Book Review: A Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys

"They are damaged people. And damaged people are the most dangerous people because they have nothing to lose."

--Rachel Rhys, A Dangerous Crossing

Rachel Rhys, a successful thriller writer, is the author of the classic novel A Dangerous Crossing.  Despite being set during World War II, it conjures the Golden Age of Mystery, and the author's current sensibilities give a nostalgic genre work a confident and sophisticated edge.  The book was inspired by a journal Rhys discovered while assisting her mother with a relocation. The diary detailed a young woman's actual experience throughout the War.  The novel seems vibrant, genuine, and historically based since the author makes good use of the resource.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

A tale of glamour, intrigue and desire about a young English woman's astonishing journey on a cruise liner to Australia at the brink of the Second World War .

England, September 1939

Lily Shepherd boards a cruise liner for a new life in Australia and is plunged into a world of cocktails, jazz and glamorous friends. But as the sun beats down, long-hidden secrets begin to surface. Her heart beats faster for the attention of handsome Edward, but is his heart already taken?

Australia, six-weeks later

The world is at war, the cruise liner docks, and Lily's desire for Edward is untameable. But something else is awry on this ship and Lily is determined to find out.

My reaction to this novel...

I've had this book for a while now; I just bought it as a preloved book. Actually, I got it in an assorted book bundle, so I couldn't pick and this book just came along with it. It's historical fiction, so I was really happy to see it included in the bundle I bought. I thought it was a mystery thriller, which is a bonus for me because I love reading thrillers and historical fiction. So when I saw that this book has the combined the genres I love, I was super thrilled with the book bundle I got.

I'm not familiar with the author, so I didn't have any expectations of her. But since her book cover looked nice, I thought maybe it would be good. Of course, I know I shouldn't judge a book just by its cover, so when I started reading, I set aside my thoughts. When I read the preface, to be honest, I got a bit confused. The author used some words that were kind of hard to understand right at the beginning, but since I was just starting, I just sped up my reading until I got to chapter 1.

The book was quite engaging once I started reading Chapter 1, especially when the characters were introduced. I felt a surge of excitement as I realized it seemed to be a mystery thriller infused with elements of historical fiction, particularly when the mysterious woman who was with the main character on the ship was introduced. The way in which this mysterious woman was described truly provokes thought in the reader regarding her role in the story. I also concluded that mystery is indeed a central theme of the book based on the flashbacks experienced by the main character. I find myself hastening my reading to uncover the initial events of her life.

The story was smooth for the first half of the book, but after a few chapters, it starts to feel dull. The pace is so slow, probably because the setting and characters are getting repetitive. There's nothing new. It doesn't even feel like a mystery thriller anymore because as I'm getting close to finishing reading, it feels like no secrets have been uncovered yet. It's just a lot of partying and chit-chat happening. I haven't read anything good enough that makes me want to skip some chapters to find out the ending, but I held on to finish it because I wanted to know the whole story.

There's still an event happening in the story about the main character's friend named Maria, but after the author built up her story, it feels like they just let it go. And then there's the mystery woman, which I thought was going to be some huge scandal, but it turned out to be nothing that big at all. After introducing the woman and saying she had a scandal, I expected it to be serious, but it turned out to be just the same kind of scandals that kept happening to her, so I got really bored reading it. I guess the highest level of drama was with Edward, but that was it because after his secret was revealed, it just ended quickly too. It’s like at first, the author was really excited to write, then in the middle, she thought of a bunch of ideas and prolonged it, which made it boring in the end. Then maybe she realized it got too long, so she wrapped it up super fast. It’s just really disappointing for me. It is truly disappointing for me because the story was building up, and then suddenly, it just ends. 

Personally, I did not find it appealing, so I cannot confidently recommend it since I was genuinely bored. I feel that I cannot recommend this to first-time readers of historical fiction, as this might discourage them from exploring the genre further if this is their initial reading experience, given that I myself felt extremely impatient and wanted to skip ahead to the conclusion.

My Overall Rating: ⭐⭐(2/5)