The Boatman

by Alex Grecian

HE WILL FOLLOW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.

Shortly after cruise ship the Maria Calypso embarks on its latest voyage, the passengers and crew notice someone in An elegant figure wearing a white suit who somehow keeps pace in his rowboat.

No matter how hard the crew pushes the engines, they can't escape The Boatman ... and it isn't long before sinister and mysterious events begin to unfold on the Maria Calypso.

What will it cost to learn the true nature of the man who hunts them—and will the price to keep on living prove to be too dear?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Supernatural, Audiobook, Horror Thriller, Novella

150 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2026

About the author

Grecian is the author of several bestselling novels, including the horror/fantasies RED RABBIT, ROSE OF JERICHO and THE BOATMAN, plus the contemporary thriller THE SAINT OF WOLVES AND BUTCHERS, and five historical thrillers featuring Scotland Yard's Murder Squad: THE YARD, THE BLACK COUNTRY, THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP, THE HARVEST MAN, and LOST AND GONE FOREVER, plus the original Murder Squad ebook, THE BLUE GIRL.

He also created the six-volume graphic novel series PROOF, and the two-part graphic novel RASPUTIN.

He currently lives in the American Midwest with his wife and son. And a dog. And a tarantula.

Reviews

[unstable.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

*This is a mini review. Full coverage soon to come via Ginger Nuts of Horror so keep an eye out!*

Alex Grecian's The Boatman is a lean, eerie novella that wastes no time pulling readers into its strange and unsettling premise. When the guests of the cruise ship Maria Calypso notice a solitary man in a suit rowing behind them, the voyage quickly transforms from leisurely escape to creeping nightmare. The man seems to effortlessly keep pace with the ship no matter its speed. Grecian excels at building dread through atmosphere rather than spectacle. The image of a relentless rowboat trailing a massive ship is simple, yet deeply unnerving. It is a visual that clings and soaks like the spray of the sea, and is truly ominous as the story unfolds. As mysterious and sinister occurrences befall the people on the Maria Calypso, the tension tightens with each page. The passengers and crew are forced to confront an unsettling question: who, or what, is the Boatman and why is he following them? What makes this novella particularly effective is its sense of inevitability. Grecian crafts the story like a slowly encroaching tide and reveals just enough to keep the reader hooked while maintaining the looming dread that fuels the horror. The confined setting of the ship amplifies the eeriness, keeping the characters on a floating stage, waiting for something supernatural and unknowable. Dark, atmospheric, and hauntingly paced, The Boatman is a quick and memorable read that proves Grecian's talent for turning a simple idea into a tension soaked tale. Thank you tremendously Bad Hand Books for mailing me an ARC. You can preorder this book now and if you order direct via Bad Hand, it comes with a signed book plate!

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only someone as talented as Alex Grecian would get away with such an absurd premise as the one of this short book: unlike the two novels of his I’ve read ("Red Rabbit" and "Rose of Jericho"), "The Boatman" dives straightaway (and completely unapologetically) into the weird, the outlandish and the bizarre, figuring a cruise ship whose passengers discover they're being pursued by Charon (the Ancient Greek mythological ferryman to the underworld); the ship has to keep running ahead, in order to evade Death, and, of course, the passengers under these circumstances become practically immortal. Indeed, the story goes decades into the future, starting from the 1980s or thereabouts, and getting more and more complicated, more and more atmopsheric, the cruise ship passengers finding themselves more and more involved in a strange voyage they never planned to undertake.

For some reason, upon finishing I felt this was more grief horror than, let's say, vacation horror, mystery thriller or purely weird fiction. Grecian manages to capture perfectly the passing of time, the waning and waxing sentiments, interests and obsessions of the passengers, without drowning the story in claustrophobia or turning the situation of the characters into one of desperation or imprisonment. There's a very strong vibe of the horrific and the uncanny, though at no point does it take over the story. Rationality, weirdly, prevails.

"The Boatman" excels in the portrayal of life as a kaleidoscope of unpredictable moments of decision, under the most absurd of circumstances. The supernatural aspects are handled with great elegance and charm, even if - and in spite of - the whole situation ultimately not making much practical sense. That said, the ending was priceless, and made the trip (pun intended) a hell of a ride!

[Pan | Book Reviews and Recommendations · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Grecian’s The Boatman is a gripping, atmospheric supernatural thriller that hooks you from its first eerie image and refuses to let go. 


What begins as a luxurious voyage aboard the Maria Calypso quickly transforms into a tense, slow‑burn nightmare, all centered around one unforgettable figure: the mysterious man in the white suit who rows after the ship no matter how far or fast it travels.


The novel’s central conceit is wonderfully unsettling. A cruise ship, isolated in the vastness of the open sea, becomes the stage for a relentless pursuit by a lone rowboat. 


Grecian uses this setup to build a sense of creeping dread, letting the impossibility of the Boatman’s presence gnaw at both the characters and the reader. 


The tension escalates naturally, with each strange occurrence aboard the Maria Calypso deepening the mystery and raising the stakes.


The Boatman himself, elegant, enigmatic  and terrifying is a standout creation precisely because his motives and nature remain just out of reach. 


As the crew and passengers struggle to understand what’s happening, their fear and desperation feel authentic. The ship becomes a pressure cooker, and watching how each person responds to the impossible, adds emotional depth to the suspense.


What makes The Boatman especially satisfying is how it balances supernatural horror with a strong sense of mystery.

It’s both a page‑turner and a story that lingers, inviting reflection long after the final chapter. 


A haunting, imaginative thriller that showcases Alex Grecian's ability to create rich atmosphere, sharp tension, and a supernatural mystery that feels both fresh and classic. 


'The Boatman', is the kind of book that keeps you reading late into the night and leaves you glancing over your shoulder long after you’ve finished.

[Jennifer Farris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shortly after the Maria Calypso embarks on her fateful cruise, the crew and passengers find themselves pursued by a white-suited man poling a boat gently along behind them. As they race to keep ahead of The Boatman, the passengers make devastating discoveries about themselves and the nature of the man who pursues them.
At 150 pages, this novella is fast-paced and well-written. The author, Alex Grecian, gives us rounded characters, a solid storyline, and a dash of the fantastical. Despite its novella length, the pace of the writing feels more like a short story. The action begins early and keeps the reader involved throughout.
As the story progressed, the characters began to take on the qualities of various aspects of humanity. Love, loss, desperation, and innocence were all on display through the faces and actions of different characters.
To add more depth to an already amazing short story, the epistolary sections give the reader a breath of eco-horror and describe the changes the earth is experiencing through this decades-long pursuit between life and death.
Overall, this is a great novella that will definitely leave you thinking about it for some time to come.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not read the synopsis of the book before reading, and I am glad I didn't because it was a wonderful surprise. An intriguing premise of a strange man chasing down a cruise ship in Michael Myers fashion but in a small vessel of some sort. Yeah, I'm hooked.

It's hard to talk about too much without spoiling the story, but I did get uncomfortably claustrophobic while reading. I happened to be on an airplane and started thinking, "What if I never got off the plane?" Terrifying. Gave me a Groundhog Day feeling.

Read this if you like your stories quick and surreal and bittersweet. This was excellent.

[§am I Am · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

What i took away from this book is that the boatman is like death in a way. He gains on the boat when its that persons turn to die? They disappear. So they think if theyre fast enough they can outrun death? That's what I took away from this read. An ok read not great.

[Alix · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A quick and entertaining read. I couldn’t imagine living on a ship for that long, I would go absolutely stir crazy. All in all, it was fairly predictable and the characters felt a bit flat, but I still enjoyed the story.

[Louis (audiobookfanatic) · Rating 4 out of 5]

BLURB:
Newlyweds June James, a writer, and Walt Dennison embark on a honeymoon cruise in 1977. It turns unsettling when a man in a white suit—the Boatman—appears behind the ship, always following and tied to repeated attempts to kill people onboard. As decades pass, a small group remains on board enforcing strict rules to keep the ship going while trying to evade him.

REVIEW:
If you love a good horror novella like me, you definitely need to put this one on your radar! It’s more atmospheric psychological horror slow-burn dread rather than anything terrifying—and no major body horror or gore. If you haven’t read Alex Grecian’s work before like I hadn’t, this book will impress you with how much he’s able to pack into a short novella. The writing is great, and the well-developed characters and fully fleshed-out plot almost feel like a full-length novel. And he weaves in some great horror and thriller tropes, including a relentless supernatural chase, isolated setting, existential dread, race against inevitability, and survival under constant psychological pressure—in a narrative that’s likely unlike anything you’ve read before!

The story is mostly told via the 3rd-person POVs of June and Walt but occasionally shifts to other crew members on board, including Captain Billy Prescott, his safety officer Amanda, and Dr. Vincent, all of whom play key roles in evading the Boatman and keeping the passengers on board safe and healthy. But the ship journeys onward for five decades, and while all these characters remain on board, maintaining order and developing a sort of “dystopian found family,” many others leave. And soon they come up with rules—no new passengers and no children. The Boatman is mostly in the background as an unstoppable force of death, but there is one key scene where he makes his presence known, and what he has to say is pretty darn creepy!

The horror is mostly atmospheric. There are some terrifying scenes early on when the man in the white suit first attempts to take the life of the captain, but afterwards the horror mostly comes from the psychological dread of wondering when he’ll catch up with them—as it’s clearly inevitable.

The book has only four chapters, all of which are quite long, but it’s easy to remain engaged as the plot is always moving, and the timeline often jumps years, taking characters to different parts of the world. Each chapter also ends with some fascinating information about the landmark or port the ship is approaching—completely unnecessary but so interesting, and it gives the story more of a creepy real-world feel!

What made this book so effective for me, aside from its highly original plot, is how unpredictable it is. You literally never know what’s going to happen next or what part of the world they’ll be landing in. The second half has some compelling emotional conflicts between the survivors that question their moral compass and highlight the long-term psychological cost of living under constant pursuit. The climax is quick and thrilling and is followed by a final twist that’s both emotional and shocking—and may take you a few moments to wrap your head around! You’ll likely feel unsettled afterwards, but it’s still totally worth a binge read!

[Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I waited 2+ years for this novella to be delivered and overall I was a bit disappointed in the eventual result of the story.

I loved the opening and the set up. A couple on their honeymoon discovers that their ship is being followed by Death, and as long as they keep the boat moving ahead of him, they will live forever. The ship and its crew form a loose democracy designed to keep the ship moving as fast as possible, everyone pools money and resources to keep the ship stocked with drugs and alcohol, and the decades pass.

I thought for sure I could see where this was going. The passengers through selfishness or hedonism begin to destroy themselves or each other as the reality of living forever on a small cruise vessel sets in. Or that The Boatman actually has more sinister designs in mind, which is why he does not haste to catch them. But instead… we got a parenthood story.

A third into the book, when it seems the boat is about to start descending into the anarchy I was hoping for, the main characters save a girl on a raft just off the boat and take her in. The rest of the novel is about raising this kid. And suddenly all the conflict disappears and it becomes a Lifetime movie. None of the “strange happenings” or horror promised by the books description or advertising comes through. It was a perfectly set up first third followed by a sappy finish. Which is a shame, because Red Rabbit is one of my favorite novels of all time. It’s like the author had an idea for this novella, got partway through it and decided to go down a side path instead.

If you’re looking for more of the story that I thought this would be, try a movie called Aniara.

[Phil Batt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book didn’t really resonate with me, found the plot boring.

[The Blog Without a Face · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Man in the White Suit Is in No Hurry
BWAF Score: 6/10

TL;DR: A single unforgettable image, a rowboat keeping pace with a cruise ship across decades, carries Grecian’s slim novella most of the way on its own. The Boatman himself, when he finally comes ashore, is a small marvel of courteous menace. A late pirate detour softens the dread, but the closing pages still land.

The image is clean. A rowboat keeps pace with a cruise ship. The man in the rowboat wears a white suit, a green tie, a white Panama hat with a green band. He stands and poles his little craft like a gondolier. The ship is the Maria Calypso, out of PortMiami in May of 1977. The captain has a heart attack at the wheel the day the Boatman appears in the wake, which tells the passengers what they need to know. As long as the ship keeps moving, the captain does not die. Neither does anyone else. They buy the ship. They keep moving. Decades pass.

(The premise is enough for a while, which is another way of saying it is not enough for all of it.)

What the book is good at is objects. A plastic honeymoon lei, purple and pink, traded between two men as the stakes of small bets for fifty years, its purple petals fading to gray, its pink petals fading to white. A Nambu pistol from a stall in a bazaar, carried across three acts in the waistband of a pair of capris. A stuffed purple rabbit a child hugs in her sleep forty years after she is too old to. A cardboard cigarette carton with the lei coiled inside, left with a boy at a graveyard with instructions to wait. The catalogue is where the book lives. The catalogue is where most of the book’s dread lives, too, when it is working.

The book is interrupted four times by Wikipedia pages. Advent Island. Port of the Everglades. Vallvidrera. Fake citations, deadpan tone, geographies reshaped by rising water. The pages do not say what year it is. They are how the book tells you what year it is without making the characters have to notice. Miami is raised three times and then drowned. Barcelona goes under and Vallvidrera becomes the coast. The American alligator goes extinct, the Florida panther goes extinct, the West Indian manatee goes extinct, and then later a young woman on a rice farm built on submerged land hears a panther at night. (She is the adopted daughter of the couple on the ship. The rice farm is in what used to be Florida.)

The Boatman eventually comes ashore and has a cup of coffee with the protagonist and a child in a courtyard on Advent Island. This is the best scene in the book. He is slightly built. He wears gold hoops in his ears. He orders kopi tubruk for all three of them and tells a story about a beautiful boy whom he let live, once, decades ago, and what the boy did afterward. He says he was a doughboy in the Great War. He says his rifle went off by accident and that was how he inherited the job. He says he lacks ambition. He is courteous. He is reluctant. He is the book’s best invention, and the book is not quite what it would have been without him.

(It should not work. A chatty Death at a café, ordering coffee, telling a parable. In most hands it would collapse. It does not collapse.)

The book could have been a slow rout. A ship emptying itself out across decades. Passengers choosing their own exits, or not choosing them, or being chosen for. That book exists inside this book, in flashes. Kaye Vega in an airport in Sydney, sitting with a plane ticket stuck in an unread paperback, calculating how long the flight would take, calculating how long until the ship weighed anchor without her, choosing the ship. Larry Reeves lowering himself into a dinghy and rowing out to meet the Boatman because he had been dying of cancer for fifty years and would like to stop. A woman on the lido deck with a ham sandwich and a bottle of Blue Moon and a mustard stain on her blouse, watching her friend jump from the deck above her. These are the pages where the book is what it is supposed to be.

Halfway through, the captain and the safety officer decide to throw three passengers off the ship to slow Death down. They discuss this with the doctor in the captain’s office. There is a bottle of Scotch. The doctor picks up the bottle, sniffs it, sets it back down. Later in the scene, the doctor picks up the bottle and drinks from it. Later still, the doctor takes a second swig and slams the bottle down. The captain proposes a toast to a long life and one hell of a cruise and they agree to be friends again. Three people are dead. The book moves on. (This is where you are supposed to feel the horror, presumably.)

The supporting cast is cataloged by function. Pete the lawyer does lawyer things. Betty the web designer does web designer things. Amanda the safety officer carries the gun. A sentence, or a role, or both.

The author is Alex Grecian. He is in his mid-fifties, based in the American Midwest, lives (according to his author bios) with his wife, his son, a dog, and a tarantula named Rosie. He spent the 2010s on a five-book Victorian series set around Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, starting at Putnam’s in 2012. He pivoted to horror proper in 2023 with Red Rabbit at Tor Nightfire, a supernatural western, then a loose sequel in 2025. The Boatman is a side project, 110 pages, from Bad Hand Books, the small press run by the Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Doug Murano. Interior layout by Todd Keisling under his Dullington design imprint. Grecian has also written graphic novels for fifteen years (Proof, Rasputin). The graphic novel habit shows. The Wikipedia interludes have the load-bearing brevity of captions. The pirate attack in the final act is structured like a sequence of panels, and not a very long sequence.

The pirate attack arrives in the last act. A freighter. Two Sunseeker yachts. Grenades. A long-range acoustic device bolted to the deck. A water cannon. A woman on one deck with a rifle, a man on another strapped into a cannon’s swivel chair. A different book starts here, briefer than the book it is interrupting, and then it is over. The Boatman is not in the pirate scene, which is the scene’s tell. The book’s central threat has been, for most of the book, a man in a small boat who never closes the distance, and now the threat is something else, and then it is not the threat anymore.

It is a good slim book. It is not a scary book. It works on a reader the way a long Sunday works on a person who is avoiding a phone call. Somewhere out there, at the same distance as ever, a man in a white suit stands in a rowboat and poles it steadily through the water. He is not in a hurry. He has all the time in the world.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw Bad Hand Books was releasing a new Alex Grecian, I didn’t even pretend to play it cool and rushed to their DMs to beg for a copy. Having previously adored Red Rabbit and its sequel‑of‑sorts Rose of Jericho, The Boatman was an instant must‑have.

This time Grecian trades the weird west for the open ocean. June and Walt Dennison board the cruise ship Maria Calypso for their honeymoon in what they believe will be a quick break from the demands of their daily lives. But two days in, June steps out on deck, lost in thoughts of all the responsibilities waiting back home — the thank‑you cards, the unopened gifts, the novel she’s supposed to be writing — when she spots something impossible: a man in a white suit, standing in a tiny boat, rowing it like a gondola… and somehow keeping perfect pace with the massive ship.

Storms don’t shake him. Speed changes don’t matter. He never falls behind, never draws closer. Just rows. And waits.

Speculation spreads fast, but it’s the ship’s doctor, Vincent, who finally says the quiet part out loud: he believes the figure is Death itself, come to collect. And the timing is suspicious — the very day June saw the boatman, the Captain suffered a heart attack he absolutely should not have survived. Vincent urges everyone to stay aboard, even when the ship docks for supplies. Some crew and passengers bail anyway. But June, Walt, and a handful of others stay put, terrified that stepping off the ship might be the very thing that seals their fate.

This is a dark, eerie, wonderfully unsettling read. Grecian expertly plays with the unknown — what we fear about death, what we’d sacrifice to outrun it, and how long a person could live in a floating purgatory before the waiting becomes its own kind of doom.

Dark, tense, and deeply enjoyable — a four‑star voyage into the unknown. This one should be on all of your wishlists this April.

[Richard Quist · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first and only time in his life, Billy Prescott had an epiphany. He understood instinctively what was happening. With the last of his strength, he fell against the ship's conn, and the Maria Calypso began to pick up speed.
-- Alex Grecian, The Boatman

The Boatman is the first book I've read by Alex Grecian. I expect to be reading more. I would NOT describe it as a "slasher" or a "thriller"... nor would I call it a traditional "horror" story. What I WOULD say is that The Boatman is a compelling, and at times heart-breaking ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ story with supernatural vibes. Young newlyweds, June and Walt Dennison, are taking a cruise on the Maria Calypso for their honeymoon. They haven't spent a lot of time thinking about death and dying, but that's about to change as they, and the rest of the passengers and crew aboard the ship lay eyes on the Boatman, inexorably keeping pace with the ship in his small rowboat.

Death comes for everyone... But what if you could outrun it? That's the challenge, and opportunity, for everyone on board the Maria Calypso. But is keeping ahead of the Boatman possible, and is it worth the cost?

Thanks to Bad Hand Books for providing me with an eBook ARC to review.

[Kim Layman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella starts the tension almost right away, and keeps it going until the end. We get our story through the eyes of Maria Calypso, who is on this cruise with her new husband, and spends the rest of her life on it.

Grecian gives us horror in the from of the unknown-who is in the boat? Why are they there? Why are they following us? And why won’t they leave us alone? But as the story progresses, it’s clear by the man in the boat only has one objective-follow the boat until he gets everything he’s after. The passengers live between two states-living a normal life as if they were on land, and perpetual dread of stopping long enough for the boatman to catch them. They must stop occasionally for supplies.

What makes this story even more interesting is the addition of an unknown girl found floating in the ocean. She becomes another reason for Maria and her husband to stay alive, as they take on the responsibility of caring for her. But it also creates tension with some of the other passengers, who will do anything to stay alive. Betrayal, selfishness, and desperation become the name of the game.

But in the end, the truth behind the boatman comes out, and sacrifices are made. it becomes clear a choice must be made, and things must change. Horror collides with love, and brings this story to a difficult close.

I’m sad to say that this is my first Grecian book, but it won’t be my last. If you enjoy slower burn, simmering horror novellas, this one’s for you.

A big thank you to Bad Hand Books for my arc. My opinion is my own.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5. Not what I was expecting--luxury liner sets off on a voyage and is pursued by someone everyone immediately recognizes as Death, who's poling steadily in its wake. Instead of a horror story, we get something more like a philosophical experiment--how long would you put off death if you could? what would you do with your time? What kind of society would evolve under such circumstances, and why? On the basic plot level, we've got some interesting developments, especially the main characters' serendipitous saving of a refugee family (from what, we never learn) and development of a family relationship, along with the romance-novelist protagonist's continual production of new identities and industrial work ethic that keeps churning out the raw material that helps finance the ship, which becomes its own corporate and essentially political entity. (In that sense, part of this feels like novelistic cri de couer about the necessity to keep knocing out salable work.) Things go on for more than half a century, with a second plotline tracking climate catastrophe giving the ship more and scarier places to dock, as governments fall.

Pretty decent climate/apocalyptic fiction, but I was hoping to see him do something more interesting with the story's philosophical/historical aspects, which are gestured at but not firmly developed. So the ideas aren't all that engaging. Also, docked a notch for reusing a plot idea from Rose of Jerichothat I saw coming.

[Vampyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you could cheat death, would you?

I would first like to thank Bad Hand Books for not only accepting me as an official reviewer, but also for this advanced copy.

I went into this entirely as a blind read. I didn’t know the story, and I was unfamiliar with the author.

I have nothing but positive things to say about this book.

Grecian’s novel focuses around a semi-utopian society aboard a cruise ship. While there are a slew of characters, I would argue that June, Walt, and Mai are the main characters. Or at least, these are the characters that I was deeply invested in. As any utopian society geauxs, there is always the inevitable downfall. In their case it is the mysterious Boatman. A man in an all white suit paddling a smaller boat (think canoe) with a gondola staff. He remains following them over decades but never quite catches up to them. Lurking in the larger ship’s shadows.

The author takes a look at humanity and how some people will geaux to the cruelest decisions to extend their own lives while sacrificing other’s own lives. But it’s also a story of those kind humans who will jeopardize their own safety to help strangers.

Unpredictable. Unforgettable.

Eventually Death will win. Whether It claims you first, or you seek It out, we all have a death date, and nothing will stop It!

[Amanda Zinni · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I really liked this story. There are elements sprinkled in here that really wrapped me up. Mai's murals, her stuffed animal... the lei. I FEEL so much after this. My favorite parts are the little (big) moments. Coffee with the boat man, the last bet... the story's point.

While this novel did a great job coherently telling a story in such a short amount of pages, I finished this wishing it had been longer. That our characters had their time to truly shine, grow weary, and leave in their own way. For the boatman to have more moments or be a bigger character. For us to have an epilogue of not just the potential what if, but the devestating but happy reunion of mother and daughter.

My only negative is the Wikipedia pages. I didnt need them and the info here could have been conveyed better to help the reader understand the passing of time and foreshadowed events. That could've been more meat on the bones of this book. Do tell me, show me.

At the midway point, after being abandoned, I took from this book a lesson of "be in the present and love every moment. Do not fear and run from death because he may be far far away. Dont waste years running from a threat that isnt present." Our characters do not heed this, though it does seem to hit June, she reboards the cruise ship.

[ScarlettAnomalyReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first read with Alex and really glad I got a copy to read early from Badhand, this was fantastic.

I went in pretty blind, this was oh that cover and I was sold.

We have a cruise ( isolation horror 😍) and they see a ghostly figure keeping pace, never slowing never stopping, but then the weird stuff starts happening to those on board.

Nowhere to hide, no way to outpace this ghostly spector and the tension on the ship between not just the passengers but the crew? Makes for a eerily fast paced story that made it hard for me to put it down.

This was more then just a ghost story which I appreciated, with the ship being such a isolated area with real people, it added more layers of danger and horror, when people are trapped and nothing makes sense, they tend to turn on each other and evil comes in all flavors.

I loved how tense the setting was, I know I keep saying that but it really made this book sing, I was hunched over like I was on the ship, waiting for the next thing to happen.

Is this a curse or Death themself come to collect?

Check this out and I'll be looking for more from Alex.

[Aaron B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Boatman by Alex Grecian very much. The short novel is surrealistic in tone and doesn't take long to establish those bona fides.

"You're not going to believe me...There's a man in a white suit, and he's standing in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. He's rowing along with a pole, like a gondolier, and he's gaining on us...I'm not making this up."

This leads to an immediate character response and the game's afoot! With a pursuing psychopomp and dream logic, Death is personified and revealed as being key to human existence. Implacable, inarguable, Death never explains; it only arrives. There's a philosophy to the story that lingers in memory; resistance is futile. Have fun while it lasts!

Another great title from Doug Murano at Bad Hand Books. Thanks so much.

[Ryan Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t usually end novellas misty eyed nor do I give them 5 Stars but here we are. I read the first 30 pages thinking, cool idea requiring a lot of suspension of disbelief (duh) but then put it away to read something else. When I came back I read the rest in 1 sitting slowly, then all at once realizing what the story is trying, and succeeding in doing.

I won’t put thoughts or motivations on an author or their work but only speak to the impact that it had on me. Let’s just say the quirky, slightly creepy setup gave way to an avalanche of self reflection and emotion by the end. Without too much detail bc it is a short work and any spoiler will be magnified, I’ll just say that I too have my heart making her way through life independently for me and I felt the main characters motivations, drives and indeed would have done the same.

It’s a rare moment when a work sneaks up on you and leaves you emotional, tired and wistful all at once. It’s an afternoon well spent. Highly recommended and also, while at the store, grab Red Rabbit by the same author. You’re welcome. 😄

[Brian Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Bad Hand Books for the eARC of this story!

4.5/5 rounded up, because why not? It’s a quick read, done in one sitting.

This is labeled as horror, but I would not go that far in its description. It asks existential questions of us as it explores the varied character reactions to the crux of the story: as a cruise ship filled with people is at sea, a crew member discovers something in the water trailing them - only to discover a man in a white suit and hat, paddling effortlessly regardless of the state of the water. I don’t want to get into the rest of the story here, as I found the route of discovery quite enjoyable. But this story will stick with me.

[Horror DNA · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some ways The Boatman is a fascinating read, deliberately avoiding answers to the obvious questions readers might ask whilst teetering perilously close to becoming frustrating in doing so. This is one of those stories which is open to different interpretations, and if you enjoy reading between the lines, then there is plenty of fun to be had. On the other hand, could it be a one trick pony which goes nowhere with its solitary big idea, except around and around, again and again. You the reader must decide which camp you fall into.

You can read Tony's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine boarding a cruise ship as a young bride or groom, only to discover a formidable figure rowing along behind your boat, keeping pace, and casting a shadow upon your honeymoon. What is the boatman‘s intention, and what will you do to avoid him?

Alex Grecian has returned with an absorbing horror adjacent novella that makes readers consider the lengths one might go to in the name of self-preservation.

In my opinion, The Boatman is an excellent companion read to the Sadie Grace duology. While it does not contain the same characters, and certainly isn’t a western horror, I do think it visits some similar themes. However, it is tantalizingly unique and, since Grecian managed to pack a lot into less than 200 pages, there is never a dull moment in this surprising read.

I am immensely grateful to Bad Hand Books for my copy. All opinions are my own.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

This drew me in quickly and was easy to read through once I got going. It was an interesting idea, we never get too deep into the character dynamics or into their heads. Its only lightly toughed on how they are all being affected by having to out run The Boatman. Obviously being such a short book it would be hard to get a lot of that in there, yet I felt like there were still unnecessary sections that could have been left out. This just didn't have the impact on me that I think it was supposed to.

[David Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25*

When death is pursuing you on the high seas (think Charon in his boat) you don't stop and wait, you keep going, for years!

This was a fun novella. The atmosphere is creepy with the image of a lone boatman pursuing this yacht around the world. People come and go from the boat until a stable passenger roster is established. After picking up some refugees from Vietnam, a family group is established. They must decide when and if it's time to get off and face The Boatman

[The bookish life · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia se me hizo bastante interesante e intrigante de saber quién era esta persona o este ser que los seguía a la distancia .
Me gustó como se va desarrollando la historia así como el final .

The story was quite interesting and intriguing to me, wanting to know who this person or being was that followed them from a distance.
I liked how the story developed as well as the ending

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once you pick this up you will surely sail right through to the end. The end? This book always has you thinking about the end, your end? This novella wrestles with so big ideas about legacy, life, death, society and even the environment. The Boatman is a constant that can not be avoided, this book should not be avoided either.

[Josh Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool concept, however I was really hoping for the presence of the Boatman to be more looming and ominous. The majority of the characters fell a little flat for me, but overall I enjoyed the plot and I think for this type of story it was the perfect length.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading The Boatman was one hell of a ride. I finished it a few days ago and I haven't stopped thinking about it. Honestly, I think it is best to go into this story blind. So I will keep my review short.

It's a fast paced novella that packs a punch to the soul.

Thanks to the publisher, Bad Hand Books, for an advance copy.

[ThatBookMoth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What would you do to become immortal?
Live on a cruise ship.