Sian Gilbert was born in Bristol, UK. She studied history at the University of Warwick, before teaching at a comprehensive school in Birmingham
for almost five years. She now lives in Cambridge with her partner.
Gilbert's new novel is
I Did Warn Her.
At CrimeReads she tagged nine novels that
explore the different ways setting a book at sea can impact characters and plot, from the inherent dangers of sailing, to being stranded, to what happens when the boat sinks and relationships are tested. The protagonists often have an offer they can’t refuse, a desire to taste a life so different from their own, and this leads to fatal consequences.
One title on the list:
The Last Passenger by Will Dean
Dean describes stepping onto a boat as “an act of faith”. This sentiment feels more common when considering something like flying—plenty of people are afraid of 
that, even those that fly often. There’s an implicit fear difficult to shake, and you truly feel dependent on the pilots and crew. Really, there should be a similar sentiment just as the main character describes when on a ship. If something goes wrong, you cannot outswim the ocean. The captain is everything. Which is why, when Caroline wakes up aboard the Atlantica and finds herself entirely alone, it is a worst nightmare come true. Her boyfriend is gone, her phone has no reception, and the crew have vanished. There are only a small number of other passengers who seem equally as confused about what’s going on. This book strips back life on board a vessel and shows the amount of work that goes into simply staying alive, which becomes ever more important in the game of survival that develops.
Read about
the other entries on the list.
--Marshal Zeringue
for almost five years. She now lives in Cambridge with her partner.
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