Cruise into murder, mayhem, and alternate realities.
Award-winning
author Pat Murphy takes us aboard a luxury cruise ship and into the
strange confluence of time and space known as the Bermuda Triangle, in
an engaging science fiction romp that recalls the work of Kate Wilhelm.
Susan Galina and her friend Pat have escaped their normal lives into the elegant, isolated world of the Odyssey,
a luxury cruise ship heading from NY to Europe via Bermuda. Pat is
working on her doctoral thesis in quantum physics, and Susan is
recovering from a recent and unhappy divorce.
To Susan's
delight, she discovers that her favorite author, Max Merriwell, is also
aboard ship, teaching writers' workshop. Susan's life becomes even more
interesting when she meets Tom Clayton, the handsome chief of security.
This cruise looks very promising indeed.
But the pleasant shipboard vacation turns dark as the Odyssey passes
into the Bermuda Triangle. Each year, Max Merriwell writes three
novels: a science fiction novel under his own name, a fantasy novel
under the pseudonym Mary Maxwell, and a mystery novel under the
pseudonym Weldon Merrimax. The trouble begins when Max receives a
threatening note that appears to come from Weldon Merrimax, Max's own
pseudonym. Susan hears wolves howling in the night, the ship's
passengers are seized with a dancing mania, and monsters lurk in the
ship's corridors. An eyewitness reports a murder – but the victim of the
crime is not on the passenger list and the body is nowhere to be found.
While others struggle to understand these strange events, Pat seeks the
explanation in quantum theory.
Out of these elements, Murphy
builds a suspenseful, funny, fast-paced novel of shifting and
intersecting realities that is a joy to read.
