The Black Orchid by Loreth Anne White-review tour

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 1, 2026

By invitation only, nine elite guests board the luxurious Black Orchid for its maiden voyage through the mythic Aegean Sea. Not all of them will survive.

Poppy Buchanan, personal assistant to legendary war photographer Lillith McGregor, sees the cruise as her chance at a better life—if she can edge her way into Lillith’s will. But their exclusive company includes Lillith’s disinherited stepson and his ruthlessly ambitious fiancée, a silent Israeli businessman with a dangerous past, a charming Dutch antiquities dealer with an agenda of his own, and a retired FBI profiler hunting a serial killer he believes is aboard. Each passenger is a piece in a deadly puzzle decades in the making.

Within three days, their paths will collide during a catastrophic storm. Long-buried secrets surface. Masks fall away. And the ensuing revelations trigger a chain of events that leads to one of the most devastating maritime disasters in recent history. But the sinking of the Black Orchid is no accident—it’s a reckoning.

••••••

REVIEW:THE BLACK ORCHID by Loreth Anne White is a contemporary, adult, true crime-inspired thriller, creatively formulated from real-life events and people, blending into an intricately woven tale of vengeance and death.

Told from several omniscient third person perspectives, using present day podcast interviews and events from the past, THE BLACK ORCHID focuses on the maiden voyage of the doomed Black Orchid, a superyacht whose trek would end at the bottom of the Aegean Sea, struggling to remain aloft on a volcanic ridge. Nine elite guests would board The Black Orchid, an invitation only, nine day cruise, that would end with the confirmed deaths of fifty-seven people, and many more left unaccounted for but all was not as it appears to be as the nine ‘elite guests’ all have a connection to the past, a past that is about to be revealed during a true crime podcast, and a reckoning.

The world building is detailed, edgy and intriguing as the narrators reveal and unravel the depths to which each is willing to hide the truth. From onboard betrayal, blackmail and connections to organized crime, the ill-fated passengers find themselves fighting to direct a narrative that is spiralling out of control.

There is a large ensemble cast of questionable and determined characters, all of whom play a role in the machinations and plot of doomed ship that drove into a storm, never to return.

THE BLACK ORCHID is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, greed and collusion, family and relationships, murder, loss and love. The character driven premise is dramatic, edgy and intriguing; the characters are desperate, conniving and ill-fated.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy