The Boatman by Alex Grecian - A Review


The Boatman by Alex Grecian

We're all chased by death. He waits for us around every corner. None of us know when he'll swoop down to claim us. But what if you could see him following you on a boat whilst you're on a luxury cruise in the 1970s? Well, you try to stay ahead of him for the next 100 years!

And that's the premise of the new novella by Alex Grecian. The guests and crew of the Maria Calypso set sail one day in the late 1970s. All is going quite well on the ship's maiden world cruise until the captain suffers a massive heart attack...but seems to shake it off like it was just a bout of indigestion. At the same time a strange boat appears around half a mile behind them. The boat seems to be a gondola and at the back, pushing the boat slowly along with a large pole, stands a man in a white suit and hat.  

For days and days the boatman follows the ship, never gaining, always staying around half a mile away. The guests and crew decide to try and outrun him, theorising that as long as you can outrun the boatman then you'll live forever. The Maria Calypso is put on full steam and off they go on an adventure cruising around the world for the next hundred years, with the boatman always somewhere behind them slowly poling his gondola forward.

I enjoyed the story. The author came up with plausible ways for the people on board to somehow keep the boat going all that time. He also brought in the obvious things that will happen over the next 100 years (Hint: CLIMATE CHANGE - it's not gone away folks, whatever the grifters in the world want you to believe).

There's one part of the book where, whilst on shore leave, two of the main characters actually sit down in a cafe with the boatman and simply chat, showing that death is patient, can reach you wherever and whenever...and enjoys a cuppa. There's a nod to Pratchett there I think.

Highly recommended. 






 

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