Marianne is spicing up her retirement by taking a 24-hour booze cruise from Sweden to Finland and back alone. She is quickly picked up by fellow passenger, Goran, in the waiting lounge. YOLO, lol! Too bad she didn’t notice the book’s title is Blood Cruise. That does sound a bit foreboding, after all.
There are a massive amount of characters in this book all moving toward having a really bad evening. But it takes half the book to tell their stories. There are only creepy figures hiding in the corners until over 250 pages in! No American disaster movie would ever make that mistake. So it is a slow slog forward. Near the middle, the book makes an abrupt right turn into splatter horror.
The conclusion, however, is the best part of Blood Cruise. It is fast-paced and exciting. Plus I liked the variant on the usual monster culture. 4 stars but only for a patient reader!
Thanks to Jo Fletcher Books, Quercus Books US and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.