The Deep by Alma Katsu

Source: Purchased Hardcover, 432 pgs. I am an Amazon Affiliate The Deep by Alma Katsu is a historical fiction novel centered around the Titanic and her sister ship the Britannic and the young Anne Hebbley, a stewardess in first class on the Titanic and a nurse’s aid on the Britannic. Through all the glitz and glamor of first class with John Jacob Astor and Lady Duff-Gordon we see the dismissive attitude of others and the entitlement they all carry. However, there are some cases in which these wealthy passengers show kindness and empathy toward their fellow passengers. Katsu has a wide cast of characters in this novel, but she balances them very well against the historical details, and the suspense is palpable as the young boy serving the Astor’s dies mysteriously aboard the Titanic shortly after a seance. The narrative shifts between this past and the Hebbley’s present as a nursing aid on the Britannic. She wonders why she’s agreed to be on the sea again, after her near death on the Titanic.

“Fear was a chained dog, startling and rough and always dangerously close, stretching its leash, baring fangs.” (pg. 24)

Ms. Hebbley is a young woman who is rudderless without family support and haunting memories of a lost love. The past swirls about these characters, scooping them up into a whirlpool of sadness and regret. From the decisions they made that went awry to the regrettable loss of loved ones that they still feel guilty about, Hebbley, Mark Fletcher, and others are burdened and susceptible to the supernatural forces around them. Katsu’s research into the Titanic and Britannic shines through in her novel, and I loved that she provided new characters beyond the ones everyone knows like Astor. This made the story line even more believable and allowed the supernatural elements to weave seamlessly into the story. I loved the backstories of the characters in this cast, and I particularly loved the Gothic atmosphere Katsu created. In The Deep by Alma Katsu’s characters are burdened by their guilt at the bargains they have made with themselves and others, with how they act toward those they love and how they have come to be where they are. From Hebbley to Fletcher, the secrets become too heavy and have no where left to go but out into the silent ear of the ocean. The ocean becomes their confessional, and there is little room for half-truths and denials — the ocean will make them all pay dearly for those. RATING: Cinquain