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Ghost Ships
A deadly mystery in the depths of space…
Level ships of the line have been going missing; destroyed or taken completely by ghosts and no one left alive to tell the tale. When Admiral of the Fleet Judith Usher personally requests Captain Hollis Ives take the Verity and find out why, Hollis knows damn well this won’t be a simple mission. To make matters worse, Mad Dog Gracie Madox will be shipping with the Verity, and Hollis has more than enough experience to know how dangerous the former pirate captain can be. But with the cloud of suspicion currently hanging over herself and her crew, Hollis desperately needs a successful mission.
Former officer-come-pirate Silas Hunt is chafing under Hollis Ives’s command. He was raised to serve in the navy, but after watching far too many friends and crewmates shot down months previous, he’s no longer willing to simply keep quiet and go along with orders—regardless of the consequences of disobedience. But when the Verity arrives at the place where Level ships have been going missing, simply keeping himself and the former crew of the Sweet Jenny alive long enough for him to face those consequences might be more than Silas can manage.
Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.
Level ships of the line have been going missing; destroyed or taken completely by ghosts and no one left alive to tell the tale. When Admiral of the Fleet Judith Usher personally requests Captain Hollis Ives take the Verity and find out why, Hollis knows damn well this won’t be a simple mission. To make matters worse, Mad Dog Gracie Madox will be shipping with the Verity, and Hollis has more than enough experience to know how dangerous the former pirate captain can be. But with the cloud of suspicion currently hanging over herself and her crew, Hollis desperately needs a successful mission.
Former officer-come-pirate Silas Hunt is chafing under Hollis Ives’s command. He was raised to serve in the navy, but after watching far too many friends and crewmates shot down months previous, he’s no longer willing to simply keep quiet and go along with orders—regardless of the consequences of disobedience. But when the Verity arrives at the place where Level ships have been going missing, simply keeping himself and the former crew of the Sweet Jenny alive long enough for him to face those consequences might be more than Silas can manage.
Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.
272 pages, Paperback
Published December 18, 2024
17 people are currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
R.M. Olson
33 books57 followersR.M. Olson writes queer, feel-good space opera, featuring diverse casts, found families, and loads of action. R.M. has ridden the Trans Siberian railway, jumped off the highest bungee jump in the world, gone cage-diving with great white sharks, faced down a charging buffalo bull, and knows how to milk a goat. Currently they reside in Alberta, Canada with their four children, three cats, and a dog the size of a small bear. R.M. goes hiking and skiing more often than they probably have time for, eats more chocolate than is probably good for them, and reads more books than is probably prudent.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 8, 2025
Fuck! If something had happened to my baby Lawrence, I would have burned the world down. Seriously.
That said, if something had happened to anyone I like, I would kill everyone and then myself.
Level ships have been going missing at a certain place and Hollis and the Verity is sent to investigate and gather information.
Silas is still reeling from the incidents of the previous book and is being self-destructive while protecting everyone else.
Gracie has found influence and the deadly game of chess she’s involved with Admiral Usher seems to be at a stalemate.
When the crew of the Verity discover a deadly secret that can change the course of the war, can they survive long enough to take information back?
I haven’t said this before, but I love the concept of ghosts in this world of R.M. Olson’s. They’re completely different from the traditional concept of ghosts, and Olson makes their existence scientific without going into the realms of the metaphysical.
The fear of ghosts that everyone has, and the fact that THREE ghosts are more than enough to kill off a division, that no matter how many sparkers they have, it’s still not enough, are all brought out so well, and we feel the fear on a visceral level.
As with all other books in this series, this book too had me fighting anxiety because I couldn’t see how they were going to get out of this one. I love how the stakes keep getting bigger, the problems more alarming, and while Olson extricates their characters with surprising ingenuity from one problem, there is another, even larger one, looming.
And that’s why I’m off to read the next book.
That said, if something had happened to anyone I like, I would kill everyone and then myself.
Level ships have been going missing at a certain place and Hollis and the Verity is sent to investigate and gather information.
Silas is still reeling from the incidents of the previous book and is being self-destructive while protecting everyone else.
Gracie has found influence and the deadly game of chess she’s involved with Admiral Usher seems to be at a stalemate.
When the crew of the Verity discover a deadly secret that can change the course of the war, can they survive long enough to take information back?
I haven’t said this before, but I love the concept of ghosts in this world of R.M. Olson’s. They’re completely different from the traditional concept of ghosts, and Olson makes their existence scientific without going into the realms of the metaphysical.
The fear of ghosts that everyone has, and the fact that THREE ghosts are more than enough to kill off a division, that no matter how many sparkers they have, it’s still not enough, are all brought out so well, and we feel the fear on a visceral level.
As with all other books in this series, this book too had me fighting anxiety because I couldn’t see how they were going to get out of this one. I love how the stakes keep getting bigger, the problems more alarming, and while Olson extricates their characters with surprising ingenuity from one problem, there is another, even larger one, looming.
And that’s why I’m off to read the next book.
April 5, 2025
enjoying the series
I'm amazed that this author can write so many fantastic novels, I hope that she never stops writing. Her books are some of the best Entertainment I have read and worth the time to read them. Thank you for a very fun entertaining read.
I'm amazed that this author can write so many fantastic novels, I hope that she never stops writing. Her books are some of the best Entertainment I have read and worth the time to read them. Thank you for a very fun entertaining read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews