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This is basically a Titanic story with a vampire and some time travel. For me, it was a very slow start. Set in 1980s California at the beginning, there is lots of college angst and it doesn’t take much angst to wear me out. Jamie is worried about his looks, do the girls like him, do the guys want to be his friend, is he worthy in his chosen field of study, etc. Of course, some of the other students have some of the same angst. Maggie, one of 2 female characters that have names and lines for the entire book, has been dating Jay but she has to admit she has growing feelings for someone else.
I have to mention that there were too many J names in this book. First off, Jamie goes by James, Jimmy, Jack…. and then there’s his friend Jay, who for a time I thought was just another nick name for Jamie. Somewhere along the line we get a John.
Let’s talk vampire! Because I thought it was high time we had a Titanic-time-travel-vampire mash up. I’ve read the original Draculaand an in-depth bio on Bram Stoker so you know I have a fondness for references to the original Dracula. When Jamie starts experiencing symptoms that point directly back to Renfield (a character in the original Dracula), I was finally interested in the story. Jamie has spent some considerable time researching the Titanic so he soon realizes that his symptoms and his dreams and the Titanic are all wrapped up together. Hence, he drags the story out into the middle of the Pacific for the second half of the book and that’s where we get the paranormal transport through time.
Back in 1912, Jamie meets Kate, our second female character for the book. There’s some insta-love, which I rarely like. So, yes, we have Jack (aka Jamie) and Kate (think of Kate Winslett who played Rose in the movie Titanic). Rose’s love interest in the movie was also named Jack. So if you have pined for a sequel to the movie all these years, here it is in book form.
OK, back to the ladies. Why are there only 2? Not realistic. Women are everywhere and in fact actually attended college in California in the 1980s in droves. There’s a few other ladies that pop up here and there and they either have no lines or no names. Kate and Maggie actually get to interact at some point and they do indeed talk about men. Sigh…. I was disappointed in the ladies all around.
OK, so what about that vampire? Well, yes, he is a danger and he must be dealt with but for the most part, he was not memorable. The impending Titanic disaster is much more of a danger to more people. The strain of vampirism in this tale lacked the dark sexuality, mystery, and danger I expected.
I did like that Jamie is faced with some very tough choices once he’s on the Titanic. He wasn’t thinking clearly before his little time trip, but once he’s there, he has to choose whether or not to do his best to avoid or mitigate the disaster. Even after all the big scenes are over, Jamie still has some tough surprises and I really felt for him.
All told, I feel the author tried to pile in too much to one book and therefore all aspects felt a little stretched thin. The love story didn’t work for me. The time travel was by the simplest of mechanisms – a paranormal event. It was a penny tour of the Titanic instead of a deeper historical fiction. The vampire tale was more of a distraction than an added bonus. 3/5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book.
The Narration: Aaron Landon did a good job with this story. His voice for the angsty Jamie is perfect. He does a good job with Jamie’s emotions through the story. He also makes a good angry Jay. His female voices are feminine. He also did voices for the elderly well too. I also liked his regional accents. 5/5 stars.
