Title: Day Four
Author: Sarah Lotz
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: Buy, especially if you liked The Three
Bonus: It'll save you money on cruises.
Sarah Lotz knows a thing or two about suspense and atmosphere, as she proved with her debut novel, The Three. Day Four, her follow up, is a sort-of sequel. It follows a group of passengers and crew on board a cruise ship, and readers of The Three will recognize certain characters and events mentioned (even if they're a little skewed).
On day four of the cruise, something happens--to the boilers? the generators? a fire? It's kept a little vague--and the ship comes to a complete stop. Passengers and crew fall ill to a virus, and those who aren't sick begin seeing...something. The paranoia and claustrophobia only increase as the novel wears on. Lotz has a deft hand with the descriptions and scene-setting, to the point we're not really sure what we're witnessing. Is it just paranoia? Or is something supernatural really occurring? The presence of Celine del Ray, a celebrity medium, does nothing to clear things up; instead she manages to divide the castaways into Believers and Unbelievers.
Lotz is extraordinarily talented in making seemingly mundane details creepy, and her characters are fantastic. Her voice changes completely from character to character, and even the narrative method changes. Some characters are first person narrators, others are third. Sometimes our point of view is through a blog post. Often times with multiple narrators, I'll have to pause and consciously think about which character I'm reading about (The Kind Worth Killing comes to mind here), but that was never an issue with Day Four.
While one needn't have read The Three to enjoy Day Four, I do think it would help. The first novel gives the reader a more in-depth grounding in the world Lotz has created, and the ending especially might be a little more difficult to understand without that background.
However. (Not too terribly spoilery, but again, it might give away more than you want to know.)
Author: Sarah Lotz
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Buy, Borrow, Skip: Buy, especially if you liked The Three
Bonus: It'll save you money on cruises.
Sarah Lotz knows a thing or two about suspense and atmosphere, as she proved with her debut novel, The Three. Day Four, her follow up, is a sort-of sequel. It follows a group of passengers and crew on board a cruise ship, and readers of The Three will recognize certain characters and events mentioned (even if they're a little skewed).
On day four of the cruise, something happens--to the boilers? the generators? a fire? It's kept a little vague--and the ship comes to a complete stop. Passengers and crew fall ill to a virus, and those who aren't sick begin seeing...something. The paranoia and claustrophobia only increase as the novel wears on. Lotz has a deft hand with the descriptions and scene-setting, to the point we're not really sure what we're witnessing. Is it just paranoia? Or is something supernatural really occurring? The presence of Celine del Ray, a celebrity medium, does nothing to clear things up; instead she manages to divide the castaways into Believers and Unbelievers.
Lotz is extraordinarily talented in making seemingly mundane details creepy, and her characters are fantastic. Her voice changes completely from character to character, and even the narrative method changes. Some characters are first person narrators, others are third. Sometimes our point of view is through a blog post. Often times with multiple narrators, I'll have to pause and consciously think about which character I'm reading about (The Kind Worth Killing comes to mind here), but that was never an issue with Day Four.
While one needn't have read The Three to enjoy Day Four, I do think it would help. The first novel gives the reader a more in-depth grounding in the world Lotz has created, and the ending especially might be a little more difficult to understand without that background.
However. (Not too terribly spoilery, but again, it might give away more than you want to know.)
As much as I liked Day Four--possibly more than The Three, honestly--I'm a little worried that Lotz is a one-trick pony. As much as I've liked visiting the world she's created in these two books, I'd like to see what else she can do, where else she can take us. I'd be willing to do another book set in this world, but then I'd like to get some variety from her if I'm going to read more.