Review ~ A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton

Random House UK, Transworld Publishers
2014

It would seem that Lacey Flint has a morbid fascination for water and for the River Thames in particular. Her current penchant for wild water swimming in the gloomy waters of the Thames leads her to a gruesome discovery which will take her into the very dark and twisted world of missing women. Attached as she is to the marine police division Lacey should really know to leave the investigative policing to her detective colleagues, but from necessity Lacey and her nemesis, Dana Tulloch, have to join forces in order to plunge, quite literally, into the murky depths that hide beneath the waters of the hidden creeks and wharfs of London’s ancient river.

As we have come to expect from a Sharon Bolton novel, the action is fast and furious. No stone is left unturned and no detail is left unexamined and as always, the deeper into the story you venture, the more questions are left unanswered. Lacey commands your attention, she is the quintessential enigma. She has so many layers it’s like peeling an onion to reach into her heart and soul, and truthfully, I’m not convinced that we will ever truly find out what make this complex young woman tick. Her heart, as always, remains hidden, but at least in this story, she is granted a very short respite, with a couple of tender moments, which make you hope that one day she’ll be able to find some sort of comfort.

Maintaining a long running crime series requires investment both from the author and the reader and a real emotional bond needs to develop between the characters. There is no doubt that Sharon Bolton has created in Lacey Flint one of crimes most unfathomable protagonists, whose multi layered character really does drive forward these novels to such a degree that as I turn the last page and read the last word, I am already longing for the story to be continued in the not too distant future.

My thanks to NetGalley for my review copy of A Dark and Twisted Tide.

Published by Random House UK, Transworld publishers in May 2014.

About the Author

http://www.sjbolton.com/