The Rising Tide
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In this "fiendishly clever novel," a woman's husband vanishes in a historic storm — and new troubles wash up in its wake (Sunday Times)
In a small fishing village on the Devon coast, Lucy Locke has built a life that anyone would envy. She and her husband, Daniel, own successful businesses and live with their two children in a picturesque home overlooking the harbor. But everything changes one morning when, following a monumental storm, the family yacht is found empty — and Lucy’s husband is nowhere in sight.
As the search for Daniel mounts, so does Lucy’s sense of dread, raised to a fever pitch when another, more terrifying revelation pushes her storybook life to the brink of total destruction. Lucy is reluctantly forced to face a harsh truth: the sea gives life, and just as quickly takes it away. And when the detective on the case uncovers suspicious details that Lucy had hoped would stay buried, she’ll have to confront the nightmarish possibility that she created her own undoing.
Beautifully rendered with evocative, atmospheric prose, The Rising Tide is at once a pulse-pounding, inescapably suspenseful thriller and a poignant tale of the power of the natural world. Its characters and settings are sure to stay with readers long after the final page—and after their heart rates finally return to normal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set on the Devon coast, this uneven thriller from British author Lloyd (The Memory Wood) starts more strongly than it finishes. Lucy Locke has managed to make her business, the Drift Net—a combination live-music venue, gallery space for local artists, and eatery—a mainstay in her community. She's also found a measure of domestic tranquility with her husband, Daniel; their 12-year-old son, Fin; and her 18-year-old daughter, Billie, from a prior marriage. Then Daniel's boat is found drifting at sea with no one on board. Lucy is unable to reach her spouse by phone, and her alarm increases when she stops by Fin's school, only to be told that Daniel had signed the boy out for a nonexistent dental appointment. The police and coast guard begin a massive search, leading to a grim discovery that shakes Lucy to her foundations and exposes a violent episode in her past that may connect with the current tragedy. There are multiple surprising twists en route to the truth about her family, but the ultimate reveal is a letdown and the climax is heavier on gore than suspense. Hopefully, Lloyd will return to form next time.