DARK PASSENGER

A twist on the story of the Titanic, accessorized with mummies, grave robbers, and a high priestess.

Kirch’s tale of seafaring horror introduces archaeologist and famed author Dennis Parker, who is busy digging for ancient artifacts in early 1900s Egypt, hoping the “land of treasure” will produce the windfall he greedily craves. Funded by his family fortune, Parker’s excavation, aided by his dutiful and trusty assistant, Amin, of a sacred tomb was illegal; he never secured the necessary dig permits. So his discovery of a 3,000-year-old tomb—containing the mummified remains of the powerful, evil, and greatly feared Egyptian Priestess Ka-Re—was the find of a lifetime. The legend of Ka-Re tells of her obsessive desire to become pharaoh of Egypt by way of capturing and tainting human souls, but ultimately, she was buried alive. Throwing a wrench into his plans to exhume her is Sahish, an exploitive, cutthroat French government official bent on keeping any new discoveries for himself. Meanwhile, the Titanic launches. Shipyard manager Thomas Andrews is surprised to find his longtime friend Parker onboard. And Parker is terrified to find Sahish hot on his trail. Parker convinces Andrews to pick up and transport his precious mummy cargo on the great vessel’s voyage from Ireland to America even while Sahish deviously plots to steal the burial coffin for himself, with horrific results. In a scene straight out of classic horror films, Ka-Re’s putrid, mummified body robotically limps out from the cargo hold bent on mercilessly destroying everything in its path; when her “ancient eyes” meet a victim, she paralyzes him “with the power of a cobra.”

Once Kirch establishes his period-centric collection of central and peripheral characters, including a flirty chambermaid and a retired Jack the Ripper–era Scotland Yard inspector, and launches his clever plot at full sail, the story continues on several interesting detours by way of gory slashing and an Egyptian relic wreaking havoc on the passengers of the storied ship. Kirch captures all of the spectacle, the thrill, and the enchantment from the Titanic’s voyage and whips that well-known event into a frightening horror epic—the first in a planned Tales of Horror & Suspense! series. He also injects Ka-Re with a uniquely vain personality and vivid details, animating her wholly as she stalks the ship enacting a diabolical plan drenched in her victims’ blood and cloaked in ancient magic. Kirch’s most memorable character, Sahish, is consistently greedy and comically disagreeable, but he is no match for that iconic iceberg. This is an engrossing, wonderfully creative, open-ended novel that packs a literary punch and will appeal to readers of noir horror, suspense, and historical fiction.

A masterful, thoroughly original spin on a classic tragedy jazzed with action, horror, and Egyptian superstition.