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The Night Ship
An apocalyptic world turned into a pitch-black sea of nothingness, but smuggler Rosi and her crew of survivors aren't alone. Something hungry lurks below...
Driving a logging truck through the Romanian mountains, smuggler Rosi and her crew come across a radio signal that hints at impending doom. As the world goes completely dark, their truck becomes a vessel sailing across a sea of nothingness.
But they’re not transmissions trickle in through the radio from similar isolated islands across the country, from amateur radio hobbyists and police cars and customs facilities.
Attempting to rescue survivors and find a way out, the group save more lives, but soon discover that something hungry lurks below, and it's sending up agents – and transmissions – of its own.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
Driving a logging truck through the Romanian mountains, smuggler Rosi and her crew come across a radio signal that hints at impending doom. As the world goes completely dark, their truck becomes a vessel sailing across a sea of nothingness.
But they’re not transmissions trickle in through the radio from similar isolated islands across the country, from amateur radio hobbyists and police cars and customs facilities.
Attempting to rescue survivors and find a way out, the group save more lives, but soon discover that something hungry lurks below, and it's sending up agents – and transmissions – of its own.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2026
11 people are currently reading
5915 people want to read
About the author
Alex Woodroe
38 books115 followersRomanian writer and editor of dark speculative fiction. Editor-in-chief of Tenebrous Press and writer of WHISPERWOOD, THE NIGHT SHIP, and TATRATEA, as well as short stories and articles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
November 4, 2025
This was a four star read that was almost a DNF. It stalled out for me roughly halfway through. If this happens to you, stick with it. It ended up being a very good read!
The Romanian setting and historical/cultural references were terrific. I loved reading a horror novel that was far removed from my everyday existence. It's also a dark and eventually gruesome little book.
Oddly, my favorite character was not a main character at all. While Rosi was scrappy, I adored Adina.
The concept of the book is original and I'd love to read something even more epic within this same world.
A good read!
* ARC via Publisher
The Romanian setting and historical/cultural references were terrific. I loved reading a horror novel that was far removed from my everyday existence. It's also a dark and eventually gruesome little book.
Oddly, my favorite character was not a main character at all. While Rosi was scrappy, I adored Adina.
The concept of the book is original and I'd love to read something even more epic within this same world.
A good read!
* ARC via Publisher
November 11, 2025
75% WHOA! So interesting and bizarre.
25% what am I missing here? Lost and confused just like the characters.
I was captivated at the beginning, but definitely became more frustrated with how vague certain aspects of the story were. Somewhat enjoyed the ending, but still a mixed bag of emotions.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Flame Tree Press for a copy!
25% what am I missing here? Lost and confused just like the characters.
I was captivated at the beginning, but definitely became more frustrated with how vague certain aspects of the story were. Somewhat enjoyed the ending, but still a mixed bag of emotions.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Flame Tree Press for a copy!
March 4, 2026
1.5 stars rounded down.
Unfortunately, this book did not work for me at all. It takes a fantastic premise—the world goes dark and no one knows why, and we are stuck in a shipping truck with dubious characters—and turns it into something I found almost unreachable. I was hoping for more character, more mystery, more horror for that matter. Instead, it felt like a shallow foray into cosmic horror that tried to dress its purposefully vague worldbuilding up as atmosphere when in reality it was more of an evasion of narrative commitment.
The structure was too tightly wound and the prose edited to death. The internal logic of the speculative elements was lacking—the nature of the spreading darkness, how the world is actually functioning physically—and this resulted in confusion. There were plenty of times I read and reread a section unsure of what exactly was happening, and not in a way that felt intentional or thematically resonant. A lot of times I'm willing to say that a book might just not be for me, or that the problem lies in my reading. But here I do not think that was the case. My experience was analogous to tasting an off-note in a recipe. This was a disappointment. Hell of a premise, though. I'll give it that.
Read on a nicely printed hardcover.
Unfortunately, this book did not work for me at all. It takes a fantastic premise—the world goes dark and no one knows why, and we are stuck in a shipping truck with dubious characters—and turns it into something I found almost unreachable. I was hoping for more character, more mystery, more horror for that matter. Instead, it felt like a shallow foray into cosmic horror that tried to dress its purposefully vague worldbuilding up as atmosphere when in reality it was more of an evasion of narrative commitment.
The structure was too tightly wound and the prose edited to death. The internal logic of the speculative elements was lacking—the nature of the spreading darkness, how the world is actually functioning physically—and this resulted in confusion. There were plenty of times I read and reread a section unsure of what exactly was happening, and not in a way that felt intentional or thematically resonant. A lot of times I'm willing to say that a book might just not be for me, or that the problem lies in my reading. But here I do not think that was the case. My experience was analogous to tasting an off-note in a recipe. This was a disappointment. Hell of a premise, though. I'll give it that.
Read on a nicely printed hardcover.
January 21, 2026
Review originally on JamReads
The Night Ship is a post-apocalyptic horror novel, written by Alex Woodroe, published by Flame Tree Press. A story that not only explores the aftermath of an apocalyptic event from the perspective of the survivors stranded in the truck that has become their lifeboat in the middle of a pitch-black ocean, but which also builds over the particular situation of the setting (1980s Romania) to deep dive into an exploration of paranoia and fear, and an examination of propaganda.
Rosi is a smuggler in communist Romania, riding in a logging truck together with her fiancé, Gigi; after picking up a stranger, Sorin, they stumble into a weird radio signal that communicates a warning of something terrible happening. After that, they find themselves in a world that has vanished into darkness, becoming a sea of nothingness, where their truck is a vessel, a ship they can use to crawl towards other radio signals, which might range from official warnings, to cult recruitment. All, while in the darkness, somewhere below, something keeps trying to reach them.
Woodroe keeps some of the classic elements that you would expect from this kind of story: the tense scenes trying to escape, the survivor groups with sketchy leaders taking advantage and the locations that might represent a refuge or a threat at the same time; all smoothly executed.
But The Night Ship is more than that, and part is because of the special nature of its setting: a society that has grown into paranoia as a consequence of the police state that has already affected our characters; even after the collapse, the old habits are difficult to abandon. One could say that for many of them, the pre-apocalypse situation wasn't much different from the current, having to carefully navigate the landscape if they will to continue alive.
The nature of the threat is always kept vague, letting those gaps that are much more horrific when filled by the own reader's mind; but also we can feel how that's not the only way our survivors might end giving up, as the tension comes from many different directions, creating a story that, at the end, can be one of resistance and trauma.
The Night Ship is an excellent novel, a piece that you will love if you are looking for a post-apocalyptic horror set in an already paranoid country, mixed with a bit of cosmic horror.
The Night Ship is a post-apocalyptic horror novel, written by Alex Woodroe, published by Flame Tree Press. A story that not only explores the aftermath of an apocalyptic event from the perspective of the survivors stranded in the truck that has become their lifeboat in the middle of a pitch-black ocean, but which also builds over the particular situation of the setting (1980s Romania) to deep dive into an exploration of paranoia and fear, and an examination of propaganda.
Rosi is a smuggler in communist Romania, riding in a logging truck together with her fiancé, Gigi; after picking up a stranger, Sorin, they stumble into a weird radio signal that communicates a warning of something terrible happening. After that, they find themselves in a world that has vanished into darkness, becoming a sea of nothingness, where their truck is a vessel, a ship they can use to crawl towards other radio signals, which might range from official warnings, to cult recruitment. All, while in the darkness, somewhere below, something keeps trying to reach them.
Woodroe keeps some of the classic elements that you would expect from this kind of story: the tense scenes trying to escape, the survivor groups with sketchy leaders taking advantage and the locations that might represent a refuge or a threat at the same time; all smoothly executed.
But The Night Ship is more than that, and part is because of the special nature of its setting: a society that has grown into paranoia as a consequence of the police state that has already affected our characters; even after the collapse, the old habits are difficult to abandon. One could say that for many of them, the pre-apocalypse situation wasn't much different from the current, having to carefully navigate the landscape if they will to continue alive.
The nature of the threat is always kept vague, letting those gaps that are much more horrific when filled by the own reader's mind; but also we can feel how that's not the only way our survivors might end giving up, as the tension comes from many different directions, creating a story that, at the end, can be one of resistance and trauma.
The Night Ship is an excellent novel, a piece that you will love if you are looking for a post-apocalyptic horror set in an already paranoid country, mixed with a bit of cosmic horror.
February 2, 2026
A really smart and thoughtful mix of weird and cosmic horror that also explores life under totalitarian control - the results are fascinating and a neat spin on the usual people placed in a pressure cooker story
Highly recommended
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Highly recommended
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
January 26, 2026
This book was truly something else. To be honest, I spent most of the story questioning what was happening and why; even by the final pages, the author offers very few explanations. Yet, despite the confusion, I absolutely loved it.
Set in the grim reality of 1987 Communist Romania, the story unfolds after a global catastrophe plunges the world into total darkness. We follow three very different people trapped together in a truck—which, I should mention, is floating. As Rosi, Gigi, and Sorin drift through the void trying to make sense of their new reality, they discover a sinister force intent on possessing what remains of humanity.
While the plot is disorienting, the atmosphere is where this book truly brilliant. It’s dark, and claustrophobic, giving off major ,Stranger Things, vibes (I absolutelyloved). It’s certainly is "different," but a very good kind of different.
I had a good time and I definitely recommend this book
Set in the grim reality of 1987 Communist Romania, the story unfolds after a global catastrophe plunges the world into total darkness. We follow three very different people trapped together in a truck—which, I should mention, is floating. As Rosi, Gigi, and Sorin drift through the void trying to make sense of their new reality, they discover a sinister force intent on possessing what remains of humanity.
While the plot is disorienting, the atmosphere is where this book truly brilliant. It’s dark, and claustrophobic, giving off major ,Stranger Things, vibes (I absolutelyloved). It’s certainly is "different," but a very good kind of different.
I had a good time and I definitely recommend this book
Read
January 20, 2026The tropes and subtext in THE NIGHT SHIP could be both trite and unceasingly grim but Alex Woodroe's deft, elegant writing makes this weird, cosmic horror tale of survivors battling the forces of darkness a suspenseful, thrilling, life-affirming adventure of determination and grit.
October 12, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I really loved the unique concept of this one, the innate fear all humans have of being alone in the dark is definitely no joke! I could really picture the empty black nothingness looking back at them outside of their truck & the feeling of something watching them that they couldn’t see.
All in all, I do definitely recommend this to speculative and horror readers who want something different from the typical gory killers or the haunted houses. This book does a great job developing a sense of dread.
I really loved the unique concept of this one, the innate fear all humans have of being alone in the dark is definitely no joke! I could really picture the empty black nothingness looking back at them outside of their truck & the feeling of something watching them that they couldn’t see.
All in all, I do definitely recommend this to speculative and horror readers who want something different from the typical gory killers or the haunted houses. This book does a great job developing a sense of dread.
January 20, 2026
BWAF Score: 7/10
TL;DR: A Romanian smuggler’s logging truck becomes a lifeboat when the world turns into a pitch-black ocean of nothing, and the radio is the only compass that doesn’t lie. It’s paranoid, tender, and nasty in all the right ways, with a killer image system (tar-dark, vines, “decontamination,” propaganda voices) and a hungry cosmic presence that feels both monstrous and heartbreakingly human.
Alex Woodroe is a Romanian writer of dark speculative fiction and an editor (including work with Tenebrous Press), and you can feel that “weird + craft-forward” editorial brain in how cleanly this book’s components lock together: folk-real material texture, experimental structure, and a mean sense of escalation. She previously wrote Whisperwood, and The Night Ship reads like a sharper, more outwardly apocalyptic cousin: less mossy fairy-tale dread, more survival math under cosmic pressure.
Rosi (Rosalba) is a smuggler in late-Communist Romania, riding in a modified logging truck with Gigi (the driver and “fiancé” on paper) when they pick up a jittery stranger, Sorin, and stumble into a radio signal that feels like a warning from outside reality. The sky doesn’t just go dark, it pours down like tar, and suddenly their little concrete radio-station island is surrounded by infinite black. The truck becomes a vessel, a “ship,” crawling forward through nothingness while the radio spits transmissions that range from procedural warnings to culty recruitment to outright mind games. Somewhere below, something hungry keeps reaching up.
What’s special here is the logic of the horror. The signature transmission, the one that keeps echoing like an evil lullaby, doesn’t tell you “beware the monster.” It gives you the language of safety, compliance, and containment: “This place is dangerous and repulsive… a warning about danger.” That hits harder than a jump-scare creature reveal because it weaponizes the voice everyone is trained to obey, especially in an authoritarian setting where official-sounding words can get you killed or “saved” in the same breath. And Woodroe keeps paying that off: the book’s scariest moments often come from people deciding whether to follow instructions, improvise, or freeze because they cannot tell the difference anymore.
Then she twists the knife by giving the predator a strange, almost compassionate framing. We get glimpses of Catalina, an entity that can “reach into every floating cell,” mimic people, and “make a quick and clean job” of eliminating survivors. That “clean” language is horrifying. It’s sanitation-as-genocide, purity-as-excuse, and it rhymes with the book’s obsession with contamination, decon, and who gets labeled “toxic.” If you like cosmic horror that doesn’t just go BIG, but goes intimate and bodily, this thing scratches that itch.
Woodroe’s prose has bite and momentum. She writes physical sensation extremely well: the sticky dread of being watched from below, the constant grip-and-haul problem-solving of living on a moving platform, the way panic makes your brain stupid and your hands shake anyway. The transmissions are not just gimmicks, either. They’re pacing engines, palate cleansers, and psychological shivs, and the way they collide with Rosi’s grounded, streetwise voice keeps the book from floating off into pure abstraction. Also, the character work sneaks up on you. Rosi starts in hustle mode, distrustful, guarded, practical, and the apocalypse keeps forcing her into leadership, tenderness, and accountability. The relationship that develops between Rosi and Adina is one of the book’s best choices: it’s not “romance as reward,” it’s a flare in the dark, messy and human and a little desperate, which is exactly what it should be out there.
The big thread of the book is control: who gets to name danger, who gets to define “clean,” and how quickly survival turns solidarity into cruelty if you let fear do the steering. The book also nails the aftertaste of living under systems that train you to obey the voice on the radio, even when the radio is lying. And emotionally, it leaves you with that brutal cocktail of grief and forward motion. The epilogue imagery is pure haunted-compulsion energy.
The Night Ship is a strong entry in “vehicle-as-lifeboat” apocalypse horror, but it distinguishes itself with the Romanian setting, the propaganda-choked radio chorus, and the contamination/purity fixation that makes every “helpful” message feel like a threat. It’s not the most flawless book, but it’s one I’d hand to people often because it’s vivid as hell and it sticks.
Strong, distinctive apocalyptic cosmic horror that turns “safety instructions” into nightmare fuel, then has the nerve to make you feel something for the thing chewing on the world.
Read if you crave apocalyptic survival that feels physical, claustrophobic, and mean.
Skip if you need monsters that stay monsters, no unsettling empathy bleed-through.
TL;DR: A Romanian smuggler’s logging truck becomes a lifeboat when the world turns into a pitch-black ocean of nothing, and the radio is the only compass that doesn’t lie. It’s paranoid, tender, and nasty in all the right ways, with a killer image system (tar-dark, vines, “decontamination,” propaganda voices) and a hungry cosmic presence that feels both monstrous and heartbreakingly human.
Alex Woodroe is a Romanian writer of dark speculative fiction and an editor (including work with Tenebrous Press), and you can feel that “weird + craft-forward” editorial brain in how cleanly this book’s components lock together: folk-real material texture, experimental structure, and a mean sense of escalation. She previously wrote Whisperwood, and The Night Ship reads like a sharper, more outwardly apocalyptic cousin: less mossy fairy-tale dread, more survival math under cosmic pressure.
Rosi (Rosalba) is a smuggler in late-Communist Romania, riding in a modified logging truck with Gigi (the driver and “fiancé” on paper) when they pick up a jittery stranger, Sorin, and stumble into a radio signal that feels like a warning from outside reality. The sky doesn’t just go dark, it pours down like tar, and suddenly their little concrete radio-station island is surrounded by infinite black. The truck becomes a vessel, a “ship,” crawling forward through nothingness while the radio spits transmissions that range from procedural warnings to culty recruitment to outright mind games. Somewhere below, something hungry keeps reaching up.
What’s special here is the logic of the horror. The signature transmission, the one that keeps echoing like an evil lullaby, doesn’t tell you “beware the monster.” It gives you the language of safety, compliance, and containment: “This place is dangerous and repulsive… a warning about danger.” That hits harder than a jump-scare creature reveal because it weaponizes the voice everyone is trained to obey, especially in an authoritarian setting where official-sounding words can get you killed or “saved” in the same breath. And Woodroe keeps paying that off: the book’s scariest moments often come from people deciding whether to follow instructions, improvise, or freeze because they cannot tell the difference anymore.
Then she twists the knife by giving the predator a strange, almost compassionate framing. We get glimpses of Catalina, an entity that can “reach into every floating cell,” mimic people, and “make a quick and clean job” of eliminating survivors. That “clean” language is horrifying. It’s sanitation-as-genocide, purity-as-excuse, and it rhymes with the book’s obsession with contamination, decon, and who gets labeled “toxic.” If you like cosmic horror that doesn’t just go BIG, but goes intimate and bodily, this thing scratches that itch.
Woodroe’s prose has bite and momentum. She writes physical sensation extremely well: the sticky dread of being watched from below, the constant grip-and-haul problem-solving of living on a moving platform, the way panic makes your brain stupid and your hands shake anyway. The transmissions are not just gimmicks, either. They’re pacing engines, palate cleansers, and psychological shivs, and the way they collide with Rosi’s grounded, streetwise voice keeps the book from floating off into pure abstraction. Also, the character work sneaks up on you. Rosi starts in hustle mode, distrustful, guarded, practical, and the apocalypse keeps forcing her into leadership, tenderness, and accountability. The relationship that develops between Rosi and Adina is one of the book’s best choices: it’s not “romance as reward,” it’s a flare in the dark, messy and human and a little desperate, which is exactly what it should be out there.
The big thread of the book is control: who gets to name danger, who gets to define “clean,” and how quickly survival turns solidarity into cruelty if you let fear do the steering. The book also nails the aftertaste of living under systems that train you to obey the voice on the radio, even when the radio is lying. And emotionally, it leaves you with that brutal cocktail of grief and forward motion. The epilogue imagery is pure haunted-compulsion energy.
The Night Ship is a strong entry in “vehicle-as-lifeboat” apocalypse horror, but it distinguishes itself with the Romanian setting, the propaganda-choked radio chorus, and the contamination/purity fixation that makes every “helpful” message feel like a threat. It’s not the most flawless book, but it’s one I’d hand to people often because it’s vivid as hell and it sticks.
Strong, distinctive apocalyptic cosmic horror that turns “safety instructions” into nightmare fuel, then has the nerve to make you feel something for the thing chewing on the world.
Read if you crave apocalyptic survival that feels physical, claustrophobic, and mean.
Skip if you need monsters that stay monsters, no unsettling empathy bleed-through.
January 24, 2026
Special thanks to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the ARC copy they provided.
Alex Woodroe captured me with Whisperwood, so the moment I found out she was writing The Night Ship, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. Blessedly, NetGalley and Flame Tree Press provide. I couldn’t be happier to have had the chance to read this book.
The Night Ship is one hundred percent nothing like Whisperwood. If I hadn’t known Alex wrote them both, I wouldn’t have expected they were from the same author. And that is a sign of talent. “Wait a minute, the same author wrote these two completely different books?” is a feeling all of we writers can aspire to. I was pleasantly and enthusiastically surprised.
Now, onto my usual rambles.
Umm, excuse me, this book broke my heart?? I was not expecting that, and ouch??? Because seriously, we are launched off into this book with the end of what we expect is the world, and then sail through a literal sea of night where even the terrifying monsters are only… lost. Tired. Exhausted, really. And ultimately not evil, just ruined by a heartless system that viewed them as tools rather than people.
Perhaps those are the most horrible and heartwrenching of monsters because we can relate to them. We can see them and see ourselves and wonder if we would, or could, have done better in their position.
And… because there is always an and, in the midst of all this we grow to know and, maybe not love, but experience the growth and humanity of a group of characters. We see them at their worst and we see them push past themselves, and the blackened world around them, to become something more. We view their potential and what they could be in the still living world of sun and light that they realize still exists and that they can get back to. Only to lose them.
Or some of them.
The Night Ship is sad, lonely, and dark, but at its heart it’s human. And that is what will reel you in, make you feel, and spit you back out the other side, the way those who survive the dark are spit back out into the light. Alex Woodroe may have a talent for writing books that feel not even the slightest a alike, but her best talent is writing characters that are utterly human and living.
I cannot express enough how The Night Ship has lingered with me, and how hungry I am for more. Because all the best books make you wish they could go on forever.
I am here for whatever Alex writes next.
Alex Woodroe captured me with Whisperwood, so the moment I found out she was writing The Night Ship, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. Blessedly, NetGalley and Flame Tree Press provide. I couldn’t be happier to have had the chance to read this book.
The Night Ship is one hundred percent nothing like Whisperwood. If I hadn’t known Alex wrote them both, I wouldn’t have expected they were from the same author. And that is a sign of talent. “Wait a minute, the same author wrote these two completely different books?” is a feeling all of we writers can aspire to. I was pleasantly and enthusiastically surprised.
Now, onto my usual rambles.
Umm, excuse me, this book broke my heart?? I was not expecting that, and ouch??? Because seriously, we are launched off into this book with the end of what we expect is the world, and then sail through a literal sea of night where even the terrifying monsters are only… lost. Tired. Exhausted, really. And ultimately not evil, just ruined by a heartless system that viewed them as tools rather than people.
Perhaps those are the most horrible and heartwrenching of monsters because we can relate to them. We can see them and see ourselves and wonder if we would, or could, have done better in their position.
And… because there is always an and, in the midst of all this we grow to know and, maybe not love, but experience the growth and humanity of a group of characters. We see them at their worst and we see them push past themselves, and the blackened world around them, to become something more. We view their potential and what they could be in the still living world of sun and light that they realize still exists and that they can get back to. Only to lose them.
Or some of them.
The Night Ship is sad, lonely, and dark, but at its heart it’s human. And that is what will reel you in, make you feel, and spit you back out the other side, the way those who survive the dark are spit back out into the light. Alex Woodroe may have a talent for writing books that feel not even the slightest a alike, but her best talent is writing characters that are utterly human and living.
I cannot express enough how The Night Ship has lingered with me, and how hungry I am for more. Because all the best books make you wish they could go on forever.
I am here for whatever Alex writes next.
February 4, 2026
I love how the Cosmic Horror elements ran alongside the horrors of this dark period in Romanian history. This book genuinely creeped me out. The seance scene was a damn triumph! Unsettling as hell, and truly each part felt so unique and perfectly placed to make me rush out of the dark room I was in. The transmissions at the start of each chapter were also a fantastic touch, giving us hints of others out there and what they're going through, sometimes adding well-placed humor, though the first one was my very favorite. So unsettling with such a wonderfully weird, otherworldly voice.
The characters and how they came to terms with what was happening (and let go of the stuff that they didn't understand because what else can you do, really, but go with it) really worked for me. I was right there with them. Certain scenes about characters' pasts and what they aren't so proud of were so well-done, and were relevant as you watched them doubt themselves and struggle through the horrors of what was happening. The unique characters and the different walks of life they came from, and their infighting was also really well-done. Also, I am a sucker for a good Romance storyline and that part was incredible.
The characters and how they came to terms with what was happening (and let go of the stuff that they didn't understand because what else can you do, really, but go with it) really worked for me. I was right there with them. Certain scenes about characters' pasts and what they aren't so proud of were so well-done, and were relevant as you watched them doubt themselves and struggle through the horrors of what was happening. The unique characters and the different walks of life they came from, and their infighting was also really well-done. Also, I am a sucker for a good Romance storyline and that part was incredible.
November 11, 2025
Thank you to Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for an eARC of this title. All opinions are my own.
Okay, so this one grew on me. I saw another reviewer say to push through the beginning because the rest is well worth the experience, and I wholeheartedly agree.
It’s the end of the world. Probably. Maybe. At least as far as Rosi’s concerned. The world has gone dark, totally, completely, but the semi is still running and occasionally other voices sound off on the radio, searching for connection through the dark. Rosi, Gigi, and Sorin were together when the world ended, and now they’re stuck together, trying to chase down others stuck in dark, fighting to stay alive from the vines pulling everything they touch into the abyss where the ground used to be, and hoping that there’s an end to the suddenly eternal darkness.
I’ll admit, this book is hard to get into. It really shoves you into the deep end when you start, and it took me a long time to get my bearings. I really struggled with Rosi and Gigi’s names being too similar; I kept mixing them up, but that may just be a skill issue. I also found the language hard to digest at the beginning, but either I became used to it, or it stopped being so vague, because about a quarter of the way in, the book really hits a stride, and halfway through it’s a breakneck race for the end.
Post apocalypse are always an interesting read for me, and I found this one to be unique. It’s a world where someone (or thing) turned off the sun, essentially. That’s ignoring the giant chasm that’s become the ground, of course, but the dark feels like the more important thing. It’s also an apocalypse that is never fully explained, because the people living it never really find the answers themselves. The goal is just to make it to the end alive. The epilogue and flashes of the monster living in the depths give a bit of context, but I’d be completely game for a follow-up novel of adventurers probing into how and why everything happened.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters in this one. They all felt a little flat, or maybe traumatized, but overall, I just found them pretty difficult to tell apart. Everyone felt relatively static. They’re antagonistic, closed off, and bitter, which makes sense given the context, but makes for a rather dull read. We don’t get a lot of their thoughts and motivations, because they all just seem to be thinking about finding an end to their suffering. I don’t know. I’m torn, because I understand that they’re all going through the same trauma so all have similar reactions, but at the same time, it feels like none of them have the agency to make their own decisions.
Unrelated, but there’s a bit of magic thrown in toward the end that felt terribly out of place even given the plot.
This book’s strength really lies in the plot and atmosphere for me. I also think it does really well in not giving away its secrets. It’s easy to try to overexplain, to give a reason for each and every way the world has changed; instead, this book gives away almost nothing, and I really like that nebulous ambiguity in a book. Part of the horror is that there is no explanation.
With that in mind, I think it’s important to recognize that this book isn’t going to give you all the answers by the time you get to the end. I know that can ruin books for people, so it’s something to acknowledge before diving in. Ride the experience. It’s not the greatest book I’ve ever read, but I do think it’s worth the read.
Okay, so this one grew on me. I saw another reviewer say to push through the beginning because the rest is well worth the experience, and I wholeheartedly agree.
It’s the end of the world. Probably. Maybe. At least as far as Rosi’s concerned. The world has gone dark, totally, completely, but the semi is still running and occasionally other voices sound off on the radio, searching for connection through the dark. Rosi, Gigi, and Sorin were together when the world ended, and now they’re stuck together, trying to chase down others stuck in dark, fighting to stay alive from the vines pulling everything they touch into the abyss where the ground used to be, and hoping that there’s an end to the suddenly eternal darkness.
I’ll admit, this book is hard to get into. It really shoves you into the deep end when you start, and it took me a long time to get my bearings. I really struggled with Rosi and Gigi’s names being too similar; I kept mixing them up, but that may just be a skill issue. I also found the language hard to digest at the beginning, but either I became used to it, or it stopped being so vague, because about a quarter of the way in, the book really hits a stride, and halfway through it’s a breakneck race for the end.
Post apocalypse are always an interesting read for me, and I found this one to be unique. It’s a world where someone (or thing) turned off the sun, essentially. That’s ignoring the giant chasm that’s become the ground, of course, but the dark feels like the more important thing. It’s also an apocalypse that is never fully explained, because the people living it never really find the answers themselves. The goal is just to make it to the end alive. The epilogue and flashes of the monster living in the depths give a bit of context, but I’d be completely game for a follow-up novel of adventurers probing into how and why everything happened.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters in this one. They all felt a little flat, or maybe traumatized, but overall, I just found them pretty difficult to tell apart. Everyone felt relatively static. They’re antagonistic, closed off, and bitter, which makes sense given the context, but makes for a rather dull read. We don’t get a lot of their thoughts and motivations, because they all just seem to be thinking about finding an end to their suffering. I don’t know. I’m torn, because I understand that they’re all going through the same trauma so all have similar reactions, but at the same time, it feels like none of them have the agency to make their own decisions.
Unrelated, but there’s a bit of magic thrown in toward the end that felt terribly out of place even given the plot.
This book’s strength really lies in the plot and atmosphere for me. I also think it does really well in not giving away its secrets. It’s easy to try to overexplain, to give a reason for each and every way the world has changed; instead, this book gives away almost nothing, and I really like that nebulous ambiguity in a book. Part of the horror is that there is no explanation.
With that in mind, I think it’s important to recognize that this book isn’t going to give you all the answers by the time you get to the end. I know that can ruin books for people, so it’s something to acknowledge before diving in. Ride the experience. It’s not the greatest book I’ve ever read, but I do think it’s worth the read.
Read
November 19, 2025Unique, weird, and interesting concept and handled it in a satisfying way, never getting boring or dragging along. Love the comedic elements, and really enjoyed all the characters. Also with the subtext about communism (and the other historical elements) isn't in your face and somewhat subtle, but really adds to the book.
Highly recommend when it releases in January.
Thanks to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for an early copy of the book.
Highly recommend when it releases in January.
Thanks to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for an early copy of the book.
January 24, 2026
I do not think that this is a bad book and it definately seems to be a hit with a lot of people but I just did not get it. I did not really understand what was happening and found it difficult to stay engaged.
Thank you Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for the ARC
Thank you Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for the ARC
February 7, 2026
Set in 1987 communist Romania, The Night Ship is a weird and dark novel that will leave you on the edge of your seat in both utter confusion and anticipation for what comes next. Three people, Gigi, Rosi and Sorin are stranded together when a catastrophic event transforms their new reality into complete darkness in which the world is crumbling away beneath their feet and the truck is their only safe haven which somehow floats...? At first I was very confused at what was happening to the world but it is best to just go with the flow and enjoy the ride as it only gets more exciting and dangerous as they try to navigate through this new reality.
There were a couple of different POVs in this story, mainly Rosi who is a brilliant main character and someone called Catalina which again really confused me for the majority of the novel but it eventually becomes clear who / what she is which is a great reveal. I also loved the random radio transmissions that break up the flow of the story, which often don’t make sense but add to the pure desolation of the story while still informing the group that there are still more people out there. The way the radio is used to find signals and survivors and how they figured out how to follow them is very cleverly done in this novel, even though it was always a worry that what they had picked up was a hoax.
The best part about this novel is definitely the characters and I loved the group stuck together in the truck because they all had vastly different personalities and yet their dynamic really worked together and I loved how they gradually got closer and opened up throughout the novel. Rosi was a rebellious, scrappy character, Gigi was a straight-laced, do things by the book guy and Sorin was a quiet yet surprising character that really grew into the story. I also loved the addition of Adina who they picked up along the way and I loved her relationship development with Rosi which felt genuine.
The unknown of the sea of darkness and whatever the hell is going on in the world is so hard to grasp but this is done on purpose to really enhance the isolation and the fear of the outside. The toaster analogy of it all at the beginning of the story was very smart; we know how to use a toaster but wouldn’t know how to make one and that’s the way to look at their new reality. The unknown and the gradual reveal that they aren’t actually alone and there is something dangerous lurking out there was terrifying and there is a completely creepy vibe throughout as they have some close calls with the creatures.
There are some really horrifying moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat and some shocks that will ensure you carry on reading to discover what happens. It is a relatively short read at 245 pages and you can fly through it once you get attached to these characters and invested in the plot. This novel is full of weird goings on and the fear of the unknown makes this an addictive read that I didn’t want to put down!
There were a couple of different POVs in this story, mainly Rosi who is a brilliant main character and someone called Catalina which again really confused me for the majority of the novel but it eventually becomes clear who / what she is which is a great reveal. I also loved the random radio transmissions that break up the flow of the story, which often don’t make sense but add to the pure desolation of the story while still informing the group that there are still more people out there. The way the radio is used to find signals and survivors and how they figured out how to follow them is very cleverly done in this novel, even though it was always a worry that what they had picked up was a hoax.
The best part about this novel is definitely the characters and I loved the group stuck together in the truck because they all had vastly different personalities and yet their dynamic really worked together and I loved how they gradually got closer and opened up throughout the novel. Rosi was a rebellious, scrappy character, Gigi was a straight-laced, do things by the book guy and Sorin was a quiet yet surprising character that really grew into the story. I also loved the addition of Adina who they picked up along the way and I loved her relationship development with Rosi which felt genuine.
The unknown of the sea of darkness and whatever the hell is going on in the world is so hard to grasp but this is done on purpose to really enhance the isolation and the fear of the outside. The toaster analogy of it all at the beginning of the story was very smart; we know how to use a toaster but wouldn’t know how to make one and that’s the way to look at their new reality. The unknown and the gradual reveal that they aren’t actually alone and there is something dangerous lurking out there was terrifying and there is a completely creepy vibe throughout as they have some close calls with the creatures.
There are some really horrifying moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat and some shocks that will ensure you carry on reading to discover what happens. It is a relatively short read at 245 pages and you can fly through it once you get attached to these characters and invested in the plot. This novel is full of weird goings on and the fear of the unknown makes this an addictive read that I didn’t want to put down!
January 26, 2026
1980s Romania. An apocalypse has turned the world into permanent darkness. Now Rosi, Gigi and Sorin are on board a truck, on their way to nowhere. The world has disappeared but somehow their truck has become a vessel, keeping them safe while they try to locate radio signals. All the while knowing that something out there lurks, something that wants them all.
I’m not sure what genre I’d classify this as: dystopian, sci-fi, cosmic, horror? It kind of ticks all those boxes. While I’m not usually a fan of sci-fi I actually really enjoyed the ride (pun intended) with this book. The descriptions of the silent world outside the truck feels incredibly eerie, and the all pervading darkness is oddly both claustrophobic and freeing. As they drift along in nothingness pieces of the charactes’ stories are revealed, and it’s interesting to learn more about them - and get a hint of the austerity of Romania at that time. Then as they encounter other groups of survivors the tension really starts to ramp up a notch. People who are not who they seem. Who can they trust? Where should they go? Danger is everywhere and it’s difficult to know who to trust.
I was actually surprised at how thrilling I found this. The whole concept was terrifying, but explained so well that it felt possible. Creepy, chilling and very immersive, The Night Ship is a journey that will definitely stay in your mind for a while.
I’m not sure what genre I’d classify this as: dystopian, sci-fi, cosmic, horror? It kind of ticks all those boxes. While I’m not usually a fan of sci-fi I actually really enjoyed the ride (pun intended) with this book. The descriptions of the silent world outside the truck feels incredibly eerie, and the all pervading darkness is oddly both claustrophobic and freeing. As they drift along in nothingness pieces of the charactes’ stories are revealed, and it’s interesting to learn more about them - and get a hint of the austerity of Romania at that time. Then as they encounter other groups of survivors the tension really starts to ramp up a notch. People who are not who they seem. Who can they trust? Where should they go? Danger is everywhere and it’s difficult to know who to trust.
I was actually surprised at how thrilling I found this. The whole concept was terrifying, but explained so well that it felt possible. Creepy, chilling and very immersive, The Night Ship is a journey that will definitely stay in your mind for a while.
December 29, 2025
Lots of descriptive dreadful, scary, and suspenseful moments involving the characters survival and the setting itself. I loved how the setting was in Romania and how its history was part of the story. Interesting characters.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
February 2, 2026
The world melts away fast, leaving behind a sea of dread. Three survivors, already suspicious of each other due to living under the totalitarian spy state of Nicolae Ceausescu, find themselves stranded in a truck with nowhere to go. Even worse, out of this nothingness comes a cosmic horror capable of turning the survivors against each other.
Latter sections of the The Night Ship reminded me of that scene in The Thing where they're all sitting tied to sofa and chairs while they test each other to see who might be the alien. Woodroe's builds tension like a pro, causing every flicker of the light to be an omen of something more sinister. And where other books might just hint at that danger, The Night Ship steams full speed ahead, reveling in its cosmic druthers.
The character of Rosi is the star of the show here, a capable, strong woman who doesn't trust anyone (nor should she). Woodroe's characterization of Rosi is perfectly handled. She feels idiosyncratic enough to be her own thing while somehow maintaining a sense of familiarity that makes you actually care about what happens to her.
Punctuated throughout the novel are a collection of cryptic transmissions, which honestly, I would read on their own. If they weren't so weirdly written, we might find them a distraction from the main narrative, but the peculiarity and puzzling nature of the transmissions, often serving as foreshadowing, make each one its own treat.
All in all, 2026 isn't even a month old, and I think I might have found my favorite book of the year. Book yourself a ticket on The Night Ship. You won't regret it.
Latter sections of the The Night Ship reminded me of that scene in The Thing where they're all sitting tied to sofa and chairs while they test each other to see who might be the alien. Woodroe's builds tension like a pro, causing every flicker of the light to be an omen of something more sinister. And where other books might just hint at that danger, The Night Ship steams full speed ahead, reveling in its cosmic druthers.
The character of Rosi is the star of the show here, a capable, strong woman who doesn't trust anyone (nor should she). Woodroe's characterization of Rosi is perfectly handled. She feels idiosyncratic enough to be her own thing while somehow maintaining a sense of familiarity that makes you actually care about what happens to her.
Punctuated throughout the novel are a collection of cryptic transmissions, which honestly, I would read on their own. If they weren't so weirdly written, we might find them a distraction from the main narrative, but the peculiarity and puzzling nature of the transmissions, often serving as foreshadowing, make each one its own treat.
All in all, 2026 isn't even a month old, and I think I might have found my favorite book of the year. Book yourself a ticket on The Night Ship. You won't regret it.
February 25, 2026
2.5-3 stars - interesting concept - sort of scifi/fantasy/dysptopian mix - enjoyed her addition of how authoritarian regimes infiltrate a persons life seeping in to every part - and the metaphor of the darkness eating away at them - wanted more development of the darkness character beyond her affair and development into the being . . .
January 20, 2026
Apocalyptic, Cosmic horror.
The best part about this book was the main character, Rosi. She is extremely tough, quick to share her opinions, doesn’t just go along with the status quo, but also shows extreme empathy and kindness. This is an impossible life or death situation, where she’s thrust into a leadership role with strangers.
Lots of cosmic, space and lovecraftian monsters. Very Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The best part about this book was the main character, Rosi. She is extremely tough, quick to share her opinions, doesn’t just go along with the status quo, but also shows extreme empathy and kindness. This is an impossible life or death situation, where she’s thrust into a leadership role with strangers.
Lots of cosmic, space and lovecraftian monsters. Very Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
February 4, 2026
I'm not usually an apocalyptic type of reader but I did enjoy this one!
I enjoyed the story, it's very different but also quite intriguing. I was a bit worried halfway through as it seemed a bit slow for me BUT it did pick up and I did end up liking it although I was a bit confused by the concept. However I'm happy I read it.
Romanian smugglers on a logging truck turned lifeboat, a read that makes you feel a bit claustrophobic!
I enjoyed the story, it's very different but also quite intriguing. I was a bit worried halfway through as it seemed a bit slow for me BUT it did pick up and I did end up liking it although I was a bit confused by the concept. However I'm happy I read it.
Romanian smugglers on a logging truck turned lifeboat, a read that makes you feel a bit claustrophobic!
February 16, 2026
I finished this one up a couple weeks ago and have STILL been thinking about. I went into it relatively blind when I saw it was written by an editor from @tenebrouspress .
The Night Ship is a ride through darkness and uncertainty, where what lurks in the abyss isn’t even the scariest thing to contend with. Set in 1980s Romania, Woodroe builds a vivid world of paranoia, betrayal, and outright fear - and that’s before the end of the world even arrives.
I wasn’t that far into this book when my husband asked what I was currently reading….. I rambled through some lines about falling Earth, truckers, and radio waves, not realizing what a gem I really had in my hands. I don’t have all the words to say how much I loved this one but here are a couple of quotes that really hit me:
💭 “There were no questions about the fire; the only question was who you were to the fire.”
💭 “…relaxed was a dangerous thing to be in a dangerous world. Her body fought against it every time it remembered to. But god damn, was it nice when her body forgot.”
💭 “I’m just waiting to be eaten, now. And may the Devil choke on my bones.”
**Thank you to Flame Tree Press for the eARC of this incredible title, sorry I’m fashionably late with this review!**
The Night Ship is a ride through darkness and uncertainty, where what lurks in the abyss isn’t even the scariest thing to contend with. Set in 1980s Romania, Woodroe builds a vivid world of paranoia, betrayal, and outright fear - and that’s before the end of the world even arrives.
I wasn’t that far into this book when my husband asked what I was currently reading….. I rambled through some lines about falling Earth, truckers, and radio waves, not realizing what a gem I really had in my hands. I don’t have all the words to say how much I loved this one but here are a couple of quotes that really hit me:
💭 “There were no questions about the fire; the only question was who you were to the fire.”
💭 “…relaxed was a dangerous thing to be in a dangerous world. Her body fought against it every time it remembered to. But god damn, was it nice when her body forgot.”
💭 “I’m just waiting to be eaten, now. And may the Devil choke on my bones.”
**Thank you to Flame Tree Press for the eARC of this incredible title, sorry I’m fashionably late with this review!**
January 29, 2026
Such a quirky story where you'd think a dystopian nightmare couldn't get any worse but then the world seems to be consuming everything and everyone.
It seems that things are coming to an end but the journey endless as the characters are trying to survive. Politics another theme within the story and there's some elements that seem reminiscent of 1984. Intriguing and suspenseful with some characters more likeable than others.
It did also give a Walking Dead feel, minus the zombies, particularly as there's this hesitancy around encountering others but also wanting to know if they can reach out to people. All seems quite tense which I liked as it kept my interest throughout 😊
It seems that things are coming to an end but the journey endless as the characters are trying to survive. Politics another theme within the story and there's some elements that seem reminiscent of 1984. Intriguing and suspenseful with some characters more likeable than others.
It did also give a Walking Dead feel, minus the zombies, particularly as there's this hesitancy around encountering others but also wanting to know if they can reach out to people. All seems quite tense which I liked as it kept my interest throughout 😊
Review of advance copy received from Author
received ARC from the author
a journey through the darkness. i really appreciate how this story is all about a political situation without being didactic; it's a good speculative horror story with the chill coming as much from the real life horror being evoked as from the supernatural elements. the pacing drags a little in the middle but it's worth sticking with for the compelling final act. the whole story has this dreamlike quality, being trapped in an endless nightmare, struggling to hold onto dwindling hope. highly recommended for fans of survival horror type fiction.
a journey through the darkness. i really appreciate how this story is all about a political situation without being didactic; it's a good speculative horror story with the chill coming as much from the real life horror being evoked as from the supernatural elements. the pacing drags a little in the middle but it's worth sticking with for the compelling final act. the whole story has this dreamlike quality, being trapped in an endless nightmare, struggling to hold onto dwindling hope. highly recommended for fans of survival horror type fiction.
January 28, 2026
While there were parts of this claustrophobic horror novel that were stellar, unfortunately for me the sum of the parts didn't add up to much.
January 28, 2026
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Night Ship' by Alex Woodroe
CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULES AND GRAB THIS SINISTER, HAUNTING AND EERIE PAGE TURNER TODAY!! I CAN GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!! YOU CAN THANK ME LATER!
This may be the first book I have read by this extremely talented author but there is no way in hell it it is going to be my last!! What a blooming epic and eerie read!! Seriously, if you are a fan of horrors. dystopia, paranormal, apocalyptic stories, tension and suspense you will LOVE this!! If you are looking for a nice, light and sweet read then look the other way as there is nothing sweet about this story!!!
OMFG!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE, LOVE, LOVED THIS CHILLING, EERIE AND ATMOSPHERIC BOOK, AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, HAUNTING. SINISTER AND PAGE TURNING MUST READ!!!
The first thing I have got to say is an absolutely HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the AMAZING author Alex Woodroe! Where the hell have you been hiding all my life? As a horror and supernatural lover I am SHOCKED I have not read your books before especially with that brilliantly vivid imagination of yours!! I absolutely LOVED it!! Thank God I have rectified that stupid mistake and read this and now I can sink my teeth into the rest of your books. I mean, if this is anything to go by then they are guaranteed to be epic!! This has got to be just one of the most chilling, disturbing and atmospheric horror books I have ever read!!! If you are not a fan of the apocalyptic, horror and supernatural well just turn away now because this has got it all in abundance and I LOVED this addictive, gripping, dark, sinister and chilling haunting page turner!!! It had the perfect amount of tension, horror, suspense, mystery and everything else that you could ask for!!I absolutely devoured this page turner. It is extremely very fast paced and gripping read and I devoured it in one sitting in the space of a few hours!!! You really do need to stop wasting your time reading this which cannot justify how good this book is and just run, don't walk, and grab your copy of this chilling, spine tingling book now !! I can promise you that if you love Stranger Things then you will absolutely LOVE this!!! With an addictive storyline ram packed with secrets, monsters, horror, tension, guilt, suspense, fear, darkness, suspicion and absolutely everything you could ask for and just so much more in a gripping page turning paranormal suspense what on Earth are you waiting for? I mean the concept alone is absolutely epic, fascinating and intriguing let alone the actual storyline!!! This truly is an absolutely addictive, action packed page turner with a unique storyline that will grip you from the moment you open the pages until the very end, and longer!! A huge well done to Alex on the absolute uniqueness of this book!! I have read hundreds and hundreds of books so it is getting harder and harder to find books with a truly unique storyline but Alex truly has smashed it out of the ballpark. She has done an absolutely brilliant job of weaving the storyline together perfectly ensuring the reader gets the bigger picture. The setting and atmosphere is perfect for the storyline and Alex's fantastic emotive and evocative writing skills really suck the reader into the story ensuring they can see the drama, characters, mystery, suspense and fear all around them and feel the chill up their spine. You have truly got to grab a copy of this fantastic paranormal page turner today!!! I absolutely LOVE paranormal stories and for me the creepier the better but, although I have found some great horror books out there, I struggle to find many filled with enough to creep me out!! That was up until I read this book as this is absolutely packed with a brilliant storyline and chills that I have never come across and as I have read hundreds of horrors and seen hundreds of horror movies THAT is truly hard to come across but Alex absolutely slam dunks it!! A MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS!!
Clear your schedules before turning a single page as this book is truly unputdownable!!! However, I recommend you read this in the day with company although I still couldn't guarantee you wouldn't have nightmares!!
This book is one THE BEST horror/haunting/apocalyptic stories I have ever read !!! This book really is a truly unique page turner that I picked up and had devoured within a couple of hours!!! It had absolutely everything you could ask for and more!!!
Well done Alex Woodroe on an absolutely addictive and chilling page turner!!! Congratulations on an absolutely fantastic success and here is to what is guaranteed to be many more 🥂
Overall an absolutely addictive, action and darkness packed horror that will keep you turning the pages until you've devoured the book in hours!!
#TheNightShip #AlexWoodroe #FlameTreePress #RandomThingsTours #RandomTTours
@AlexWoodroe @FlameTreePress @RandomThingsTours @RandomTTours
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Review for 'The Night Ship' by Alex Woodroe
CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULES AND GRAB THIS SINISTER, HAUNTING AND EERIE PAGE TURNER TODAY!! I CAN GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!! YOU CAN THANK ME LATER!
This may be the first book I have read by this extremely talented author but there is no way in hell it it is going to be my last!! What a blooming epic and eerie read!! Seriously, if you are a fan of horrors. dystopia, paranormal, apocalyptic stories, tension and suspense you will LOVE this!! If you are looking for a nice, light and sweet read then look the other way as there is nothing sweet about this story!!!
OMFG!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE, LOVE, LOVED THIS CHILLING, EERIE AND ATMOSPHERIC BOOK, AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, HAUNTING. SINISTER AND PAGE TURNING MUST READ!!!
The first thing I have got to say is an absolutely HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the AMAZING author Alex Woodroe! Where the hell have you been hiding all my life? As a horror and supernatural lover I am SHOCKED I have not read your books before especially with that brilliantly vivid imagination of yours!! I absolutely LOVED it!! Thank God I have rectified that stupid mistake and read this and now I can sink my teeth into the rest of your books. I mean, if this is anything to go by then they are guaranteed to be epic!! This has got to be just one of the most chilling, disturbing and atmospheric horror books I have ever read!!! If you are not a fan of the apocalyptic, horror and supernatural well just turn away now because this has got it all in abundance and I LOVED this addictive, gripping, dark, sinister and chilling haunting page turner!!! It had the perfect amount of tension, horror, suspense, mystery and everything else that you could ask for!!I absolutely devoured this page turner. It is extremely very fast paced and gripping read and I devoured it in one sitting in the space of a few hours!!! You really do need to stop wasting your time reading this which cannot justify how good this book is and just run, don't walk, and grab your copy of this chilling, spine tingling book now !! I can promise you that if you love Stranger Things then you will absolutely LOVE this!!! With an addictive storyline ram packed with secrets, monsters, horror, tension, guilt, suspense, fear, darkness, suspicion and absolutely everything you could ask for and just so much more in a gripping page turning paranormal suspense what on Earth are you waiting for? I mean the concept alone is absolutely epic, fascinating and intriguing let alone the actual storyline!!! This truly is an absolutely addictive, action packed page turner with a unique storyline that will grip you from the moment you open the pages until the very end, and longer!! A huge well done to Alex on the absolute uniqueness of this book!! I have read hundreds and hundreds of books so it is getting harder and harder to find books with a truly unique storyline but Alex truly has smashed it out of the ballpark. She has done an absolutely brilliant job of weaving the storyline together perfectly ensuring the reader gets the bigger picture. The setting and atmosphere is perfect for the storyline and Alex's fantastic emotive and evocative writing skills really suck the reader into the story ensuring they can see the drama, characters, mystery, suspense and fear all around them and feel the chill up their spine. You have truly got to grab a copy of this fantastic paranormal page turner today!!! I absolutely LOVE paranormal stories and for me the creepier the better but, although I have found some great horror books out there, I struggle to find many filled with enough to creep me out!! That was up until I read this book as this is absolutely packed with a brilliant storyline and chills that I have never come across and as I have read hundreds of horrors and seen hundreds of horror movies THAT is truly hard to come across but Alex absolutely slam dunks it!! A MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS!!
Clear your schedules before turning a single page as this book is truly unputdownable!!! However, I recommend you read this in the day with company although I still couldn't guarantee you wouldn't have nightmares!!
This book is one THE BEST horror/haunting/apocalyptic stories I have ever read !!! This book really is a truly unique page turner that I picked up and had devoured within a couple of hours!!! It had absolutely everything you could ask for and more!!!
Well done Alex Woodroe on an absolutely addictive and chilling page turner!!! Congratulations on an absolutely fantastic success and here is to what is guaranteed to be many more 🥂
Overall an absolutely addictive, action and darkness packed horror that will keep you turning the pages until you've devoured the book in hours!!
#TheNightShip #AlexWoodroe #FlameTreePress #RandomThingsTours #RandomTTours
@AlexWoodroe @FlameTreePress @RandomThingsTours @RandomTTours
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November 6, 2025
The Night Ship by Alex Woodroe
3.75 rounded up to 4 🔮🔮🔮🔮 orbs
Pub. Date: Jan. 20, 2026
Flame Tree Press
In the eternal darkness…….
💡 Orbs Prologue: crackle…crackle… Does anyone… crackle…static…me…hiss… Is anyone…out…static…there? My life consists of interruptions. People reaching out from impromptu places, seeking refuge in the comfort of communication with other lost souls in this godforsaken world, seemingly smeared by God himself dipping his thumb in charcoal and smudging out human existence. Whatever could you be talking about, Orb? Dear readers, picture this. As you sit on your back porch sipping on a pumpkin spice latte, enjoying the sunrise, an ebony coating contrasts your gorgeous backdrop, like a giant squid squirting an inky fluid over the defenseless world. The sun fades to nothing as the dark spreads like a black mold, devouring everything in its wake. Items left and right sink into a bottomless void of nothingness. With rope and chains, I attempt to tether myself to the Earth, and yet all is for naught. Perhaps someone will save me; one of these faraway correspondents of peculiar information will carry me out of this nightmare. As the time slips by, I am left to wonder, why did this happen?
🔩 Nuts & Bolts: Meet Rosi, our smuggler with ideas of beating the authoritarian regime that rules with an iron fist. Rosi’s manipulation of a man named Gigi, a truck driver with whom she can conceal her illegal bounty, becomes nothing more than a sidenote in this frightening tale conceived by author Alex Woodroe. Woodroe stands above the audience, his readers fully seated in the auditorium, eagerly awaiting the novel’s reveal. In a sudden turn of events, Woodroe rises from the shadows with a can of paint in hand. In a casual pouring motion, the gloomy darkness spills over the crowd, leaving them stunned. All is dim, ever-consuming, extinguished! I wish this were a dream, but for Rosi, Gigi, and a young man named Sorin, it is most certainly not. As confusion lingers in the air, the sun has been squelched, and an otherworldly presence with ever-extending tentacles has emerged from a cavern of listlessness. A graveyard of humanity lies at the feet; however, one can only imagine this outcome since the night blinds all those trying to navigate its unknown pathways. Through the air, the group has managed to stave off death. In Gigi’s semi, they have found safety, cruising through space, searching for survivors who are broadcasting information through the airwaves. What awaits them are others… I say "others" as in humans, but this would only be partly correct. Survival is the theme in a world where hope is lost. Difficult decisions come with a hefty price, often to the detriment of the mental well-being of those involved. What happens when the lights go out, and fear has taken every ounce of life with it?
👍 Orbs Pros: Creative! A terrifying take on an alien-like contact, who renders humankind rudderless in an ocean of spatial turbulence. Through a direct approach, Woodroe guides the truck into the unknown, begging the reader to ask, Where do we go from here? Splashes of plans fizzle under the weight of simply not knowing the full extent of the problem. Woodroe’s writing style was easily consumed, and I coasted through this in no time at all.
👎 Orbs Cons: Catalina, a character? The antagonist? I still don’t fully understand it, to be honest. Without giving anything away, let’s just say that Orb was lost in portions of the plot. However, it isn’t anything that seriously broke my enjoyment, for this was a multifaceted affair with which to try and unravel.
Recommended! Exciting and downright horrifying! Can a horror story be fun? I was clinging to my chair, subsequently tethered to my floor, as if at any moment this novel might become real-life cinema. Those who love that space horror element will most certainly have a good time.
💡 Orbs Epilogue: Sitting back in the trailer, I gnawed on some pork and beans from a can. The warmth from the circular fire shed some glow on the faces of survivors around me. Their faces suggested tiredness, stained with the decay of the moment. I am a master of improvisation, and even I feel defeated. When will it end? I have resigned to the fact that we will run out of food and water long before we find a miracle exit sign with which to make our harrowing escape. Is this it? Was this our destiny?
Many thanks to Flame Tree Press for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
3.75 rounded up to 4 🔮🔮🔮🔮 orbs
Pub. Date: Jan. 20, 2026
Flame Tree Press
In the eternal darkness…….
💡 Orbs Prologue: crackle…crackle… Does anyone… crackle…static…me…hiss… Is anyone…out…static…there? My life consists of interruptions. People reaching out from impromptu places, seeking refuge in the comfort of communication with other lost souls in this godforsaken world, seemingly smeared by God himself dipping his thumb in charcoal and smudging out human existence. Whatever could you be talking about, Orb? Dear readers, picture this. As you sit on your back porch sipping on a pumpkin spice latte, enjoying the sunrise, an ebony coating contrasts your gorgeous backdrop, like a giant squid squirting an inky fluid over the defenseless world. The sun fades to nothing as the dark spreads like a black mold, devouring everything in its wake. Items left and right sink into a bottomless void of nothingness. With rope and chains, I attempt to tether myself to the Earth, and yet all is for naught. Perhaps someone will save me; one of these faraway correspondents of peculiar information will carry me out of this nightmare. As the time slips by, I am left to wonder, why did this happen?
🔩 Nuts & Bolts: Meet Rosi, our smuggler with ideas of beating the authoritarian regime that rules with an iron fist. Rosi’s manipulation of a man named Gigi, a truck driver with whom she can conceal her illegal bounty, becomes nothing more than a sidenote in this frightening tale conceived by author Alex Woodroe. Woodroe stands above the audience, his readers fully seated in the auditorium, eagerly awaiting the novel’s reveal. In a sudden turn of events, Woodroe rises from the shadows with a can of paint in hand. In a casual pouring motion, the gloomy darkness spills over the crowd, leaving them stunned. All is dim, ever-consuming, extinguished! I wish this were a dream, but for Rosi, Gigi, and a young man named Sorin, it is most certainly not. As confusion lingers in the air, the sun has been squelched, and an otherworldly presence with ever-extending tentacles has emerged from a cavern of listlessness. A graveyard of humanity lies at the feet; however, one can only imagine this outcome since the night blinds all those trying to navigate its unknown pathways. Through the air, the group has managed to stave off death. In Gigi’s semi, they have found safety, cruising through space, searching for survivors who are broadcasting information through the airwaves. What awaits them are others… I say "others" as in humans, but this would only be partly correct. Survival is the theme in a world where hope is lost. Difficult decisions come with a hefty price, often to the detriment of the mental well-being of those involved. What happens when the lights go out, and fear has taken every ounce of life with it?
👍 Orbs Pros: Creative! A terrifying take on an alien-like contact, who renders humankind rudderless in an ocean of spatial turbulence. Through a direct approach, Woodroe guides the truck into the unknown, begging the reader to ask, Where do we go from here? Splashes of plans fizzle under the weight of simply not knowing the full extent of the problem. Woodroe’s writing style was easily consumed, and I coasted through this in no time at all.
👎 Orbs Cons: Catalina, a character? The antagonist? I still don’t fully understand it, to be honest. Without giving anything away, let’s just say that Orb was lost in portions of the plot. However, it isn’t anything that seriously broke my enjoyment, for this was a multifaceted affair with which to try and unravel.
Recommended! Exciting and downright horrifying! Can a horror story be fun? I was clinging to my chair, subsequently tethered to my floor, as if at any moment this novel might become real-life cinema. Those who love that space horror element will most certainly have a good time.
💡 Orbs Epilogue: Sitting back in the trailer, I gnawed on some pork and beans from a can. The warmth from the circular fire shed some glow on the faces of survivors around me. Their faces suggested tiredness, stained with the decay of the moment. I am a master of improvisation, and even I feel defeated. When will it end? I have resigned to the fact that we will run out of food and water long before we find a miracle exit sign with which to make our harrowing escape. Is this it? Was this our destiny?
Many thanks to Flame Tree Press for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
What if society was already almost as bad as the apocalypse that followed it? This is a question that Alex Woodroe asks in The Night Ship—a post-apocalypse cosmic and survival horror action thrill ride—and it leads to some chilling and very human avenues. Woodroe’s previous book was the ambitious and sinister forest folklore tale Whisperwood, and she’s in similarly ambitious territory with this tale of the survivors of a bizarre Romanian apocalypse riding around in a truck in a sea of black nothing searching for a way out. Woodroe is also the editor-in-chief of acclaimed indie horror press Tenebrous, which publishes exceptional Weird horror fiction, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that this is also an intriguing sandwich of your standard end-of-days survival thrill ride and some very Weird, very cosmic moments, making this, if you give it your full attention, one of the most startlingly original horrors you’ll read this year.
Plot-wise, The Night Ship takes place in Communist Romania, 1987, shortly after something terrible has happened, as communicated in variously helpful or nonsensical radio transmissions. These are received by smuggler Rosi, who, together with her crew, must ride around in their truck seeking answers. The problem is that the world around them has vanished, being replaced by a sea of, apparently, black nothing, though it’s a nothing they can still drive through, physical laws having apparently taken an extended vacation. To say what’s in that nothing would be a spoiler, but it’s terrifying, sinister, and is coming to consume or even worse replace them.
Now even if this was your standard tale of survivors in transit during the apocalypse it would still be very entertaining. We have all the ingredients here… survivor groups with dictatorial leaders taking advantage of the end of days; action set pieces of escape from the threat; and strange new refuges that might offer safety—or be a trap. This is made all the more chilling and paranoia-filled by the fact that, and I’m skirting round spoilers here, not everyone can be trusted to be themselves—we’re firmly in Invasion of the Body Snatchers territory, though not in the way we know this trope.
But The Night Ship is not your average post-apocalyptic tale, because Woodroe has two very interesting ingredients to add to this horrific hotpot. The first is the nature of the threat, which is utterly weird and cosmic in ways vaguely hinted at. When it attacks, it’s straightforward terrifying, but the nature of it and what it wants is explored in teasingly vague ways by Woodroe. When you add to this the chapter epigraphs—which consist of radio transmissions from survivors, which are alternately funny, terrifying or eerily nonsensical—then there is a sense of disembodiment you feel reading this book, like along with the laws of physics the laws of reality are sliding together like hot wax.
Second, as I hinted at the start of this review, this is an apocalypse that occurs in a society that was hardly your cheery everyday democracy, but rather the ruthlessness of the Soviet Union even shortly pre-collapse, Romania in the 80s being firmly in police state territory, and several of the key cast members have already had their lives badly affected by it. For example one character, a student, was already on their way to an ominous summons to, presumably, be killed for his political beliefs when the others picked him up.
What this means for the story is that the survivors are already, in their various ways, traumatised by the act of simply living, and this manifests itself in many of the decisions they make, which are at times heroic, unpredictable, or brutal, or sometimes all three at once. One moment of brutal emotional strength caught me completely off guard; one of many small character moments away from the main plot. It gives this creepy end of days tale a strong streak of trauma and resistance, and means that the battle for survival when so many of these characters were already battling feels particularly human and resonant, especially in our current times.
Overall, The Night Ship is a police-state-gone-apocalyptic tale that offers a ride as dark as its name: tense, chilling survival horror with a gloriously bizarre cosmic threat… and a beating heart of resistance and humanity at its core.
Plot-wise, The Night Ship takes place in Communist Romania, 1987, shortly after something terrible has happened, as communicated in variously helpful or nonsensical radio transmissions. These are received by smuggler Rosi, who, together with her crew, must ride around in their truck seeking answers. The problem is that the world around them has vanished, being replaced by a sea of, apparently, black nothing, though it’s a nothing they can still drive through, physical laws having apparently taken an extended vacation. To say what’s in that nothing would be a spoiler, but it’s terrifying, sinister, and is coming to consume or even worse replace them.
Now even if this was your standard tale of survivors in transit during the apocalypse it would still be very entertaining. We have all the ingredients here… survivor groups with dictatorial leaders taking advantage of the end of days; action set pieces of escape from the threat; and strange new refuges that might offer safety—or be a trap. This is made all the more chilling and paranoia-filled by the fact that, and I’m skirting round spoilers here, not everyone can be trusted to be themselves—we’re firmly in Invasion of the Body Snatchers territory, though not in the way we know this trope.
But The Night Ship is not your average post-apocalyptic tale, because Woodroe has two very interesting ingredients to add to this horrific hotpot. The first is the nature of the threat, which is utterly weird and cosmic in ways vaguely hinted at. When it attacks, it’s straightforward terrifying, but the nature of it and what it wants is explored in teasingly vague ways by Woodroe. When you add to this the chapter epigraphs—which consist of radio transmissions from survivors, which are alternately funny, terrifying or eerily nonsensical—then there is a sense of disembodiment you feel reading this book, like along with the laws of physics the laws of reality are sliding together like hot wax.
Second, as I hinted at the start of this review, this is an apocalypse that occurs in a society that was hardly your cheery everyday democracy, but rather the ruthlessness of the Soviet Union even shortly pre-collapse, Romania in the 80s being firmly in police state territory, and several of the key cast members have already had their lives badly affected by it. For example one character, a student, was already on their way to an ominous summons to, presumably, be killed for his political beliefs when the others picked him up.
What this means for the story is that the survivors are already, in their various ways, traumatised by the act of simply living, and this manifests itself in many of the decisions they make, which are at times heroic, unpredictable, or brutal, or sometimes all three at once. One moment of brutal emotional strength caught me completely off guard; one of many small character moments away from the main plot. It gives this creepy end of days tale a strong streak of trauma and resistance, and means that the battle for survival when so many of these characters were already battling feels particularly human and resonant, especially in our current times.
Overall, The Night Ship is a police-state-gone-apocalyptic tale that offers a ride as dark as its name: tense, chilling survival horror with a gloriously bizarre cosmic threat… and a beating heart of resistance and humanity at its core.
February 20, 2026
A refreshing new take on apocalyptic novels, Alex Woodroe’s The Night Ship is set in 1980s ultra-repressive Romania, during the waning days of Ceaușescu’s Romanian dictatorship and has three main characters: Gigi, who drives a semi and is a by-the-book ‘party man’; his fiancée and part-time smuggler, Rosi; and a philosophical, Hamlet-esque hitchhiker named Sorin, who is an academic.
The world has been beset by a creeping blackness that seems to be dissolving it. As the three watch, it crumbles away into nothingness. But they take refuge in GiGi’s truck, which somehow manages to float on through the darkness surrounding them without falling into the stygian void beneath them after the area on which they were previously standing falls away into the blackness below. The truck becomes a spacecraft, of sorts.
The fear and paranoia the characters feel could be likened to day-to-day living in a society with secret police, propaganda, citizens informing on each other, and feeling continually off balance as to one’s place in the world.
The story examines the complexity of traumatic experiences and the unique behavior of each character as new and utterly horrific experiences pile up, one by one, creating an accumulation of horror that I’ve not seen the like of since The Haunting of Hill House—and that was released in 1959. And the buildup is done with such a deft hand that it will leave you breathless. This novel is unlike any I’ve previously read… and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s hard to find something new under the sun these days, but if you are searching for the sui generis, The Night Ship is it…in spades, and though you might see elements of Mad Max as well as The Mist, fanfic this is not.
One of my favorite things about this book is that the characters grow as a result of what they experience. “Well, shouldn’t they?” you ask. Of course, they should, but in many books I’ve read, the horror elements so overshadow the personal growth of the characters that the reader doesn’t get to know them at all, and it’s hard to root for someone you don’t know. The novel isn’t just about horror upon horror. It doesn’t have jump scares, but rather, is filled with increasing dread, and we have the privilege of observing how this dread affects and transforms each of these three unwilling voyagers into the unknown. This grounds the story in reality and makes it easy to suspend our disbelief when the horror is brought to the fore, bit by bit.
The darkness is never explained, and I like that. It’s analogous to the authoritarian regime that was running the country at that time. The characters have learned to roll with things and not ask questions. And this apocalypse is just one more thing…a big thing, to be sure…but just one more thing. They cope, but don’t demand answers. They’ve been conditioned to know that they won’t get them, and asking a question in the first place could easily get them something far worse than an answer. It is interesting to note that the new society is almost as bad as the apocalypse that created it, but if there’s one thing the voyagers have is the coping skills they’d developed all their lives from living in Romania. They were coming in handy. When you are traumatized by the very act of living, an apocalypse doesn’t really pack the knockout punch that it normally might.
And there is something in the darkness…but where you have a heartless governmental system, it ruins more than just people, and your heart will break, just a little bit. The book is so very completely, undeniably, well…human.
This is my first Alex Woodroe book. It will most certainly not be my last.
I can’t recommend this book any more highly. If you love a good apocalypse, or even if you’ve never read that sort of book before, you will want to get a copy of this one. Superb in every respect.
5 out of 5 stars.
The world has been beset by a creeping blackness that seems to be dissolving it. As the three watch, it crumbles away into nothingness. But they take refuge in GiGi’s truck, which somehow manages to float on through the darkness surrounding them without falling into the stygian void beneath them after the area on which they were previously standing falls away into the blackness below. The truck becomes a spacecraft, of sorts.
The fear and paranoia the characters feel could be likened to day-to-day living in a society with secret police, propaganda, citizens informing on each other, and feeling continually off balance as to one’s place in the world.
The story examines the complexity of traumatic experiences and the unique behavior of each character as new and utterly horrific experiences pile up, one by one, creating an accumulation of horror that I’ve not seen the like of since The Haunting of Hill House—and that was released in 1959. And the buildup is done with such a deft hand that it will leave you breathless. This novel is unlike any I’ve previously read… and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s hard to find something new under the sun these days, but if you are searching for the sui generis, The Night Ship is it…in spades, and though you might see elements of Mad Max as well as The Mist, fanfic this is not.
One of my favorite things about this book is that the characters grow as a result of what they experience. “Well, shouldn’t they?” you ask. Of course, they should, but in many books I’ve read, the horror elements so overshadow the personal growth of the characters that the reader doesn’t get to know them at all, and it’s hard to root for someone you don’t know. The novel isn’t just about horror upon horror. It doesn’t have jump scares, but rather, is filled with increasing dread, and we have the privilege of observing how this dread affects and transforms each of these three unwilling voyagers into the unknown. This grounds the story in reality and makes it easy to suspend our disbelief when the horror is brought to the fore, bit by bit.
The darkness is never explained, and I like that. It’s analogous to the authoritarian regime that was running the country at that time. The characters have learned to roll with things and not ask questions. And this apocalypse is just one more thing…a big thing, to be sure…but just one more thing. They cope, but don’t demand answers. They’ve been conditioned to know that they won’t get them, and asking a question in the first place could easily get them something far worse than an answer. It is interesting to note that the new society is almost as bad as the apocalypse that created it, but if there’s one thing the voyagers have is the coping skills they’d developed all their lives from living in Romania. They were coming in handy. When you are traumatized by the very act of living, an apocalypse doesn’t really pack the knockout punch that it normally might.
And there is something in the darkness…but where you have a heartless governmental system, it ruins more than just people, and your heart will break, just a little bit. The book is so very completely, undeniably, well…human.
This is my first Alex Woodroe book. It will most certainly not be my last.
I can’t recommend this book any more highly. If you love a good apocalypse, or even if you’ve never read that sort of book before, you will want to get a copy of this one. Superb in every respect.
5 out of 5 stars.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
You can find this review and all my others over at Read Book. Repeat.
Rosi is a smuggler, riding in a log truck with her future husband. On a routine trek through the Romanian mountainside, Rosi and Gigi pick up hitchhiker Sorin, shortly after this, they hear a transmission followed by the world going black. Soon they're floating along in their truck intercepting other transmissions and trying to unravel what has actually happened. They no longer feel so alone, especially when they realise that there's something lurking below. Now it's a race against the non-existent clock to rescue as many people as they can and find a way out, if there is one, before they meet the thing down below...
When I first started this, I didn't think I was going to finish it, I'll be honest. The start felt a bit dry and then you were thrown into darkness, just like the characters. But as the story progressed, I became attached to the characters, we learn more about them, about their circumstances and also a bit about the oppressive conditions that they live in. This story is set in the 80s in Romania, need I say more? Our characters went from a bad situation to one that I wasn't sure whether it was better or worse. Contraband didn't seem like such a bad thing when the whole world fell away. Initially you have no idea what's going on, and to be fair, this is cosmic horror, which always makes me feel stupid. I'm never sure if I'm "getting" it. Whether I missed things or fully comprehended the story. I think I got it this time. Maybe. I'm still not sure.
The story pacing feels a bit slow initially, but once things go dark, you're floundering around just like the characters, I feel like this endeared them to me quicker, I felt like I was experiencing what they were, that I was there in the darkness with them. The confusion over what had happened, the fear that they're the only ones left, the anxiety over trusting others that you encounter, and let's not forget the simmer every present fear of the thing down below. One minute I didn't know how I felt, and the next I was invested. By the end I was so glad that I read this, and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I felt like the story wasn't just about the cosmic horror, but it was also illustrating the horror of the daily lives that the characters lived before the darkness came.
The characters, initially felt rather dry, as said above, but soon their individual personalities began to shine and I found myself smiling and laughing along with them, and my heart breaking when theirs did. The relationships between the characters are one built through necessity, but some become so much more. I loved the dynamic of Rosi and Gigi's relationship once things began to come out. I feel like they were finally able to be themselves when they didn't feel the need to hide anymore. There's a strong sense of isolation in this story, and it's funny, because I've never read a horror story where I ended up preferring the isolation, but here we are.
I don't want to say too much about this because I don't want to give too much away. Just know that it's a strong story, and if you're struggling initially, please stick with it, I'm glad that I did. I really enjoyed the ending as well, I thought it was done well.
Rosi is a smuggler, riding in a log truck with her future husband. On a routine trek through the Romanian mountainside, Rosi and Gigi pick up hitchhiker Sorin, shortly after this, they hear a transmission followed by the world going black. Soon they're floating along in their truck intercepting other transmissions and trying to unravel what has actually happened. They no longer feel so alone, especially when they realise that there's something lurking below. Now it's a race against the non-existent clock to rescue as many people as they can and find a way out, if there is one, before they meet the thing down below...
When I first started this, I didn't think I was going to finish it, I'll be honest. The start felt a bit dry and then you were thrown into darkness, just like the characters. But as the story progressed, I became attached to the characters, we learn more about them, about their circumstances and also a bit about the oppressive conditions that they live in. This story is set in the 80s in Romania, need I say more? Our characters went from a bad situation to one that I wasn't sure whether it was better or worse. Contraband didn't seem like such a bad thing when the whole world fell away. Initially you have no idea what's going on, and to be fair, this is cosmic horror, which always makes me feel stupid. I'm never sure if I'm "getting" it. Whether I missed things or fully comprehended the story. I think I got it this time. Maybe. I'm still not sure.
The story pacing feels a bit slow initially, but once things go dark, you're floundering around just like the characters, I feel like this endeared them to me quicker, I felt like I was experiencing what they were, that I was there in the darkness with them. The confusion over what had happened, the fear that they're the only ones left, the anxiety over trusting others that you encounter, and let's not forget the simmer every present fear of the thing down below. One minute I didn't know how I felt, and the next I was invested. By the end I was so glad that I read this, and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I felt like the story wasn't just about the cosmic horror, but it was also illustrating the horror of the daily lives that the characters lived before the darkness came.
The characters, initially felt rather dry, as said above, but soon their individual personalities began to shine and I found myself smiling and laughing along with them, and my heart breaking when theirs did. The relationships between the characters are one built through necessity, but some become so much more. I loved the dynamic of Rosi and Gigi's relationship once things began to come out. I feel like they were finally able to be themselves when they didn't feel the need to hide anymore. There's a strong sense of isolation in this story, and it's funny, because I've never read a horror story where I ended up preferring the isolation, but here we are.
I don't want to say too much about this because I don't want to give too much away. Just know that it's a strong story, and if you're struggling initially, please stick with it, I'm glad that I did. I really enjoyed the ending as well, I thought it was done well.
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