There are two children, Albin and Lo, who are forced to face horrors no one should ever have to experience. There are a small number, a few exceptions, that you want to see survive. They all pretty much deserved what they got. I know that sounds horribly callous but a lot of them exhibit the worst traits of humanity. I have to admit that part of me was quite happy that so many passengers turned out to be victims. There are examples of excess at every turn. Gluttony, sloth and lust to name but a few. I’m not sure if it was deliberate or not, but I kept seeing subtle allusions to the seven deadly sins in the story.

People get drunk, over eat and indulge in whatever lewd behaviour they can get away with. The passengers on board the Baltic Charisma only ever expected to be on the ship for 24 hours, so their inhibitions disappear.

So, what do you do? Look for somewhere to hide from the madness, or stand and fight? What about the life rafts? Sadly, they can only be used under a specific set of circumstances and events have ensured that isn’t going to happen. What would you do? You could just hurl yourself overboard, but the sea temperatures would kill you swiftly. Try and picture it, you are caught in the midst of this monster related mayhem. Add the opportunity of a violent, extremely painful death into the mix and I think we have a winner. Passengers could easily become lost or disoriented when all the corridors look the same. For some characters there is also the fear of the unfamiliar or unknown. Though a cruise ship seems large, there are only a finite number of places you can hide, and this creates a sense of claustrophobia. The author gets to play around with our primal fears. This choice of location adds an extra layer of suspense to the narrative. Once underway, the Baltic Charisma is entirely closed off from the rest of the world. I firmly believe the best horror exists in a vacuum isolation always ramps up the sense of tension. Hundreds of people are trapped on a slightly dated, rundown cruise liner with a creature who views humanity, and more specifically warm human blood, as a tasty treat. The premise of the novel is deliciously simple. Chaos, death and destruction on a booze cruise. It has been quite a while since I’ve read any proper stomach-churning horror, so when I heard about Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg I was immediately sold.

In the middle of the night the ferry is suddenly cut off from the outside world. The creaking old ship travels this same route, back and forth, every day of the year. Tonight, twelve hundred expectant passengers have joined the booze-cruise between Sweden and Finland.

On the Baltic Sea, no one can hear you scream.