Proceed With Caution:
This book contains two sinking ships, death, murder, abortion, and suicide.
The Basics:
The Deep tells the parallel stories of the Titanic and its sister-ship the Britannic, connected by two young women, Annie and Violet. Annie is our main narrator as she is recently released from an asylum where she has spent the last four years of her life, following the sinking of the Titanic. Only to go work as a nurse on the Britannic, which meets a similar fate. Is it a coincidence, or was all of the talk of ghosts and spirits four years prior true?
My Thoughts:
I am obsessed with the Titanic. At least in fictional accounts, although I would love to learn more about the realities as well. The Deep combines real events and people with fiction to create something very eerie and intense. No matter how many times I watch the movie, or read about it, I always get so nervous when the ship hits the iceberg. But here, there's some added anxiety because you just don't know if Titanic is actually haunted or if some of the passengers are mad.
The only reason that I didn't rate The Deep higher was because the middle drags. The beginning is very interesting as we meet all of the main characters. Very different people all in one place, with a few of them reuniting on the Britannic. It's also immediately clear that something is off about Annie. Then the ending was wild as everything finally starts coming together. We learn how everyone is connected and what is really happening on both ships. I didn't want to put it down! That middle section though, droned on and on, slowing the pace and the anticipation.
The Deep does do a great job of weaving all of the individual stories together though. What does a stewardess have in common with her first-class charges or with a pair of boxers or rich widows? Well, it all slowly comes together with many WHAT?! moments sprinkled out. The boxers, Leslie and David, almost made me cry! I would totally read an entire book about just them. But everyone was interesting in their own way and somehow contributed to these tragedies.
I can't say too much without giving anything away, but The Deep was a really cool story that meshed together history with fiction and with the paranormal. I'm a sucker for paranormal activity in historical settings. The overall story is quite grim. Yes, even more so than the sinkings themselves.