Are you getting ready to take a cruise somewhere after the real worlds crisis settles down? Well, why not read this book before you go and see what an adventure is in store for you! Of course, your cruise ship will know where it’s going and probably get there OK, and you won’t be attacked by pirates, but you never know.
For this particular cruise, you’re aboard the M/S Atlantica outbound from Nassau, in the Bahamas, heading to Bermuda, an island in the North Atlantic, on Earth. If you happen to be one of the passengers, say Jack Cohen, a or former Marine Sergeant, you’re looking for a restful period of several weeks. Jack is a veteran of Syria and some pretty rough fighting. He’s here to unwind and continue his recuperation from the loss of the bottom half of his left leg. Unfortunately, Jack isn’t going to get much rest for awhile.
It all starts when the Atlantica’s Staff Captain has to get Captain Solberg out of hosting an evening dinner to report that this huge modern cruise liner was lost! Every single navigation aid available to the Atlantica was down, not working and wouldn’t boot up no matter how many diagnostic fixes they tried. And, even their ship compass was showing something entirely strange. According to the compass, they were headed in the opposite direction then what they thought they were sailing! Yes, this very expensive cruise liner was stuffed full of modern day navigation aids, all electronic and computer driven, but they were all dead. Now even the simple compass was some how showing Captain Solberg, his ship was heading the wrong way! Oh, and did I mention that they had no communciations, with anyone!
So, what’s to do, well, how about just turning the ship 180 degrees and heading back the way you came! And that’s what the Captain orders when ot long after that they receive a distress call. The ship has to respond to the call from a ship not far from their new reverse course. While the Captain was compelled to do this, he wasn’t so sure about who was on this strange ship in the middle of the Atlantic. He dispatches the Staff Captain Kendricks down below decks to assist in helping whomever needed assistance from the approaching small ship. It turns out that ship was what it was supposed to be and a serious attack to place below decks against some ruthless pirates. Yeap, this will be the Atlantica’s first encounter with this pirate group, a group that turns out to be pretty substantial and very bothersome.
If you’re with me so far, this doesn’t sound like a typical science fiction story. Well, it really is but you have to wait until almost the end of the book to find out just where and when all of this action is taking place. It’s well worth the read, I guarantee. The suspense and action is well written and there are several characters that have some really good parts. While I’ve never been on a cruise ship, I can’t image something this big sailing the seas all by itself with very little on-board protection. Considering that and what I’ve just read, I don’t think I’ll be taking a cruise anytime soon.