tiffanytcole's review against another edition
4.0
Most people associate the Titanic with the hit movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Of course, there is a lot more to the Titanic than what was featured in the movie. Titanic Deception shows a snippet of what happened behind the scenes. There are essentially three acts that all carefully interconnect and complement each other.
Act One focuses on the rash decisions president J.P. Morgan, figurehead and ex-president J. Bruce Ismay, and Titanic architect Thomas Andrews made. From the very beginning, Morgan makes it clear that he's more concerned about money and image than safety. Titanic was doomed from the get-go. Olympic, another ship created by Thomas Andrews that met with disaster soon after it set out, is also introduced.
Act Two introduces Michael Kearney, a man whose job consists of being as invisible as possible while setting up board rooms for a firm's lunch meetings. However, this act's main focus is on Alice, Michael's great-grandmother. She was one of the few to survive the Titanic, and she kept a journal where she recorded her experiences as a nurse for a rich Canadian family. It's not until Michael becomes immersed in her journal that his life, once very routine and mundane, takes off.
So begins Act Three. Michael's interest in his great-grandmother's journal causes him to start a blog dedicated to the Titanic, a blog that very quickly gains a large following and adds meaning to his life. Then he takes an interest in the Occupy Movement happening near his house. Though he never fully participates for long, he does at least feel as though the Occupy protesters are doing the right thing, and that's enough to make him proud. Most importantly, the Occupy Movement is how he meets Sylvia.
The discoveries he notes in his blog leads to internet popularity, but it also leads to many dangers far beyond what Michael could have ever imagined. The dangers are so intense that ex-CIA member 'Soft Kitty' feels the need to investigate. Much to his and Michael's surprise, they become quite an effective team. Act three is the part where the story's genre officially jumps from historical to action.
When I say action, I mean action. There are explosions, a kidnapping, a driveby shooting, a gun chase, a rush against time to an airport, and a bomb diffusion.
The only part of the story that bothered me was the Occupy Movement. I have nothing whatsoever against Occupy, but I don't understand its role in Titanic Deception. Sure, the movement is what introduced Michael to Sylvia, but in a story mainly about the mysteries and deceptions surrounding the Titanic, the Movement just didn't seem to belong. Plus, it sometimes felt like the message was that all wealthy people with power are cruel and all of those in the Occupy Movement are doing the right thing for America. Not that it hinders the story, but I did sometimes feel like that was the only purpose for including the Movement.
All in all, I liked Titanic Deception. It is well-written. No details are particularly deep or extensive, which makes sense when you consider - at least as a .PDF - that the book is only about 138 pages. The Rakestraws excelled at making sure the different POVs perfectly intermingled. In Act One, I felt goosebumps the more I thought about how the Titanic was doomed from the very start, and the big reveal at the end concerning the villain and the ship amused me.
Act One focuses on the rash decisions president J.P. Morgan, figurehead and ex-president J. Bruce Ismay, and Titanic architect Thomas Andrews made. From the very beginning, Morgan makes it clear that he's more concerned about money and image than safety. Titanic was doomed from the get-go. Olympic, another ship created by Thomas Andrews that met with disaster soon after it set out, is also introduced.
Act Two introduces Michael Kearney, a man whose job consists of being as invisible as possible while setting up board rooms for a firm's lunch meetings. However, this act's main focus is on Alice, Michael's great-grandmother. She was one of the few to survive the Titanic, and she kept a journal where she recorded her experiences as a nurse for a rich Canadian family. It's not until Michael becomes immersed in her journal that his life, once very routine and mundane, takes off.
So begins Act Three. Michael's interest in his great-grandmother's journal causes him to start a blog dedicated to the Titanic, a blog that very quickly gains a large following and adds meaning to his life. Then he takes an interest in the Occupy Movement happening near his house. Though he never fully participates for long, he does at least feel as though the Occupy protesters are doing the right thing, and that's enough to make him proud. Most importantly, the Occupy Movement is how he meets Sylvia.
The discoveries he notes in his blog leads to internet popularity, but it also leads to many dangers far beyond what Michael could have ever imagined. The dangers are so intense that ex-CIA member 'Soft Kitty' feels the need to investigate. Much to his and Michael's surprise, they become quite an effective team. Act three is the part where the story's genre officially jumps from historical to action.
When I say action, I mean action. There are explosions, a kidnapping, a driveby shooting, a gun chase, a rush against time to an airport, and a bomb diffusion.
The only part of the story that bothered me was the Occupy Movement. I have nothing whatsoever against Occupy, but I don't understand its role in Titanic Deception. Sure, the movement is what introduced Michael to Sylvia, but in a story mainly about the mysteries and deceptions surrounding the Titanic, the Movement just didn't seem to belong. Plus, it sometimes felt like the message was that all wealthy people with power are cruel and all of those in the Occupy Movement are doing the right thing for America. Not that it hinders the story, but I did sometimes feel like that was the only purpose for including the Movement.
All in all, I liked Titanic Deception. It is well-written. No details are particularly deep or extensive, which makes sense when you consider - at least as a .PDF - that the book is only about 138 pages. The Rakestraws excelled at making sure the different POVs perfectly intermingled. In Act One, I felt goosebumps the more I thought about how the Titanic was doomed from the very start, and the big reveal at the end concerning the villain and the ship amused me.
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