The Deep

I absolutely loved Alma Katsu's novel about the Donner party. I loved it so much that her latest novel was one of my most-anticipated novels for the year. Unfortunately, The Deep did not live up to my expectations.

For one thing, there are too many narrators. Plus, not one of the narrators is very compelling. Added to that are the many time shifts, and the whole thing is one very disjointed and confusing story. The possession story is not very convincing nor scary, and the scenes on the Titanic do not offer anything new. The whole thing makes for a very disappointing reading experience, not the least because I was so looking forward to it.

Annie Hebbley survived the sinking of the Titanic. The event has left her mentally scarred. She lost her memory for a time, and still remembers the strange events on board the doomed ship as it sailed on its ill-fated maiden voyage. Years later, a friend contacts her asking her to come be a nurse aboard Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic. Even though Britannic has been refitted into a hospital ship, Annie still can see the resemblance to the Titanic. Then the same strange bizarre things start to happen....and she sees someone she recognizes...a man who was aboard the Titanic....a man who could not have survived the sinking....

I loved Alma Katsu's book,The Hunger, about the Donner Party, so I knew I would enjoy this one about the show more Titanic and its sister ship. OMG....this story was so creepy and suspenseful! I enjoy just about anything about the Titanic....but add in some great horror elements....and it's binge read material for me!

This story alternates between Annie's trip on the Titanic in 1912 as a maid, and her journey on the refitted Britannic in 1916. Usually I'm not really a fan of stories that jump back and forth in time, but for this story the time shifts just heightened the suspense. I'm not going to give away anything about the plot.....it would be much better to go into the story not knowing much about what's going to happen other than the tale centers around the Titanic and Britannic.

I LOVE the cover art for this book! I am buying a copy for my keeper shelf because it's just a gorgeous book. Even though I know the ending, I know I will want to re-read this one. My Titanic obsession will require it!

Very suspenseful and entertaining read! I couldn't put it down once I got into the story..... Alma Katsu has not let me down yet! I added her other books to my TBR stack....must read them all! :) I can't wait to see what her next new novel will bring! Roanoke Island maybe? She keeps hitting strange historical events that I'm totally obsessed with -- the Donner Party, The Titanic.... Can't wait to see what the next one might be!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Penguin. All opinions expressed are entirely my own. ** show less

I couldn’t wait to read this. A ghost story aboard the Titanic...a ship that has always fascinated me. My grandfather worked as a young man in the shipyard that build the Titanic. This tale is supposedly based on at least some truth...the writing had a surreal, hypnotic quality which suited the mystical storyline. Events alternated between the Britannic (1916) and the Titanic (1912), and Alma Katsu seamlessly wove historical fact and fiction to such a degree that it all seemed absolutely possible. There is an unsuspected twist close to the end but the entire story is filled with lots of interesting historical facts and tidbits.

Immensely satisfying book. Katsu makes historical events come alive with sympathetic, but deeply flawed characters and detailed descriptions of their surroundings. Then she makes them creepy.

The women characters in The Deep reminded me of the women of The Haunting of Hill House and Rebecca. Their motives were left a mystery deep into the book and kept me guessing and tense to the end.

Good stuff!

Creepy book set on both the Titanic and the Britannica (its sister ship that also sank) that is perfect for Halloween season. Also since I’m not going any where near a cruise ship in the near future, perfectly fine to be reading about water spirits and that unsettling feeling of being on the deep sea (at least for me). I don’t know much about the history of either ships but later learned that a few characters in the book were real life passengers and that indeed there was a staff member, Violet Jessie, who served on both ships – and survived. Fascinating. Also rather disturbing… I can see how she served as inspiration for this book.

But back to The Deep. Like Katsu’s previous book, The Hunger, this is historical fiction with a show more supernatural twist. But it is done so very skillfully and woven into the plot and brings in both ages-old mythology and superstition as well as the spiritualism that was popular at the time.

I loved all the detail and research that went into this book. Even the minor characters are just felt so well-rounded and believable. And while we all know the fates of these ships, I couldn’t put this book down thanks to great characters both real and imaginary, all those small historical details, and that delightful satisfying feeling about reading a well-written book. show less

4.5/5

From the start, this book oozes with underlying creepy tension just waiting to burst through the surface. A really interesting horror historical novel, tying together two of the worst sea tragedies, RMS Titanic and her sister ship, HMHS Britannica with possible hauntings, sirens, possessions, and the emotional, psychological, and physical horrors humans visit upon each other.

Another novel where history is let down by fiction. Any story even remotely connected with the ill-fated Titanic should practically write itself, but in the grand tradition of James Cameron, authors will keep insisting on tacking their own tedious melodramas onto the ship and her passengers.

Here we have the Titanic and her equally short-lived sister ship the Britannic, the familiar real life cast of Guggenheims, Astors and Duff-Gordons, not to mention Violet Jessop, a nurse who survived the demise of both ships - but apparently that's not enough. No, what is obviously required is a cliched red-headed imitation of Violet who is either obsessed with Irish folklore or possessed by a spirit from the sea. And in addition to Madeleine Astor, show more the young wife of John Jacob Astor who survived the sinking to have her 'Titanic baby' four months later, we need the paper thin Caroline Fletcher, who made a deal with her 'wild, dark-haired' friend to have a baby, and is now whacked out on cocaine and haunted by either her conscience or a ghost. The truth behind the 'haunting' takes the whole book to surface, pardon the pun, and isn't even remotely worth waiting for. Most of the 400 pages are wasted on Annie and Caroline being 'hysterical' on board the Titanic, and Annie stalking Caroline's widower on the Britannic four years later. Oh, I forgot the token gay characters, two boxers hoping to make their fortune by swindling rich passengers.

There is absolutely no point to this novel. The cliched Irish girl, tortured by a love affair with a priest and open to 'spirits' seeking revenge, reads like something out of a Victorian penny dreadful, and any supernatural subcurrent is based solely on characters intoning 'There's a presence on this ship, can't you feel it?' at regular intervals. That, together with Americanisms (would a man from Wales really tell a girl, 'Say, I just noticed your names sounds like mint julep'?) and starting sentences with 'Too' - 'Not even Americans should be allowed to get away with that', Kingsley Amis - made this book a trial to finish. I'm glad I only paid £1! show less