Distress Signals

Catherine Ryan Howard pulls you down deep into the water from the moment your eyes hit the page, and keeps tugging until you're completely immersed in the fast paced thriller this debut author has created.

Distress Signals is the dark side of The Love Boat, a popular American 70's TV Show that took us aboard an unrealistic cruise ship via Hollywood's make believe number one tourist attraction.

The vessel Celebrate takes you into the 21st Century's cruise ship reality - to reveal a floating world of crimes that stretch from petty larceny to rape, missing people and murder.

Adam Dunne, a somewhat lazy wannabe screenwriter living in Cork, Ireland has finally, after years of getting nowhere, sold his script to a major Hollywood studio for six-figures. Too bad it comes at the expense of his girlfriend of eight years, Sarah O'Connell; who is fed up with his lack of attempt at a real job to contribute to paying the bills. Sarah’s trip on the Celebrate is her search of something new and an escape.

Meanwhile, what turns out to be a business trip gone sour for Adam, amounts to nothing more than a woman who doesn't want to be found [for the moment] by Garda Cusack, a Cork local Police Officer.

Adam's refusal to believe Sarah has run off, leads him down a dark and dirty path of inner turmoil as he recreates her excursion and follows her into an inescapable nightmare.

Shortlisted for the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year 2016; Distress Signals is filled with sharp prose and winding turns that takes you on a roller coaster ride from beginning to end.

Highly recommended.