Collision

A raft with eleven Algerian refugees, running low on fuel.

A cruise ship, with a small town’s worth of international passengers and crew members.

A Spanish sea rescue craft.

One single point of convergence in a vast wash of blue water.

Miami-based The Spirit of Europe – the third largest cruise liner in the world – plows through the Mediterranean every summer, offering its passengers a temporary escape from their everyday lives. But even the bloated tackiness of the ship’s much-hyped belly flop competition is not immune to the chaos of the European migration crisis. When a disabled raft nears The Spirit of Europe, the ship’s first officer is forced to do something sacrilegious: cut the engines.

Collision is a maritime thriller by one of Germany’s most celebrated crime writers, building suspense through multiple POVs representing a diverse array of characters. Among them are: Karim Yacine, the human trafficker, who grapples with the severe repercussions of his situation as his disabled raft comes into the view of cruise liner; Lalita Masarangi, a deputy on the big ship’s security team, hurrying to find her missing boyfriend (a musician), even as her colleagues scramble to deal with the refugee crisis; Léon Moret, first officer of The Spirit of Europe, who makes the initial call to stop the ship’s engines; passenger Seamus Clarke, a Catholic from South Belfast, whose lived through the troubles, and is looking forward to a relaxing vacation even as sight of the raft brings certain memories rushing back; and elderly passenger Sybille Michowlski, who is about to discover a terrible secret about her younger sister Wiltrud on what might be their last cruise together; and finally, Diego Martínez, the Spanish Coast Guard volunteer, rushing to get to the stranded refugees.

Central to all of it is Nikhil “Nike” Mehta, the cruise ship’s ambitious head of security who, like an illusionist, makes the ship’s countless problems disappear. As Collision races toward its surprising conclusion, Nike’s particular solution for the Algerian refugees at sea might just be his greatest slight of hand yet.