Day Four

Daaaaaaamn. Sarah Lotz, you are fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

When I read [b:The Three|18453110|The Three|Sarah Lotz|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1379897631s/18453110.jpg|26098356], I was massively impressed. Now, the follow-up, Day Four, I'll admit, I had my doubts. It seemed relatively straight-forward compared to its predecessor.

Yeah, then it took a left-turn that blew me away.

But until then, Lotz still gives you the creeps when needed, and a shockingly accurate portrayal of a cruise ship and its patrons and workers.

And, in the midst of all that, she's also slowly building a world here. I'm really anxious to see what Lotz gives us next.

Sarah Lotz topped my 2014 Horror/Thriller list with her book The Three, terrifying me with a story about four deadly plane crashes and three mysterious child survivors. This year she’s set to dominate my Best-Of lists again with her new book Day Four.

Thing is, The Three may have scared the living daylights out of me, but hey, I was already afraid of flying.

Day Four, however, may have just ruined cruising for me as well.

This is the story about the Beautiful Dreamer, a cruise ship carrying just under 3000 souls on board for her four-days-fight-nights voyage through the Gulf of Mexico. It’s New Year’s Eve on the final night and everyone’s ready to party and usher in a fresh new start, when the unthinkable happens. The ship show more suddenly stops dead in the water – no power, no radio, no cellphone signals. The much prayed for rescue never comes, and as the days go by, things get worse – the toilets stop running, food starts spoiling, and all over the ship, reports are coming in about passengers and crew members seeing and hearing some strange, impossible things…

Before this book, I’d never considered how much we take for granted on a cruise. If you’ve ever been on one, then you know the drill. From the moment you board to the time you disembark, everything is organized and planned for your pleasure and convenience. Your luggage is brought to your stateroom, where your excursion tickets await. Your dining times are scheduled, unless you wish to hit up the buffet where more food than you could ever imagine is piled in mountains on the serving tables. Everything works like a well-oiled machine, despite the hoopla of hundreds of guests all crammed into staterooms on multiple decks along the long narrow corridors that span almost the entire length of the ship.

But when the engines stop and the lights go out, how cheery do you think a cruise ship is then? Without power and the ability to cook or keep food fresh, what good are the all-you-can-eat buffets? When the infrastructure starts to break down, the crew overworked and sick of the abuse from irate passengers, the entire system falls apart. A cruise ship is like a floating city, after all. When order fails on a ship, you can expect to see the same kind of uncontrolled spiral into chaos. And I have to say Sarah Lotz has perfectly envisioned and captured this descent into pure anarchy.

On top of that, compared to The Three which was more of a suspense/thriller, Day Four reads more like a horror novel in the traditional sense. We’re exposed to some disturbing things right off the bat, even if the horrors are the more mundane kind to start with. For most of us, cruise ships mean vacation and relaxation, plenty of fun in the sun. However, beneath the glitzy façade lies the dark truths no one likes to talk about. Slovenly and rude passengers. Inclement weather and unstable seas. The risk of norovirus and infectious diseases. Sexual predators and assault. There’s plenty in the secret world of cruise ship problems that can turn a fun-filled vacation into a nightmare, I’m sure.

The day after the Beautiful Dreamer breaks down, when it’s clear that no rescue is coming and the captain is hiding the truth of the problem, that’s when the real creepy fun begin. Several passengers start exhibiting strange behavior, the superstitious crew insist on seeing visions of the Lady in White who haunts the belly of the ship, a child is spotted darting around the lower decks even though it is an adults-only New Year’s cruise, and a dead body of a young woman is found in her stateroom with rumors saying that she died just before the ship stopped. Imagine all that going down in the middle of the ocean stranded miles from civilization, tempers and tensions high with full-blown panic not too far behind. Oh, and throw in an open bar, because alcohol is sure to make any bad situation better! Right?

No surprise that in a short time, the Beautiful Dreamer turns into a floating hell. Amidst the paranormal eeriness that pervades the story is added stresses of the passengers and crew, and Sarah Lotz does an incredible job showing that people can be driven to all sorts of ugliness when they are feeling frightened and trapped. More than once, I entertained the thought of the ship sinking and everyone going down with it on this voyage of the damned, and realized I probably wouldn’t even feel too bad if that happened. What amazes me is that so much goes on in this book, but everything is tied together in some way. The story is told through the perspectives of about half a dozen people who are all linked in some way, showing all sides of the narrative. All of it forms a picture of the kind of dread that’s both awful and claustrophobic, and the writing puts you right there on the Beautiful Dreamer in the middle of that craziness.

I didn’t think it would be possible, but I think I enjoyed Day Four even more than The Three. It’s a real page-turner and an easier read in many ways, written in a more traditional style versus an epistolary format. The book is advertised as a sequel to The Three but really it is a stand alone novel that can be enjoyed on its own, and I’d even say pick this one if you had the choice between the two, though both books are fantastic and worth reading.

Highly recommended, with just one warning: you probably want to avoid Day Four if you have a cruise planned in the near future! I love cruises and the vibrant atmosphere of a cruise ship, and despite what I said at the beginning, I doubt this book would be enough to turn me off cruising…but I probably won’t be planning my next one until the memories of this terrifying story are out of my system! show less

Review from Tenacious Reader: http://www.tenaciousreader.com/2015/0...

Day Four will make you cringe, laugh and shudder. It shows you the horror that can exist in humanity, it provides you haunting events and things that you can’t explain in any sense of the world we know and live in. It will creep you out in so many ways. But, it will also entertain you and make you laugh. There is an incredible balance with the dark parts of this book that keep it from ever becoming too dismal. It is addictive and incredibly hard to put down. At the end of reading this, my largest issue is trying to find information on when Lotz’s next book might be coming out. Oh, and the fact that I will never set foot on a cruise, but that’s not so much an show more issue for me as for anyone who tries to convince me otherwise.

I think the world can be split into two types of people. Those that enjoy cruises (or the thought of them) and those that don’t see the appeal. I’m of the latter type. Honestly, the thought of being in such an enclosed space with such a large group of people, all the organized activities, the shows, etc. none of that appeals to me. And boy does confirm my natural instinct to steer clear of cruise ships. This book is creepy, it’s a ghost story set on water in a cruise ship full of obnoxious strangers (and coworkers if you’re staff). But even before you get to the supernatural parts, I was already creeped out by the characters. There are some seriously messed up people aboard, and honestly, those that aren’t creepy are just rude and annoying. There are like maybe two exceptions, and that is because probably because of the combination that we got their perspectives (and hopefully they don’t annoy themselves) and they were both people that were on the cruise as a result of their job. And to be fair, I’m sure there are nice normal people that take cruises, I just don’t plan on going on one to find out.

The story is told through several character POVs, and each chapter title tells you who it is. But instead of just blatantly listing the character name like George R. R. Martin, Lotz gives each character (or in one case a pair of characters) a descriptive name such as “The Condemned Man”, “The Devil’s Handmaiden” and “The Suicide Sisters”. For me this added to the fun because when you start reading your first thought is “Why are they called that??”, and well, you just have to read to find out why.

I honestly hate to delve too much into the story on this one. It’s a quick and intensely addictive read. The characters were all quite unique and trust me, none of them are even close to perfect people. Most of them aren’t even likable, but I still wanted to read every word of it. I love how Lotz is able to flesh out these individuals in a way where you quickly identify and understand them. I love the dynamics as things start to go wrong. I just really can’t say enough great things about it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the mysterious, the creepy or just crave haunting tales. It’s one of those books that you know won’t leave you because the story was so well done and powerful. I enjoyed every word of it.

** This is also now required reading for anyone who even considers inviting me on a cruise. show less

Brilliant sequal to the The Three... a New Year's eve cruise that takes a twist for the bizarre...Found myself both loving and being totally annoyed at the open ending, but since this part of a trilogy, it makes sense.

Also, it is totally awesome being a South African and spotting the all the South Africanisms (lekker!!!) throughout the book, which will definately confuse some other nationalities that don't know these words (morsdood!!!).

Sarah Lotz continues to write the best damn horror novels I have ever read. Tense and unsettling throughout, with a touch of cosmic horror at the end - I think this is even better than The Three.

"The trip of their dreams becomes the holiday of their nightmares"

The Beautiful Dreamer has been cruising for four days when it stops dead in the water. There is no electricity and no phone signal so they can't call for help, but when they don't reach port everyone is sure that the rescue teams will come looking for them.

Then a body is found on board which means there's a murderer on board too!

As security try to keep the search for the murderer under wraps, the ageing psychic on board, Celine del Ray, without the surreptitious help of her assistant appears to receive real messages for people on board, including a message from the dead girl.

As the days go on, the toilets stop working and the food starts to run out. You can feel the show more eerily stillness of the sea through the writing and the bubbling undercurrent of craziness about to settle in. I could almost smell the stench in the description of the lower cabins where the toilets had backed up and soaked through the carpet.

I particularly liked the scenes with the psychic and the manifestations of her spirit guides. I really felt like something evil had got onto the ship. It was similar to The Three in that I didn't really know what to make of the ending, other than to draw my own conclusions about life after death, the Bermuda Triangle and conspiracy theories. There are some links to The Three but you could read this a stand-alone book. I absolutely loved the press cuttings at the end, in a similar vein to The Three, making you feel like you could be reading non-fiction.

I received this book from the publisher via Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review. show less

Passengers spend three glorious days on board the cruise ship Beautiful Dreamer then on day four the engines stop and the electricity fails but the alcohol flows freely and no-one is overly concerned as help will surely arrive soon. Things start to go horribly wrong as a virus overtakes the ship, the toilets stop working and a passenger is found murdered. Panic ensues but this cruise turned nightmare is far from over.

Lotz has taken every scenario that could happen on a cruise ship and packed it into the Beautiful Dreamer, the cruise ship from hell. It has virus outbreaks, disgruntled passengers, angry staff, incompetence, drink spiking, suicide pacts, engine malfunction, murder and a little of the super natural.

Day Four was a dark and show more unsettling read. I’ve never been keen on cruising but I don’t think this story would turn die hard cruisers off. It’s a fictional tale, right! None of it could happen in real life, could it??

Some readers may not like the open ending. It reminded me of Life of Pi where the interpretation of the story is left up to the reader and their imagination.
I have my own theory of what happened to the ship and passengers but this could differ greatly to how another reader interprets the ending.

With thanks to Hachette Australia for my uncorrected proof to read and review. show less