_ When I heard about the Costa Concordia smashing into a sandbar on the Island of Giglio, it reminded me of a thriller novel I’d just read called King Abdullah’s Tomb. I said, “Could this be happening for real?” When the ship started to lurch to the side and sink down I thought of the Lusitania in the novel. That ship listed off the coast of Ireland and sank beneath the waves in 18 minutes! The heroine swam to a lifeboat which came ashore in Queenstown, but it was close. She almost didn’t make it.