The Deep by Alma Katsu is a horror that takes place on the Titanic and it’s sister ship the Britannic in 1912-1916. This horror adds the element of a well researched historical fiction. There’s a demon that wants innocent souls what better place to find them than the Titanic. It adds horror to the already real life horror of survival. The side characters are interesting but too many of them were throw away characters and did not effect the overall plot, they are there for a couple moments then redundant. I definitely felt cheated in that I did not know of the survival of some of these characters. The novel has a good LGTBQ relationship, and showed what hiding it looks like in 1912. I like the author’s style of adding underlying horrors to historic events. I liked this one more than The Hunger, which added even more horror to the Donner Party expedition. While I thought that the story was just okay, I liked the idea of it. I’m glad to see this was executed better with a stronger story backing it up. I was hooked early in this one. I felt too many side characters were being introduced, which took away from the main characters. Then I started to really like the side characters.

The Plot: We know that in 1912, the voyage of the Titanic was doomed. However, it was haunted well before that by a siren of the sea that wants innocent souls. Annie is a young caretaker of the elite first-class Titanic passengers. She helps in everything, from cleaning and bartending to fetching and taking care of kids. She grows obsessed about one family, Mark, his wife, and his young newborn. She feels a connection to Mark, but knows it’s wrong. She ends up taking care of the child but being fearful of the wife who she thinks might be evil. A seance on the ship brings forth an ancient evil, or was it already there?

What I Liked: The beginning added to the mystery and really intrigued me. The story went in a different direction than I expected, which was okay. I thought it would be more of a ghost story involving purgatory, but it was not that. I like the history that was put into the story, it added to the horror. The ending was pretty intense, and really went there. The creature was rarely seen. However, this seemed to work. It made you curiouser until the end. That’s when everything is explained. The Les and Dai storyline was pretty good even though their story kind of sort of went nowhere, LGBTQ angle felt real and right. The cover is beautifully haunting.

What I Disliked: There was no update on all the characters that we were introduced to. We see some sacrifice others to survive. However, we don’t get any update on these characters after the sinking. I would have liked to see way more of the main characters. The other characters were good. Sometimes they felt like filler.

Recommendation: The story is clever adding horrors to deep survival. I did not recommend The Hunger, but this one I enjoyed a lot more. I do want to read something where Katsu is focused on just the main characters. That is my biggest critique after having read two stories by her. She has the talent and can create interesting characters. Just let them truly lead the story. I rated The Deep by Alma Katsu 4 out of 5 stars.