Plot overboard! High hopes scuppered towards end.

I had been LONGING for the release of this promising book after enjoying The Chalet and to a lesser extent, The Chateau.
I simply adore location thrillers and Caribbean cruises and have long thought how I would love to read a top notch thriller exploiting the cruise itinerary so you get a murder mystery and a lovely holiday all in one.

It began very well with plenty of luxury cruise ship details and an immediate murder - excellent.
Then more about life on a Cruise ship, this time from the crew's point of view - again excellent.
Another dramatic event ... perfect.

Then suddenly we were in the Scottish Highlands in flashback - OK not what I signed on for, but happy to take a detour.
This could have been a completely different book, but I was still engaged and enjoying it,

Then it became clear how the two stories fitted together and where two of the main characters became rather unlikable.

Next thing we find out the Cruise ship is no longer cruising ........................ whaaaaaat???
Instead it is laid up for refurb/overhaul with a skeleton staff and seems to be moored in an unknown place just called "The Caribbean".

Disappointing! I signed on for a cruise not to be just bobbing about endlessly while these works are carried out on the ship. Yes the cast is sort of here, the Captain, the Chef (unlikely that a Michelin starred chef would be kept to feed the crew) the Doctor, fun boy Rick and a dancer who has decided to stay on board as ..................a cleaner ..... due to being traumatised by previous events.

Unbelievable! Well life on a cruise ship no longer cruising is no longer fun for me. I had hoped for a "If it's Tuesday, it's Aruba" style fun. Another day another port, another amazing excursion all with would up with suspenseful, mysterious twists and turns amongst the palms. What a huge wasted opportunity. I remember now being also disappointed that there was a lot of under exploited mileage in the Chateau as well, but on this one we do not even take the titular "Cruise", which left me feeling really ripped off.

As the cruise ship is boringly at anchor location known only as "The Caribbean", the plot becomes frenetic, with raising body count and the two principle characters become more and more absurd. One transcends into an over emotional Frank Spencer/Mr Bean mashup with mortuary slap slick and the other into a sort of charmless candy coated psychopath. There is even Blue Petering below decks with papier mache - really? At this stage I was ready to pull the plug and scupper the whole thing.

So that's what I did. I thought I had embarked on a joyous cruise where I could vicariously enjoy cocktails on the top deck, swimming in the pools while the dolphins frolic off the starboard bow - boarding the tender with my sun hat for a day ashore, all with a delicious murder mystery to solve on a luxurious ocean voyage.

I have no idea how this ended as just had enough of the two main characters and bonkers plot for which you needed to throw disbelief overboard as just so very contrived, in a cartwheel to crush a butterfly murder, concerning characters I would have been delighted to see going to prison or even executed as they were so obnoxious,

There was over an hour left of this shipwreck when I disembarked - even if it got a whole lot better it would not make up for the high hopes I had dashed on the high seas in a thriller. which did not do what it said on the can. What a wasted opportunity, well enough written but just a giant damp squib instead of the glorious fireworks it could have been.

Returning.

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6 people found this helpful

Very disjointed: two books stuck together

It was like reading two books that had accidentally got stuck together. Enjoyable stories but definitely should have been separate books.

Crazily far fetched to the point of laughable.

Mixed feelings about this one. Both stories were great but the fact that they were put together was off putting

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Meh

Having read and really enjoyed Catherine Cooper's previous novels, I was excited for this. unfortunately, it is nowhere near as good. The story is ok, but there is no killer twist to speak of. The characters are irritating (especially Antonio), and I have no idea why Alice is even part of the story - her character served no purpose whatsoever. Having said that, it was an ok listen, and the narrators are excellent.

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1 person found this helpful

Don’t call the ship a boat !!!

I’ve worked on cruise ships and it was tiny little details like that, calling the ‘ship’ a boat,that took the edge of the realism-overall a good listen, don’t let it put u off cruising.

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Loved it!

This is a really fun, engaging murder mystery. Lots of twists & turns, I enjoyed all the different narrators, 10/10 for me!

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Excellent

Read this on Caribbean cruise lol lots of twisted loved it read very well would definitely recommend

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I enjoyed this

Lots of twists and turns and suspense really enjoyed this book Will try other books by this author

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A far-fetched but enjoyable listen!

Lola, the main protagonist is not a likeable character, but the far fetched story keeps you hooked right until the very last sentence! The settings enhance the whole and make for a most enjoyable few hours

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I hung on to the end!

I have not read any books by this author before so I thought I would give it a go, but after the first 3-4 chapters I felt quite bored and I nearly stopped there. However, I decided to carry on, but to be honest it didn’t get much better.
The book flitted about from past to present and there were no real surprises. The three incidents on the ship were just written off, and not investigated properly, which was not very realistic. Did no-one on board need a Doctor for 3 days?
Would have been great to have had a real twist at the end, but it was as expected, and could guess what would become of certain characters.
On the upside - the narrators were good

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Awful awful awful

Didn’t start too badly but the story degenerated so badly towards the end that I gave up. Thoroughly unlikeable characters. Completely unbelievable motives. Just bizarre. Performances ok but a bit over the top (may have been because of the writing, though).

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