Zengrrl's Book Review: Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg .. #horror #BloodCruise #MatsStrandberg #NetGalley #BookReview

Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg book review

The horror novel Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg is set aboard the Baltic Charisma, a ferry ship between Sweden and Finland that also doubles as an overnight “booze cruise.”

On this particular night, over 1200 people, including children, are on board. But on this particular cruise, there are two passengers unlike any the crew of the Baltic Charisma has ever seen.

One of those passengers is a little boy who is sooooo hungry. When his mother leaves to find food, the boy takes it upon himself to find his own, not just to slake his hunger, but to create an army of those like him. Creatures who borrow from the mythology of both vampires and zombies.

In the middle of the night, all communication with the outside world is cut off, the ship is on autopilot, and nobody can launch a life raft while the ship is moving.

It’s the perfect scenario for a night of mayhem and death.

Blood Cruise is actually the English version of the hit Swedish novel Färjan, and I’ll admit in reading the book, it felt like some things were lost in translation, especially with the POVs in the book switching from character to character with each chapter.

The different POVs include an adopted child with an unhappy family, a former employee who brought his boyfriend onboard to propose, an older woman who booked the cruise on a lark, a younger woman out to party, the nightclub singer, the crew – even the ship herself gets a POV.

The author also incorporates a lot of sexual horror, in addition to the body horror and outright killing. I’m not a fan of sexual horror, so I tended to gloss over those scenes.

But once the slow burn intro kicked into complete mayhem, I really enjoyed the story and how it weaved the individual POVs into a cohesive night of terror.

I’m giving Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg a 3.5 out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received an advance e-book copy for review purposes from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other way. My opinion is honest, and as always, my own.

Disclaimer: This post uses Amazon affiliate links. It doesn’t add anything to your cost, should you choose to purchase something. Thanks!

Facebook Comments

About the Author
Latest Posts

About zengrrl

I'm Michelle Snow, the writer and creator of Zengrrl. I write about travel, entertainment, women's issues, health, body positivity, and more, both for this blog and freelance. I have also authored/co-authored four guidebooks on Orlando and Florida. If you aren't already following me, the links are below, as well as on the top right of this page. Thanks!