Shore Excursion

Recently, I dropped off my brother and his family at a Seattle port for an Alaskan cruise. I started feeling a little claustrophobic seeing the masses of people queuing up to board with two to three suitcases a piece. I kept seeing the images of this disaster as I took in the truly massive ship with lifeboats ringing the sides in plain sight. My brother and his family, by the way, had a wonderful time.

Therefore, I was curious to pick up Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy when I saw the words “holiday cruise” and “misfortune” in its synopsis.

Liv and Nora are cousins, as close as sisters. Since Nora is having a bad time of it after her mom dies, Liv decides their two families should go on a Central American cruise for Christmas.

Skeptical at first, the adults start to enjoy themselves.  Befriending a glamourous Argentinian couple Camila and Gunther, relaxing while the kids play in Kids' Club or swim with their new friends, Liv congratulates herself for arranging the trip. But even the ship’s myriad amusements grow to be too much of the same. At the next port, the moms decide to take the kids on a zip-lining adventure with a local guide while the dads golf at a club with one of Gunther’s friends.

When the tire on the guide’s car blows out, everyone is a little rattled, but unharmed. Trying to salvage the day, the guide, Pedro, offers to take them to a local swimming hole. Liv makes sure she has her son Sebastian’s insulin pump and the sunscreen, and the kids and moms trek down to the water.

What happens next is a series of bad decisions that are equally thrilling and frustrating in the reading. Just like you might yell at the young girl on the screen not to go in the basement, you’ll want to tell the kids to stay put, don’t get in the van, don’t go upstairs, don’t get on the train.

Meanwhile, Noemi who has been living with her grandmother in Ecuador, finds out one morning her uncle has arrived to take her to New York to her parents. Their journey intersects with that of the missing kids, juxtaposing the despair of the poor with that of the privileged.

The novel evokes Ann Patchett’s  Bel Canto, provoking empathy for both kidnappers and captives. It’s only fitting that Patchett has given this novel a glowing book jacket review, “smart and thrilling and impossible to put down.” Exactly.