CROATOAN

In this novel, an irrational captain turns a 19th-century sea expedition into a nightmarish ordeal.

Nearly 18 years old, Kit Cabot is heir to a family fortune. But filling out ledgers for his father’s Boston-based Cabot Shipping Company leaves him perpetually stuck in a warehouse. Uncle John, who regales him with sea stories, remains Kit’s one source of excitement. The two also secretly smuggle rum, giving Kit extra income and the chance to buy his own ship and sail off one day. Unfortunately, there seems to be something wrong with John, who’s just returned from collecting goods. Quartermaster Mr. Whyte claims a red pearl John found in a cave has “changed” him. So Kit stows away on the Apollyon, only to discover his uncle’s deteriorating physical condition (“The man looked less like a sailor and more like something dredged up from the bottom of the sea”). More alarmingly, John’s also become a cruel captain. Is something possessing him? Kit and Mr. Whyte believe the answer lies in getting rid of that pearl, if they can just grab it without alerting John. This book, the second in a series of thematically linked horror novels, thrives on suspense. John’s increasingly erratic behavior means that it’s just a matter of time before the crew mutinies. As in Taylor’s preceding volume, The Memory Keeper (2025), the author’s concise descriptions keep the narrative moving while rarely straying from the spookiest parts. For example, there’s the question of whether something otherworldly has truly possessed John, putting all the men aboard the Apollyon in indisputable danger. The cast is engaging, starting with Kit, whose habitually painful leg (from a childhood injury) remains a constant reminder that he’s struggling to run away from his life in Boston. Other standouts are Kit’s cold, overbearing father, Edmund, as well as Mr. Whyte, a deceptively unassertive man whom the young protagonist comes to rely on. Everything surrounding John and the red pearl becomes much more apparent in the smashing final act, which takes a slight—but exhilarating—genre detour.

Keen characterization fuels a taut horror tale that simmers with tension.