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In a tale set in 1885, Keridec “Keri” Rees is a precocious teenager on a trans-Pacific journey back to the United States with her surrogate family. Recently, Keri has suffered multiple losses with the untimely deaths of her mother and father. Despite her young age, she now finds herself as the primary heir to the family business. However, she faces an unforgiving rival in her grandmother, who seeks total control of the company.
Keri’s life is about to face further challenges when she is subject to a random assault on the ship, and shortly thereafter, her friend and maid, Annie, disappears. Keri and her uncles begin to probe Annie’s disappearance and discover that the journey to the high seas comes with more peril than the turbulent waters. Keri will need to be on her guard, both for potential assassins and revelations that will change her life.
An air of mystery surrounds the inception of this superb novel as an assassin is being readied for his deadly mission. The uncertainty is pervasive throughout the taut plot as speculation about Annie’s fate, along with the identity of the persistent assailant, abounds. Despite the frustrations of the enigmatic, Keri and her family are resolved in their search for answers. Unforeseen tragedies have orphaned Keri. However, she doesn’t let these hits, along with Annie’s possible death, deter her from investigating the intrigue aboard the Oceanic.
Keri’s doggedness feels reminiscent of Nancy Drew in that setbacks are temporary, and puzzles are meant to be solved. She is often condescended to because of her youth, but those who underestimate her are often put back in their place by her sharp intellect. This story combines murder and intrigue on the high seas and conjures up the work of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. Yet in this finely crafted work, it is Keridec Rees who serves as the amateur Hercule Poirot. The danger posed to her and her loved ones has unearthed her true potential as a neophyte sleuth.
As a protagonist, Keri is a formidable character. She has been shaped by a life lived abroad, along with the progressive views of her parents. She is imbued with a strong feminism and humanity that doesn’t suffer fools or slights against different races lightly. Keri is a character who will resonate with the modern reader in this regard.
In addition to hints at the nascent women’s rights struggle, the story alludes to the contentious topic of immigrants and their treatment by the US government. Whereas Keri treats people with respect regardless of gender, race, or nationality, there are others who view them with intolerance and suspicion. The restrictive immigration policies towards Asians is also referenced and bears striking similarities to current border attitudes.
Miller is a very talented writer with a flair for penning an unputdownable thriller. The author has also written a series of whodunits featuring Frankie MacFarlane, a nonfiction book titled A Sweet, Separate Intimacy: Women Writers of the American Frontier, 1800-1922, and two books of poetry. If Keridec Rees’ story is the beginning of a series, the future looks more than promising for this gifted storyteller.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review