This is Why I Hate the Ocean: A Review of The Deep by Alma Katsu

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

I hope you all enjoyed last week’s wild post. That one was a lot of fun for me to curate and I hope you all found a new book to read. This week though, I am returning to form and coming at you hot with a new review. It’s time once again for me to dive into the world of horror.

So please welcome to the stage The Deep by Alma Katsu!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love to spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. Also, a quick content and trigger warning. This book deals heavily with grief and loss. Please be prepared for those topics. If you are not in the right headspace for them then I do suggest skipping this read. And with that, let’s get to the synopsis.

In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, Annie Hebbley survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Hired as a stewardess for the ship’s maiden voyage, the moment Annie stepped foot on the ship, things seemed off. Sudden deaths, items going missing, and some of the passengers are convinced there is an otherworldly presence on the ship. Then, of course, the ship sinks on that fateful night.

Cut to 1916, World War I is in full swing and Annie is hired as a nurse aboard the Britannic at the request of fellow Titanic stewardess turned nurse, Violet Jessop. Annie is nervous to return to the sea, but she knows becoming a nurse on the Britannic is for the greater good. It’s aboard the Britannic that Annie comes across Mark Fletcher.

Annie and Mark first met aboard the Titanic. He was married with a baby at the time, but that didn’t stop Annie from falling in love with him and wanting him more than anything. Annie is thrilled to see Mark, even if he’s in a coma when he’s first brought onto the Britannic. He soon awakens to find Annie watching over him, and he has very different feelings towards her than she has towards him. With his harsh reaction to seeing Annie, she’s forced to think back to her time on the Titanic and what truly went on during the ship’s voyage. 

Is dun-dun-dun appropriate here? Not sure, but I'm putting it here anyway.

I want to start today’s review proper with The Deep’s positives. Namely, Alma Katsu’s gorgeous prose and tense atmosphere. She is indeed one of the most descriptive and detailed writers out there. Her books put readers in the middle of the action; that be the chilly nights aboard a ship or the painful journey across the American west with all the terrors that come with the settings.

With The Deep, she has put readers in the claustrophobic space that is the Titanic. Things are tense right off the bat as Alma Katsu’s writing quickly reveals something is off. There’s this overwhelming sense of dread the moment the 1912 section of the story begins. Perhaps it’s simply knowing the Titanic is going to sink. But personally I believe the claustrophobic atmosphere mixed with spiritualist beliefs and the unreliable narrator are what made my hair stand on end in The Deep.   

Speaking of the unreliable narrator, I must applaud Alma Katsu for her creation of Annie. She is a great unreliable narrator. She is phenomenal. I questioned her on every page, I never trusted her or anything she did. Annie Hebbley is truly one of the best contemporary unreliable narrators. I have not read any story with unreliable narration like this in quite some time. I truly had no idea what to expect thanks to Annie. I had no idea where the story was going at times. And I definitely did not expect the final twist reveal of why Annie is an unreliable narrator. Sadly she is the only character I really cared for or knew anything about.

There are far too many characters in The Deep. There are too many characters, and they get very little focus which leads to little to no payoff. And that is this novel’s fatal flaw. Annie and Mark are the main focus of The Deep, yet because there are so many supporting characters, the narrative’s focus is pulled away from what really matters. Seriously, roughly one-third of the novel is spent with two boxers conning the first class passengers of the Titanic. And then readers don’t get to learn if they survive the sinking of the Titanic or not!

If I am spending hundreds of pages getting to know side characters, then I want to see the ending of their story. I recognize that many of the passengers readers meet on the Titanic are not relevant to the main plot surrounding Mark and Annie, but that being said, they still deserve to have their stories finished. The boxers for example, their stories are unfinished. One is thrown into a life boat, the other likely stays on the ship as it sinks. There is no confirmation if either actually survives. This causes the story to feel unfinished. It almost feels rushed, like the author could not properly finish the story and had to send in the final edits of the book before it was actually finished. I also recognize some of the characters’ endings are left open ended in order for the reader to decide their fate, but I found this to feel lazy more than anything else seeing as no one's fate is confirmed. Not every story needs to have a definitive ending, but The Deep does.

Overall, The Deep is a decent read. Alma Katsu’s prose is nothing short of gorgeous with pages filled with atmospheric tension. I will never get enough of Alma Katsu’s prose. I simply wish the ending wasn’t left as open ended as it is.  

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Book Nerds. I hope you all had a lovely time here today and I will see you all again next week with another new review. If you can’t wait that long then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books then I highly suggest checking out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk anything and everything. You should definitely give us a listen if you’re a fan of Scooby-Doo. We’ve been watching every Scooby-Doo TV show and film ever made and reviewing them. You can currently listen to the show on Spotify and YouTube.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!