Description:
With stars in her eyes, Alice Clarke boards the Titanic, heading to a new life. On board, she falls in love, only to lose him in the disaster. He leaves her with a pocketwatch, which holds more secrets than she realizes.??
Her great-grandson, Michael Kearney, inherits her diary. When he overhears an unusual story about why the ship was wrecked, he finally reads it and finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy that stretches across a century involving some very powerful people. ??
With the help of Soft Kitty, an irascible conspiracy theorist, and his girlfriend, Sylvia, he must bring the truth to light and bring down the men behind it, no matter what the cost. Maybe some secrets are better left at the bottom of the sea.
Review:
If Titanic stories fascinate you, this is a unique book to check out.
Mystery, Titanic memoirs, corporate conspiracy, contemporary political commentary–what an interesting combination of elements. This book surmises that everything we’ve assumed about the Titanic is wrong.
I can certainly say this book kept me guessing. The story alternates from Alice Clarke on board and after, her grandson Michael in the present, various people involved with the Titanic, and a few scenes by other characters.
Balancing a large number of perspectives is a tricky thing to do. My only problem with this was that the last third of the book mostly lay in the present with Michael. Which would be cool, but the book seemed to shift genres almost completely to something like film noir.
The issue is I didn’t find the action scenes to be seat-gripping or page turning. But the story of the ship, and Michael’s character did pull me through.
The historical novel parts are fascinating, although I needed a note from the author explaining any truth in their spin on Titanic history. Alice is a smart cookie.
Great main character–I rooted for soft spoken Michael. He still has a lot of depth as a shy guy. I think he displays much more personality than his ladyfriend Sylvia.
Soft Kitty is a ridiculous name. But I gotta give props for a sense of humor!
