My Five Word TL:DR Review : I couldn’t put it down

I loved The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd and now I can add The Rising Tide to the ‘loved it’ list too.

As the book starts we meet Lucy Locke.  Married to Daniel and with two lovely children, Fin and Billie, they seem to have an idyllic life.  Lucy runs a successful local business called the Drift Net which is a great community venue as well as local meeting spot.  They live in an impressive house that sits on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea and their love is as strong now as it ever was.  Daniel’s business seems to have hit a blip but it’s nothing they can’t get through together – until Daniel heads off to work one morning and Lucy’s life is turned upside down.

Daniel has taken the family yacht out to sea, the local rescue service have received a mayday, the boat has been found but nobody is aboard and one of the biggest storms of the century is fast approaching.  The police become involved and things escalate rapidly when it appears both children are also missing.

I can’t really go any further into the plot as that would reveal spoilers and I really don’t want to go there.

So, what worked really well for me with this?

Firstly, the writing is excellent and Lloyd sets the scene magnificently.  You can feel Lucy’s ever growing terror as she scrambles around, desperately worried about her family while the tension builds much like the approaching clouds and swollen sea.

Secondly, this is a writer who knows how to keep his cards close to his chest, slowly revealing information that gives you pause for thought.  You start to entertain doubts, and yet Lucy seems so steadfast, she loves her husband and he loves her.  Is she hiding something?  Is she delusional?  I started to entertain notions that I knew what was going on, Lloyd is excellent at misdirection however, feeding you snippets of things that look a certain way until you start to doubt everything and everyone.

The setting also plays into the plot so well.  This is one of those small seaside villages that feels almost claustrophobic and it seems that there are secrets and resentments lying just below the surface waiting to be revealed.   On the face of it, Lucy and her family are loved and respected but scratch the surface and you find people who are not quite so enamoured.

In terms of the characters.  Lucy is very well done.  She’s far from perfect and as you gather more information about her you’ll start to regard her more cautiously, maybe even start to have a few ‘what the heck’ moments in regards to some of her behaviour.  Some of it just doesn’t make sense, and I say again, is she delusional??  Then there’s DI Abraham Rose.  He definitely makes his presence known, there’s something about him that just seems to draw attention.  It’s like a bear has just entered the room and you can’t drag your eyes away.  Rose is on a mission of sorts, like a knight on a quest, he’s determined to get to the bottom of this mystery and only his failing health can stop him.  Is this family as perfect as we are first given to believe?

I didn’t really have any criticisms.  I really enjoyed this one, I think maybe the culprit was a little thinly drawn but I think that’s a combination of not wanting to give away the story too early on and then being caught up in the thick of the drama in such a way that there wasn’t really an opportunity to provide too much without losing momentum.

As it is, I really liked this, it held me gripped, I couldn’t turn the pages quickly enough, it was an absolute roller coaster of ups and downs, it took me by surprise more than once and not always in a nice way, the writing is great, the tension and atmosphere stand out and I didn’t see the ending coming.  What more can I say?  I’ll be eagerly watching Sam Lloyd to see what he comes up with next.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4.5 of 5 stars.