I enjoyed it, but the artificial constraints of the murder-and-intrigue-on-a-boat felt a little... constraining. Various conflicts ran the risk of either turning deadly or else being prevented from feeling real because there were always safety measures: the baddies won't want to make a fuss in front of passenger witnesses. No one can get into the goodies' stateroom, so it's a kind of home-base in a shipwide game of tag. The stakes and drama didn't feel as real as in the first book.