2020 was not a good reading year. Heck 2020 was just not a good year. This book was fantastic and redeemed vampires for me after years of them sparkling or whatever they were doing in other books. This is not a book for the faint of heart, but that was not a problem for me. I really enjoyed the writing style. We would see what was happening to others from various perspectives. The story takes place on a 24 hour booze cruise. Do these exist? Why have I never been on one? Well after reading this book I probably would stay away from them anyhow. If you like vampire reads. I mean reads where the vampires are not glittering and calling in love, this book is for you! Thank you Mr. Strandberg for giving us back our vampires!!

This book is well written and has good character development I just couldn’t personally get into the story and found it a little bit of a struggle to keep reading. Either way it just left a little lacking for me personally. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Marianne is spicing up her retirement by taking a 24-hour booze cruise from Sweden to Finland and back alone. She is quickly picked up by fellow passenger, Goran, in the waiting lounge. YOLO, lol! Too bad she didn’t notice the book’s title is Blood Cruise. That does sound a bit foreboding, after all.

There are a massive amount of characters in this book all moving toward having a really bad evening. But it takes half the book to tell their stories. There are only creepy figures hiding in the corners until over 250 pages in! No American disaster movie would ever make that mistake. So it is a slow slog forward. Near the middle, the book makes an abrupt right turn into splatter horror.

The conclusion, however, is the best part of Blood Cruise. It is fast-paced and exciting. Plus I liked the variant on the usual monster culture. 4 stars but only for a patient reader!

Thanks to Jo Fletcher Books, Quercus Books US and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

What an unexpectedly fun read! I was worried for two reasons: the length, and the subject matter. I'm not one for really long horror reads, as they tend to meander...and while this one certainly took its time getting to the meat of the story, the characters were interesting enough to keep me going. I won't spoil what the "menace" on the ship is, since the book cover went to great lengths to keep us in the dark...but let's just say, I'm 100% over that "menace" and thought I'd be bored to tears because of it. But...nope! Enjoyed it!

While we definitely could have lost 100 pages and it still would have been just as effective, it didn't detract from the read. It's a pretty fast read, too, all things considered, which is why I'm not crying foul about the length. And I like that no one is safe...there are characters you think will make it through to the end and don't, and it makes me love this book that much more. And it has just the right amount of gore, too.

If you like a deep dive horror book, definitely pick this one up and check it out! It is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year!

Blood Cruise was translated into English, and it seems like everything went according to plan. This is a good old-fashioned bloody romp, yet it also has something more. I started to read the book without knowing much of anything about it, so I was surprised that it was about vampires. These aren’t the type that sparkle in daylight, though. These are gnarly vampires that look desiccated before they eat and go through a lot of pain when they’re first turned.

All in all, this was a good book. The author also isn’t afraid to go for the heartstrings on several occasions. One of the better vampire books I’ve read in recent years.

454 pages

3 stars

Several people, individually and in groups board the Baltic Charisma cruise to party and step out of their everyday lives – for a change. It is an approximately twenty-four hour cruise in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland.

The sheer horror that follows on the cruise is epic.

Whoever came up with the idea that this author in any way compares to Stephen King is sadly deluded, or perhaps they've never read Mr. King. However, the writing and plotting in the book is very good. (Hats off to translator Agnes Broome who I assume added a little polish to Mr. Strandberg's words.) I liked the level of self examination that some of the characters exhibited. In that I would guess that is where the reviewer saw shades of Kingsian authorship. This is a solid, well written and interesting book. I would like to read another novel by Mats Strandberg.

I don't want to go on any cruises, not now.

I want to thank NetGalley and Quercus (US)/Jo Fletcher Books for forwarding to me a copy of this good book for me to read, enjoy and review.

So the Amazon page says 454 pages. The GR version (and the galley I read) says 560 pages. So I'm hoping - truly hoping - that the author chopped about 100 pages from the first half of this book.

No, 560 pages isn't always a long book, but the first half alone felt like 560 pages. It's a slow and indulgent buildup.

The 2nd half? That was wonderful. The pacing was rapid fire without sacrificing characters or plot and I felt like I was done in just the perfect amount of time.

Now...the horror. That's well done. Our beasties are horrific - violent, dark, and very hungry. Some of our characters leave us heartbroken. The setting is wonderful.

I loved the 2nd half of the book and tolerated the first half - the characters getting me through that.

I would read the author again, but with the hope that things are fine-tuned.

Did I NEED to read a 500 page book about a murder cruise? NO.
Did I? YES.

This is Stephen King on the water. This is my own personal nightmare. I will NEVER get on a cruise now, even more than before.

A booze cruise between Sweden and Finland - that loses all contact with the outside, a Nordic Bermuda Triangle, if you will.

Told in various voices, we hear from crew and passengers dealing with the night full of murder and terror.

Excellent writing and storytelling from Strandberg.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book (and to help confirm my 'no cruise ever' stance.)

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Blood Cruise.

I love anything scary, horror movies, horror novels, horror posters, so I was excited when my request was approved.

Sadly, I wasn't drawn to Blood Cruise as I had hoped.

First, there were too many POVs. I appreciate character development and exposition as much as the next person but there were too many names and people to keep track off, their personal issues began to blur, and to make matters worse, I didn't like or empathize with anyone.

Second, the reason behind the blood? Not what I expected. I mean, vampires? That's so...common.

At least they weren't sparkly. But the author took too long to get to the vampires.

Third, this was unnecessarily long, bloated with multiple POVs and filler like the karaoke scenes.

The writing was okay, and I did like the ending but I didn't enjoy this overall.

Started this book on Nov 10 2020 and DNFd it on Nov 13 2020. The premise sounded good but once I started reading I had a problem with it. I am pretty sure it is just me but I didn't like how many POVs there were in this book. It was hard to keep track of what was going on. I got about 150 pages and just couldn't continue because I was completely lost. I feel bad not finishing the book but I have other ARCs and books I need to finish this month so just don't have the time to try to finish it. I keep having to go back and reread pages which was making this book take forever.