(Note: I received this novel as an ARC from Random House, through Netgalley.)
Being a Bram Stocker Award nominee and portraying an adventure on the high seas were the reasons – equally important – I requested a copy of this captivating book. Not only I was not disappointed; I was barely able to put it down. I read it in three days and I still have shivers. Yes, it’s a horror story, and it will give you the creeps. In a lucid and concise style – the whole book is about 200 pages – Moore tells you the story of a couple – Dean and Kelly – sailing around the world.
The adventure starts while they navigate the perilous waters of the Drake Passage between Cape Horn and Antarctica, when they hear a scream for help coming from another boat. What follows is a high-tension chase across storming seas and darkest nights, in an atmosphere reminding very much the initial scenes of Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein: and you’re not really sure what to expect to come out from those gelid waves – sea monsters, ghost-ships, or something even more scaring.
As it is often the case in good books, here you get more than you can chew, including some gruesome details that can make some delicate stomachs churn (no spoilers, but I’ve warned you). Yet, is it truly brutal, as some reviewers (http://www.examiner.com/review/close-reach-by-jonathan-moore) have defined it? Yes and no. It’s not for the squeamish, for sure, but there’s nothing gratuitous, considering all circumstances.
Another Close Reach’s bonus is that it’s rather accurate in its narrative when coming to navigation, and lovers of sea-travel books will enjoy this part. People actually engaging in sailing – as I do – even more. You won’t find unrealistic passages or highly improbable stunts, so you will trust the author for the rest as well. On another hand, I’m less convinced by some of the characters: Kelly, the protagonist, is credible even though not always likeable, but others, especially the enemies, are somehow flat. But I felt this was somehow compensated by other personages, of a different kind: the dangerous Antarctic sea, for instance. Or the exquisite, custom-built yacht, the Freefall, the dream of all sailors. And the perfect storm in the first part of the book.
In conclusion, Close Reach is certainly to recommend to adrenaline-addicts. And if you have loved, like me,The Terror – another gripping tales on ice, horror and seas, by Dan Simmons (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Terror-Dan-Simmons-ebook/dp/B003JH79D2/ref=tmm_kin_title_0) – you will find yourself drowned in something chillier than the polar sea. And you won’t go light-hearted cruising around ever again.