Why I set my medical thriller on a cruise ship
Think space and time
A cruise ship seems like an odd setting for a medical thriller. When we imagine a cruise, we generally think of buffets and shuffleboard, not outbreaks and moral collapse. So why did I choose a cruise ship for the setting of The Regression Strain?
Containment
A cruise ship is the ultimate closed system. Thousands of people share precious space, days from the nearest hospital, with no option to transfer a crashing patient to the ICU. Medical emergencies that are manageable on land become more complex at sea.
In the novel, a mysterious affliction strikes the passengers, crew, and even some officers. The closed environment is the perfect incubator for absolute chaos. Passengers can’t escape each other. Even worse, they can’t escape themselves.
Ticking time bomb
There's also a clock. The ship is always moving, churning across the Atlantic from Copenhagen to New York. Every day that passes is a day closer to port, for better or for worse. If Dr. Peter Palma doesn’t figure things out, the Bad Guy and other elements will walk off the gangway and into the city, bringing mayhem. From there, all bets are off. That ticking clock transforms the closed system into a trap.
My cruise experience
I also have a personal connection to the setting because I live near Galveston, one of the busiest cruise ports in the US. My family has been on a few cruises, and fortunately, none have been quite as “interesting” as what Peter experiences in The Regression Strain.
For research on medicine at sea, I turned to YouTube, blogs, and forums. I also took a brief, unofficial tour of the medical clinic on a cruise when working on a late draft. The younger me may have considered working as a doctor on a cruise, but now? No thanks. Not after I’ve envisioned what could happen.
A cruise should make us forget the worries of the real world. That makes it perfect for a story about what happens when the real world — in its ugliest form — intrudes anyway.
—Kevin
For all of the complications of being on a cruise ship (leading to a compelling plot!), if I had to do “on location” research in advance of writing a medical thriller, I’d eagerly choose “The Regression Strain” over “The Hot Zone” everyday and twice on Sundays.