Review: Something’s Alive on the Titanic by Robert J. Sterling

How could you resist a title like this? Something’s Alive on the Titanic by Robert J. Sterling is one of the bargain books I picked up for fun over the past weeks.

The title got my attention but, to be honest, my expectations weren’t terribly high. However, I was pleasantly surprised by a book that was well-researched and a fun read.

What if the 1985 Ballard expedition was not the first to reach the wreck of the Titanic? What if there was an expedition 10 years earlier? And what if they found something entirely unexpected?

The novel starts with the story of that 1975 expedition, one which ended in tragedy in very unusual circumstances. It continues 18 years later with the surviving member of that original crew and some new characters, but the same purpose: treasure. And they get the same response: Go Away. In the strongest — most deadly — terms.

Sterling is clearly a Titanic buff. The details! So much detailed information about the ship, its crew, and the passengers. That’s what really makes the story come to life – the details about the passengers, the cargo, the expeditions. The members of the expedition are experts and they sound like experts. Sterling did his homework on the ships and exploration equipment, too, and there is rich detail there as well.

The story is fun, if a little fanciful. It’s not hard to imagine the Titanic as a haunted ship, after all, but the forms the haunting takes? Well, that makes it interesting. What would it be like to search a wreck where more than 1,500 people died? (As if being on the bottom of the sea isn’t enough.) What spirits would haunt those old staterooms? Here’s your chance to find out.

My copy of Something’s Alive on the Titanic came from my personal library. My Kindle is a lifeline in these crazy times.

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