The Deep

Passengers aboard the Titanic sense that something is wrong from the first day at sea. People vanish, others die without warning, and the ship settles into an uneasy, dreamlike dread. Among those who suspect a sinister, almost otherworldly cause are the maid Annie Hebley, the guest Mark Fletcher, and the millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim.

They have no time to find the source. The ship sinks, as history records, and the story jumps forward some years. Annie has survived and is trying to rebuild her life as a nurse on the Britannic, the Titanic's sister ship, now refitted as a hospital ship during World War I. It is the vessel's sixth voyage.

On board she comes across an unconscious soldier, and he is Mark. She is relieved and delighted that he lived, but his presence stirs buried feelings and secrets. Annie has to face what she has long tried to leave behind, and both of them begin to see that the menace from the first ship may still be with them.

This is historical fiction with a supernatural horror streak, told across two periods: the doomed maiden crossing and the war years afterward. The mood is eerie and unsettling, with dread building around real ships and a cast that mixes crew, passengers and wealthy names.