I really wanted to like this book. It seems like it should be right up
my alley: maritime disaster? Check. Horror? Check. Survival on the high
seas and the idea that the other survivors are the real danger? Check
and check.
And yet...
The premise was great -- a ship
taking a construction crew to South American travels into a thick,
mysterious fog and emerges in a place that is very clearly not right.
The fog seems almost alive -- and very unfriendly. Plus, it's full of
creatures that shouldn't exist, and ships that aren't where they belong.
There
were some great characters, too. The first mate, the cook, the
undercover corporate spy -- all smart, interesting characters with solid
voices. There was a good, love-to-hate human antagonist as well as the
unknown fog monster. There was even a tough, capable female character. I
liked the parts where characters discovered the history of some of the
ships that had ended up in this place. All that was great.
The
problem was that the story dragged significantly in the middle. Although
I understood the desire to ratchet up the tension by leaving the
characters adrift, I got awfully frustrated after a while watching the
same situation play out repeatedly in each lifeboat. Something scary
would happen, but then it would just go back to waiting and watching,
and I would pray again that the separate groups would finally find one
another so that something of interest could happen. Once they did
combine, the ending rocketed on to a somewhat satisfying conclusion, but
by then I was barely managing to keep interested.
I think this
book might have benefitted from some solid editing. The story was rich
and interesting, the characters had real potential, and there were some
genuine scares that kept me up a night or two. There was just too MUCH
of everything.
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