A review of “They Cling to the Hull (Horror Lurks Beneath Book 2)” by Ben Farthing

Full disclosure – I received a copy of this book via BookSirens, but have voluntarily provided a review. All opinions are my own.

Hell Cruise

It’s been about a year since Chris Haberman and his son Eddie escaped the mysterious skyscraper that popped up overnight in Richmond. For a year he’s been watching and waiting for the Deviser to make its next move and stop it before it could wreak any more havoc. After a year of watching and waiting Chris receives a mysterious message about a cruise ship that is not what she seems. The Aria of the Seas, an aging luxury liner, was quietly switched out with a near replica and the Deviser’s followers have booked passage as they believe that this is where the entity has chosen to manifest next. Using what little funds he has, Chris books passage with one goal in mind – sink the ship and send the Deviser and its weird cult of fanatical followers down with it. It’s not until the voyage is underway that he meets up with a kindred spirit. Riley, the niece of the current cult’s leader is also aboard the Aria as she has come to steal back her inheritance from her eccentric uncle. With the Deviser’s minions hard at work and the cult hot on their heels, Chris and Riley race against the clock to sink the Aria before the Deviser can get a foothold into the world.

They Cling To The Hull, the follow up to It Waits On The Top Floor, is the second in the Horror Lurks Beneath series of books by Author Ben Farthing. After reading the first book, I was eagerly anticipating this follow up and I was not disappointed. Farthing has taken a setting that typically evokes feelings of relaxation and leisure and has added a dread so palpable that it kept me reading at a breakneck pace to see what would happen next. Chris Haberman is now a substitute teacher trying to make ends meet for he and Eddie, but he cannot pass up the chance to confront and destroy the evil he first encountered in the mysterious skyscraper. On the ship he is joined by Riley, a woman determined to steal back her father’s prized pocket watch from her eccentric Uncle. Little do the two know that while their paths may seem to be completely different,  they share a common goal. I wasn’t sure what Farthing was going to unleash that would have topped the horrors in the skyscraper, but I was not disappointed. The ending also left a big question mark as to whether we will see Chris (and possibly Riley and Eddie) tracking down and confronting the Deviser a third time, but if there is another chapter to be written in this series, I will be eager to read it.