The female captain of a transatlantic container ship allows the all-male crew to take an unprecedented dip in the middle of the ocean - subsequently, the ship’s atmosphere is tinged with unease…

Look, if the ocean makes you feel uneasy then this is not the book for you, because it perfectly captures the ocean’s potential for creepiness. I really enjoyed it - it’s ominous and atmospheric and got under my skin. I adored the writing, which had a rhythm to it reminiscent of the swell of the ocean - it was a pleasure to read and perfectly suited the story.

If you’ve ever been swimming and had the unprompted thought that something could be right behind or below you and freaked yourself out a little bit because once you’ve thought it, you can’t unthink it - that’s the feeling that pervades the book, the unease prompted by the unknown and human vulnerability in an environment that is not our natural habitat (the ocean).

As the ship seems to be taking on a life of its own, the lore of the sea (ghost ships, strange phenomena) and the isolation play on the crew after their one brief rupture in the normally highly-regimented routine of life onboard. With the only woman at the top of the ship’s hierarchy, Navarro also touches on gender dynamics and the potential precarity of female authority.

An ominous, atmospheric and slightly claustrophobic story of human vulnerability and the opposing allure and unease prompted by the vastness of the ocean.