I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is going to be a tough one to review because so much craziness happens in this book, and I don’t want to give it away. There are so many twists and turns and I don’t want to ruin the fun, so bear with me.

First of all, you need to go into this one willing to suspend disbelief. It’s imperative that you let go of that annoying little voice that insists you stay grounded in reality. You’ll enjoy this so much more if you do.

The basic premise is Caroline (Caz) and her newish boyfriend Peter have boarded a state-of-the-art luxury liner in England. They are making a cross-Atlantic trek to the US for some much needed R&R. They have a lovely first night together on the ship, but then the next day, Caz awakens to find that Peter is not in bed. She gets dressed and steps out to go look for him and finds that the halls are empty. No one is in any of the dining rooms and the decks are empty – to make matters worse – no one is steering the ship. She is alone in the middle of the friggin Atlantic ocean hurtling toward God knows where.

Can you imagine? For someone like me who is terrified of getting on a cruise ship, this was my worst nightmare realized. Being lost at sea – be it on a raft or a luxury liner is NOT something I have on my bucket list. Between Jaws and Titanic I am forever afraid of the ocean. There are far too many nibbley, bitey, chompy things that you have to worry about on top of the big fear – drowning. Then again, I don’t know what’s worse – drowning or being nibbled to death; neither sounds fun.

Anyway, Caz soon finds three other people on the ship, and none of them know WTF is happening. How could hundreds of passengers vanish? Why can’t they stop the ship? Where are they? Everything they try to contact help goes awry and when the power goes out and their access to the food supply is lost, they know their days are numbered.

That’s all I’m going to say about the plot because this is definitely one that needs to be read. The book is filled with all kinds of crazy twists and turns and I found myself gasping frequently. Once I started, I couldn’t put this one down. I’m glad I chose this as a vacation read because waiting to finish work so I could get back to it would have been torture. I can also say that the end made me scream “Holy Sh*t” so loud I’m sure I woke my neighbors.

Poor Caz is put through the ringer. I’ve read books where the author puts their main character through some stuff, but this one pretty much takes the cake. If you prefer a more character-driven novel, this probably isn’t for you. I cared for the characters well enough, but what kept me reading was the crazy plot twists and a need to find out how (or if) these people would ever get off this damn boat. The chapters are short (which I loved) and the action is non-stop. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes a fun, fast-paced thriller. Buckle up and dive in and then thank me later.