Danger on the Atlantic

If you're wondering if you should read this book, let me tell you straight away—don't. Go watch the movie DANGEROUS CROSSING (1953) instead. It's much better, and this book steals the plot almost identically.

Now, I read a lot of mysteries. I am not bothered by “inspired by” or “based on” or “adapted from” or “reminiscent of” but this author took just about entire plot straight out of the movie and doesn't give credit where credit is due. Even the title seems ripped off.

I haven't read the first two, and I only read this one because I am doing some research of my own about ocean liners. (That's why I watched the movie in the first place.) Other than the complete lack of originality, the writing was mediocre. Too much telling (how she feels, what she's thinking, how she's reasoning through things) and not nearly enough showing.

Then there are the gender stereotypes. The protagonist female relies only on her intuition and feelings to do her sleuthing. But she is constantly doubting or ignoring her feelings and intuition, so she seeks affirmation from her male counterpart over and over again. Then she stands up for another woman who is being gaslighted before changing her mind and starting to gaslight her herself.

All the while, the duo are terrible detectives. The reader is 50 steps ahead of them for the entire novel because they keep taking coffee breaks and forgetting all the clues they have already collected. The protagonist does not solve one part of the mystery in the end.

I still gave it two stars for the setting and the main romance plot, but overall I don't recommend.