Crimes and Survivors

Vanished Child #4

by Sarah Smith

Titanic was a white ship--once. Now? Rock the boat.

It's 1912, the era of Jim Crow and lynchings, and a young society woman learns that her grandfather, the grandfather she barely knows, may be passing for white.

She has a family. She has a child. She can't be black. She doesn't know how.

She follows him onto the newest, safest, biggest ship in the world to find a truth she can live with.

But after the iceberg, she has to find the truth from his whole family. And it's more complicated than black and white. More loving, more inspiring...and far more dangerous.

William Martin, author of BACK BAY and BOUND FOR GOLD: "Read it and be enthralled!"

A Titanic mystery for multicultural audiences. Internationally bestselling novelist Sarah Smith's books have won the Agatha and the Massachusetts Book Award, have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year (twice).

Available through Ingram.

Bonus material for book clubs available online.

For pre-publication Titanic goodies, sign up at https://bit.ly/2MT5dcF

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction

402 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2020

About the author

Sarah Smith has been interested in ghosts and storytelling since she was four. Her sitter told her Japanese ghost stories at night, which she retold on the schoolbus the next morning. When she heard the story of the haunted house and the Perkins Bequest, she knew she had to write about it. No one knows what became of the real Perkins Bequest. She hopes The Other Side of Dark may help solve the mystery.

The Other Side of Dark is her debut novel for young adults.

Sarah studied English at Harvard (where she hid out in the library reading mysteries) and film in London. She is the bestselling author of an adult mystery series set in Edwardian Boston and Paris; two of the books have been New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and one was a London Times Book of the Year.

She has also written a novel about the Shakespeare authorship, Chasing Shakespeares, and actually discovered a "Shakespearean" poem by another candidate. She is currently writing a novel about the Titanic.

Visit her online at www.sarahsmith.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sarahwriter. Read her short stories for free at BookViewCafe.

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Reviews

[Jypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you HFVBT and the author for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Crimes and Survivors
By: Sarah Smith


REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
The tragic voyage of the Titanic is a fascinating part of history as lore, legend and in actuality. The realization that this mythical larger than life ship of dreams-deemed unsinkable-did actually sink into the icy waters of the Atlantic in the early morning hours of April 14th,1912 is almost impossible to reconcile with reality. This is why people are drawn to reimaginings of the ship and its passengers. Sarah Smith's Crimes and Survivors is a Titanic story unlike any I have previously read. I have never given much thought to the racial conflicts( KKK, lynching, Jim Crowe, etc.)of this time period, but this story highlights these issues. It is the story of a woman seeking truth, dark secrets with destructive potential, blackmail, the strength of love and family and the stark contrast between the best and worst of humanity. I was totally absorbed in this unique and compelling story from the start. Historical fiction and Titanic enthusiasts will delight in reading Crimes and Survivors because it offers something new and thought provoking. Read it today!

[Amy Bruno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mention the Titanic to me and you will have my undivided attention, so I was super excited to pick up Sarah Smith's book, Crimes and Survivors.

This is the fourth book in Smith's Vanished Child series featuring Reisden and Perdita, but can be read as a stand-alone. I will most definitely be picking up the other books in the series.

Perdita is a Baroness and American pianist living in Paris with her husband, Alexander, and her son. Alexander's uncle Gilbert is staying with them against the wishes of Alexander's cousin. He needs Gilbert to come back home to run the family business and he threatens to slander Perdita and Alexander's name unless they make Gilbert come back. You see, Perdita's family has a big secret involving an undesirable marriage and the child that came from that union. When it comes to light that Perdita's grandfather might be a black man she follows him aboard the Titanic to find the truth.

This book is one to read slowly and savor. Sarah's writing is great and once you get familiar with all of the characters it's easy to get lost in the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed my first Sarah Smith book and I look forward to starting the series at the beginning. You should definitely check this one out!

[Mely]

The fourth book in a series of historical mysteries about Perdita Halloway, a blind Boston socialite turned pianist, and Alexander Reisden, an Austrian biochemist now delving into early psychiatry. The books are elegant character explorations set in vividly described circumstances: turn-of-the-century Brahmin Boston; Paris during the Great Flood; a movie set in the French countryside as cinema is invented; and, now, aristocratic Paris and the doomed Titanic. Each book of the series has enough information that it could stand alone, but so much of the pleasure and interest of the series is seeing the development of the characters--and the long-lasting effects and unexpected consequences of previous events--that I advise reading them in order.

In this one, a young white society woman learns that her grandfather may have been Black--which would have huge and unwelcome repercussions on her life. She follows him onto the Titanic to attempt to determine his identity. The book is an ambitious and uncomfortable examination of privilege and responsibility, mostly but not entirely from the perspective of someone who has always had huge privileges of race and wealth and is realistically if not always sympathetically unwilling to give them up. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the choice of perspective--whether it recenters the conversation again on a white perspective, or whether it denies the white reader the comfort of identifying with either the oppressed or the Good One.

I don't like it as much as the earlier books, but that may be a sign of its success.

[Nightwing Whitehead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting a book about the Titanic. What Sarah has given us is, even better, a (hopefully not final!) chapter in the tale of Perdita and Alexander, that happens to happen partially on the Titanic. It is full of all the intrigue and suspense that one expects from a Sarah Smith book, as well as intriguing facts about a point in history.

I read it one sitting, it was *that* enthralling.

[Chelsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel opens in a way I don't feel a lot of us think of what it must have been like on the Titanic in those moments. Are you on the deck staring at the night stars? Are you in the Ballards room? What about the couples who have gone back to bed? Will you be one of those to survive, how will your life play out?

But don't worry, this is not another novel of that tragic piece of history, however I love anything Titanic. Perdita has an offer of a lifetime that she cannot pass up, living in Paris she has been given the opportunity to show off her pianist skills, but in America at Carnegie Hall. Meanwhile, her husbands uncle Gilbert is living with them and their son but needs to go back to America himself. Threats are being made, and he needs to go back to run the business. 

Alexander and Perdita get wrapped up in family drama with his cousin, involving Gilbert and there is fear that Perdita's family secret could come out, and this is a perilous time for that to happen. Her secret involves the truth of the ancestry of her grandfather, and just because her skin looks one color, does not mean that is the "color" she is. 

Perdita against the wishes of her husband gets aboard the great ship of it's time and bears the fear of what the truth may be. The US is still on unsettled ground concerning racism, KKK and the land of Jim Crowe and his thoughts. Will Perdita be able to pass along with those who do not have to think twice about their color?

This was a good novel, and had quite a few twists and turns. I especially liked that the author had her travel on the Titanic. Although, it did take a little bit to get the following of all the characters, it kept your interest and you were holding your breath right along with Perdita. As always, I graciously thank the author for the arc, and HFVBT for getting me set up to be on this tour.

[Zoe L.]

So, one of the things I have been working on this year has been reading out of my comfort zone. And one of those out of comfort zone BIG zones is anything related to huge bodies of water. I have to admit that I have a huge irrational fear of whales (I read Moby Dick WAY too young, lol), so thinking about being stranded in bodies of water where I might accidentally get sucked up by one just gives me major anxiety. But even still I kind of like reading books like it because at least I get more scared than I do from any horror book!

This was a really interesting book for me. I went in expecting a Titanic story, but it was so much more than that. This time in American history was very tumultuous and race relations were at an all time horrific low. This story is definitely more about the mistreatment of humans that has occurred in America throughout history. Much as the first line of the synopsis, this was a time of Jim Crow, lynchings, and segregation.

As you can guess this is more of a story about the people of the time. Which means there are a lot of characters, which can be mildly difficult to keep straight at first. But the underlying story and motifs definitely make this worth the read! It is a story that deserves to be shared.

You can view my full review & giveaway on my blog! I also post about a lot of different types of books!

Reader | Bookstagrammer | Blogger | Reviewer
@ya.its.lit - https://www.instagram.com/ya.its.lit/
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[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

In CRIMES AND SURVIVORS, author Sarah Smith skillfully peels back layers upon layers of two families’ deceptions punctuated by the 1912 “Titanic” disaster. Although billed as a novel about Alexander and Perdita von Reisden, it's really Perdita’s story as the young pianist with failing eyesight embarks on a trip to America aboard the elegant, unsinkable new ocean liner. Her goal is to discover which of two men with the same name married her beloved Aunt Louisa and might be her grandfather, but the ship’s fateful encounter with an iceberg changes everything.

Perdita’s nightmare aboard the doomed ship is only part of the story, but in the author’s hands it becomes an indelible, intensely personal experience for readers. In the aftermath of the disaster, Smith explores with honesty and compassion the universal question of “Who am I?”, weaving in the helpless guilt of those who were spared when others died, the longing of those with scarred pasts to leave their old identity behind, and the struggles of those who were born with the “wrong” color skin in a still-racist America.

With writing that’s as pleasurable as fine wine, beautifully drawn characters, and an atmosphere of tension that mounts as the immensely likable Perdita becomes targeted by a multiple murderer, CRIMES AND SURVIVORS is a rewarding and thought-provoking read. Highly recommended.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

The Titanic is the ship of dreams but the irony is if it had never sunk most would not even know the name. And certainly only been a footnote as being the biggest ship of it’s time a century later. But because the ship did sink the world still stays entranced by it.

So here is the thing. Do not take this as fact of events on the Titanic. This is a story of the time that just happens to be set on the Titanic. A story of racism and family drama.

Reading other reviews it seems that Sarah Smith has written other books with these characters but nothing is missed by not having read the other books. You do not need to be a fan of the Titanic’s story but it helps.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Tam Sesto · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be very confusing and discovered after I had started reading it, that it was book four in a series. The author assumed the reader new what was going on and who the characters were. There was something about the way she wrote that I didn’t enjoy either. All in all, it was a real struggle for me to finish the book, but I did.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Smith, and Make Light Work, LLC for the opportunity to read and review this ⭐️⭐️ book.

[Kimberly Tierney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get through the first chapter. I felt confused with each sentence I read. Then I found out that this is book four in a series, which explained some of my confusion. However, I don’t think that reading the earlier books would capture my attention either.

[Elena Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original and entertaining. If you like the Edwardian era, you will not be disappointed by this well-researched fictional account of the tragic Titanic voyage. Interesting characters, numerous plotlines. It's hard to put this book down at the end of a chapter.

[Rain Shoshana · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD!!! I really liked it! I love these characters and I’m super proud of all the growing they do in this book! And Titanic is so endlessly interesting. Sarah Smith please write more!!!

[Shayla McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

#4 in the Reisden and Perdita series. Another book based on the doomed Titanic wasn't of much interest to me...until I started reading. I was quickly captivated by the main character, Perdita, a well-connected concert pianist with American roots who takes the unsinkable ship to give a Carnegie Hall concert. More importantly to her, she must connect with another passenger, a man who may be her father...or may be a former slave from a Virginia plantation. In the America of the early 20th century, where the KKK is active and visible and post-Civil War emotions still run high, a single drop of African blood can doom a person to a life of danger, despair and violent death. The savagery that stalked the American South as the glittering, privileged wealthy boarded Titanic is hard to believe. But the author made me believe it and as the tale unwinds and the other plot threads twine around the primary one - is Perdita black? must she "pass" or is she really white? - is answered in ways she never expected, and with a stunning violence. At times I found the plot lines overly-complicated, but the evocation of a time in American history that isn't well understood was superb.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. It will be released on April 15, 2020.

[Clazzzer C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. The cover made me believe it would be a story about the Titanic but it wasn't. It dug deep into the persecution of Africans in the early 20th Century and explored the vast array of characters who boarded the Titanic back in 1912. There were quite a lot of characters though and at times I must admit that I found it little confusing. I found the exploration of the mistreatment of black citizens in the USA to have been done excellently which really raised that rating of this book in my opinion. I give this book 3 and a half stars.

[Victoria Janssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book to read unless you have already read the three previous installments, not because there's not enough information to understand volume four, but because you would be really really missing out on the intricate reveals if you didn't read them in strict order. This seems like it's the last book in the series, though I hope it is not. It's set in 1912, and the sinking of the Titanic looms over everything like, well, a titan, both physically and thematically. Reflecting the first book in the series, The Vanished Child, the mysteries all have to do with family secrets, this time mostly Perdita's, but also fallout from Alexander Reisden's.

I have been waiting for this book for literally years, and my waiting has been repaid. It's brilliant and complex and even if you figure out some of the mysteries, as I did, there are more beneath those, and still more beneath those, all the way to the end. Alexander and Perdita have to figure out what to do with all these revelations, and their desperate desires to do the right thing were painful and beautiful and utterly satisfying.

[Lisa Konet · Rating 4 out of 5]

FYI- THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE TITANIC!!!t

However there are many fascinating characters with many stories of their own travelling on the Titanic and what happens to each. I like how the book opens with a Titanic party and each guest takes a name and throughout the evening each has to follow along with what happens to the name they picked. Do they survive? Do they die onboard? I liked the beginning of the story immensely because you learn about each character or family, however this book does jump around a lot and it was a little tasking keeping up with everything. Each character has their own side story about why traveling on Titanic and what they are leaving and goals for their lives after Titanic docks in New York.

Overall, this was a good story but more a historical fiction than an actual historical account. Writing was good and if you could keep track of the characters, it was enjoyable.

[Denai Piscopo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything Titanic fascinates me and this book definitely had bit that made me keep readying, but it wasn't easy. There is a lot going on, a lot of characters and at some points was a bit hard to follow. I think if I read it a second time that it might be a bit easier and I will have a different opinion, but still great historical accounts of the stories of those doomed passengers.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of this novel. The Titantic and Black rights are two parts of history I enjoy. I found this narrative very hard to understand. It moved around frequently and confused me. The characters were not easy to identify and their actions were confusing.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good stuff. This kept me engaged, and included interesting characters, good dialog, and a decent sized cast. The author created a good amount of suspense and used a fun story telling style with this one.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!