Weekly Reader: The Liner by Chris Coppel; Terrifying Images Make Ocean Voyage To Hell

 

Weekly Reader: The Liner by Chris Coppel; Terrifying Images Make Ocean Voyage To Hell

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Think of Chris Coppel's horror novel, The Liner as the Loathe Boat. Well you don't want to set your course for adventure on this cruise and you certainly won't find love. But it is certainly exciting and new. It is a hell bound voyage filled with an ocean of terrifying images.

David, recently divorced and unemployed, is trying to enjoy his cruise on the S.S. Oceanis. He even begins a shipboard flirtation with fellow passenger, Diana. Unfortunately, something weird begins to happen. Their cabin steward, Andrew, comes down with something called the 'green plague.' He is taken to the infirmary and never returns to the cabin. Worse, this green plague appears to be spreading to the crew and passengers. It acts fast before it kills. The plague happens about the same time that Oceanis finds herself caught in a thick fog and can't get out.

The Liner is filled with different frightening images that at first appear disconnected but are eventually linked. This disconnection puts the Reader at a distinctive unease wondering what is going on.

The Green Plague itself has some horrifying symptoms. In a year coming off a worldwide pandemic, it is unnerving to read about people acquiring a green rash then succumbing to death and decay less than 24 hours later. Any other year, this would be scary but coming off of Covid, this thought presents a different outlook that hits too close to home.

There is also a strange side effect when people also exhibit physical abnormalities like size disproportions, third limbs, or the ability to walk through walls. If The Green Plague isn't scary enough, these disproportions are almost hallucinatory. It's like !ooking through Fun House Mirrors and the reflection always follows. 

The Green Plague is not the only frightening moment throughout the book. The fog is also eerie because of its unknown arrival. No one can see anything or know what's out there or what's holding them or why. Coppel shows that the fear of the ambiguous and unknown can be more horrifying than what is in front of you. It is even uncertain if the Plague and the Fog are connected. All that is known is the The Oceanis contains every nightmare imaginable.

There is a huge misstep in the tone of the story. Too much is revealed at the beginning making the twists obvious. While the tension remains despite the beginning and the terrifying visuals are not to be missed and will definitely produce nightmares, the answers are tempered by the opening explanations. Sometimes an ending can take away from a book. In this case, it's the opening chapters. 

If you can skip the first couple of chapters, you are in for a ghoulishly devilish time aboard the high seas to Hell.