Blood Cruise

"Blood Cruise" or Färjan in Swedish is a horror novel written by Mats Strandberg who is touted as being "Sweden's Stephen King." I'm surprised this is my first time hearing of him but that may be down to the fact that I only got into the horror genre recently. Before that, I had wrongly assumed that my dislike for horror movies also tranferred over to books. That is not the case, I now thoroughly enjoy a little horror sprinkled between my favourite genres.

A booze cruise departs from Finland and is on its way to Sweden when an unfortunate series of events take place. It is the middle of the night and the ship is cut-off from outside contact. Noone knows who they can or can't trust. Welcome aboard the Baltic Charisma!

Kudos to whoever wrote the synopsis, it lures you in without revealing the detail of the story. Very well done! I enjoyed the original setting a lot although I have been on a few cruises and I know that I will go on many more in the future. I do know that the next time I board I will be reminded of this story! It wouldn't stop me going as once you've been on a cruise you won't ever return to staying in one resort for a fortnight.

This is one terrifying and realistic horror that gave me a few nightmares. You know it's good when you find elements of the story in your dreams. His portrayal of everyday events is nuanced and believable.

I didn't realise this was initially released in 2015 but that is neither here nor there I suppose. All in all, an interesting read and one I will remember for a long time whether I like it or not!

Many thanks to Jo Fletcher Books for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Ooh this was a ride and a half! I've done this journey (well not the booze cruise) through the islands to Finland many times and boy did that make this book even more scary! The Baltic Sea is a lot wider than you think, or I thought, and yes you might see some of the most stunning islands in the world, but there are times where all there is is water, and LOTS of it. All you have is the boat, space and your fellow passengers.

The novel heads down some very dark avenues and yes there is a vampire element but it's all very creepily crafted and well evoked. Such evil forces seem to be haunting the most stunning of landscapes and that's what really makes this work for me.

I don't think anyone will think of a booze cruise in the same way again. I will certainly take a look at my fellow passengers more closely too.

It's all very chilling and VERY gory in parts. But it's the Swedish Stephen King after all.

Had fun with this!
I will post on the Booktrail in July

This is actually, very, very good. It's terrifying!
What would happen in an enclosed space if a vampire/zombie contagion broke out? Absolute terror.
The author ramps up the intensity to ten, and I couldn't stop reading. Finished in one sitting.
A slightly slow start, with the changes in people's perspectives, but then like a fish, I was caught on the bait and hook line and sinker!
This book should be a film. It would scare the pants off me.
Highly recommended.

Bloody mayhem on a 24 hour cruise between Sweden and Finland. The Baltic Charisma has seen better days and some of the crew are miserable so-and-sos to say the least. A lot of passengers are drunk and emotionally overwrought before the ship even sets sail, making them easy prey when an unusual traveller starts prowling the hallways.

The story takes a little while to get going properly. The first part of the book introduces a number of main characters in minute detail, and by around the 25% mark you feel you know each character really well.

I would not say that this is a scary book. The horror is purely gore, gore and some more gore and I didn't think that, for a book that is more than 550 pages long, there was an awful lot of story beyond the relentless bloody stuff. But the character development is fantastic and the author has a very readable writing style. Good book but I prefer my horror to have a bit more meat to get my teeth into