystery on her own. Except…. the heroine isn’t so much ‘plucky’, as she is ‘annoying’. I mean, she doesn’t so much investigate things in a sneaky and stealthy way, as much as she just starts shouting from the rooftops what she thinks happened, and let the chips fall where they may. Left and right she makes these decisions that just have you wanting to take her by the shoulders and shake her.
There was enough action to keep me turning the pages, but for every page turn, there was an eye roll that went with it. The ‘twist’ at the end was a bit drawn out and predictable. Over all, it’s an entertaining read, but not exactly a literary marvel.