Review: 3.5 stars for an engrossing thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2014
It's all fun and games on a cruise ship until someone drowns.Heleen and Frank, a Norwegian couple, are celebrating their anniversary with a European cruise. They've been together for seventeen years, most of them contented. Yes, there have been struggles, but they give each other the freedom they need. Frank works in travel and as such is away from home a lot, and Heleen is understanding. She has her own career, and she enjoys the autonomy their relationship provides.In a twist of dramatic irony, we know - but Heleen does not - that Frank has been planning an escape. So when he mysteriously disappears, we sense that he will return one way or another.Heleen is beside herself over her husband's supposed death, and she returns home to grieve. But then strange things start happening. First, there is an insurance settlement in the name of a stranger living in France. Then there are other, odder questions.Determined to understand what happened, Heleen heads to France to find out what Frank has been up to. Along the way, she becomes convinced that the Frank she loved and married is not the Frank she thought was true. The Frank who disappeared? That's a whole other Frank.There are twists and turns galore in this book. Just when you think it's ending, it keeps going. And that is my one complaint: there is almost too much of the thriller and too little of the mystery. We never quite understand Frank's motivations, nor do we ever quite understand why he and Heleen stayed together for as long as they did. You get the sense that they truly loved each other, which makes Frank's decisions a bit of a head scratcher.Still, Vermeer writes a book that will keep you hooked. Heleen is as admirable a character as you'll find. She has spunk, if not a little innocence, and although her determination to suss out what happened to her husband leads her down one dangerous path after another, she never quits. The titular cruise becomes more about Heleen's journey across unchartered waters as it does about the actual ship. As much as she learns about Frank, she learns even more about who she really is.Published on cupcake's book cupboard@VivaAmaRisata