We follow the daily routines of the passengers on board, the facilities, the living quarters of both the rich passengers and the service staff. We know, already, that these ships are going to sink, but we’re still caught up in the immersive luxury world of the Titanic as the story unfolds. The atmosphere of the ship is built beautifully. The book’s real strength is Katsu’s research skills-she was a fact-checker for the CIA in a previous job, and still conducts fact-checking training sessions for writers. Like a ghost, the unfinished story from the past has come back to haunt her. When the ship docks to board some wounded soldiers, she comes face to face with the father of the baby she tried to protect, on the Titanic. In parallel, we follow Annie on the Britannic, a hospital ship in 1916, as she adjusts to wartime hospital life. The Deepīut will anyone believe her, and can she save the baby from harm? Worse, she suspects it is after the baby of one of her assigned passengers. The mood changes Annie begins to sense the presence of some sort of sea spirit on board.

Tragedy strikes in the form of the death of a servant boy during a seance.

Life is packed with activities and fun on board for the passengers, and Annie is swept up in her job and enjoying herself. On board the Titanic, Annie is the stewardess serving a row of first-class suites, many of them booked by characters drawn from real life: Benjamin Guggenheim, John Jacob Astor, Lucy Duff-Gordon, and a few others-all high society members of the time. Her central character is Annie Hebbley, a staff member on the Titanic in 1912, and subsequently a nurse on the Britannic in 1916.

The Deep by Alma Katsu