I was intrigued the premise of this one and there was a lot of action from the start, but with so many unlikable characters, I found it difficult to engage with any of them.

The Rising Tide is a gritty and tense thriller which will leave you guessing until the last pages. It's a mothers worst nightmare that goes from bad to worse as first Lucy's husband is missing, but it quickly spirals into both of her children missing and her husband the only suspect. With one of the worst storms of recent times on the horizon, time is fast running out for Lucy to find her husband and her children. The clock started ticking from the moment they would have hit the water. Between the cold and the storm, chances of survival get slimmer by the minute and it's been hours.

This is one of those novels that caught me with the rising horror of events. I had to know how it would turn out. And with each reveal, each new catastrophe, the tension ramped up and my heart was almost constantly in my throat. The cast of characters are dynamic and well-rounded, all with their own flaws and foibles. Several have reason to have taken a dislike to Lucy, including her own husband. Several of the side characters are just as interesting to read about as Lucy, her husband and the unfolding drama. There are secrets and skeletons in closets, nothing as black and white as it initially seemed. I particularly liked the characterisation of Abraham, the detective in charge of the case.

All in all, this was a very well written thriller that truly captured the horror and the tension of the unfolding catastrophises. There are twists and turns throughout and nothing is exactly as you would think. It certainly gripped me from beginning to end.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.

Why did I wait so long to read this.
Great storyline, not at all what I was expecting and had me guessing right to the end.
Great strong characters, would recommend

I was really intrigued by this thriller and the premise was interesting. The story was action packed and very fast paced with some brilliant twists and reveals.

However, I could not engage with any of the main characters and did not find them likeable or sympathetic. The end became very gory.

This book was heartbreaking and a solid thriller for those who enjoy their books a little more gory.

Lucy Locke (or as my mind kept filling in: Lucy Locket) is living the dream with a beautiful coastal home, loving husband Daniel, & two children, Bille & Fin. This morning however, her husband seems oddly preoccupied & even cold towards her, but one by one he & the children leave for school, college, & work until Lucy is left alone. Later on, one of her employees at local cafe/bar the Drift Net, braves the building weather storm to let Lucy know that Lucy & Daniel's boat, the Lazy Susan, has been found adrift out at sea with no-one on board after Daniel had radioed in an emergency message. It seems as if Daniel accidentally went overboard, but when evidence points to the fact that Billie & Fin were also onboard, everyone begins to wonder if something unthinkable has taken place. DI Abraham Rose is called out & agrees that the boat scene seem suspicious. Then a miracle happens & Daniel is recovered from the sea but still no sign of the children. After warming up from a near coma Daniel's first words to DI Rose are "Tell that bitch she deserves everything she gets".

Oh this was a good one! The author skilfully lets the reader become invested in Lucy before turning the narrative 180 so we then start to doubt her. Is Lucy hiding something? Does she know more than she is saying? It's very well done & although I worked out some of what was happening, I didn't work it all out. So why not the full five stars? It was a bit slow at times especially towards the middle, but the ending was great. If you enjoyed their previous book The Memory Wood you'll love this one. Verdict: excellent plot, well-crafted narrative with twists & red herrings, but a little slow in the middle. 4.5 stars (rounded down)

Great storyline, not what I was expecting at all. Had me guessing right until the end.
Loved that it was based in my home county so I recognised a lot of the places mentioned.
Great strong characters, would recommend

Wow what a fantastic book with twists and turns all over the place such a good book I would definitely recommend it

This was quite a fast paced thriller with an intriguing storyline and premise. I enjoyed the previous book from this author and this one was also very good

Unfortunately I really struggled to connect with this book and after multiple attempts have had to mark as dnf.

I had high hopes for this as I loved Sam Lloyds previous book “the memory wood” It was a bit like marmite I’m not sure if I like it or not. It really started quite strong and then petered out and drip fed the suspense too slowly at times that I skipped some repetitive pages and then whamo ! adrenaline fuelled pages that you just couldn’t stop devouring. A bit of a discombobulation for me but you might like it ?

*Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.*

Wow, this book was great! Not quite five stars, it was very farfetched at times (complete with suitably evil villain monologuing) but a very solid plot line. There was genuine feeling in there too, and the author is not afraid to kill of characters you think would otherwise be "safe".

I ripped through it in a day! Excellent.

Fast-Paced, tense thriller – brilliant!

The family yacht is found abandoned far out at sea. Lucy’s Husband, Daniel, is nowhere to be found, and then she finds out he took their son, Fin, out of school for a dental appointment, but they are both missing, together with her teenage daughter, Billie. As a perilous storm starts to rage out at sea, the time is ticking to find them. Why would he lie to take Fin out of school and why has the yacht been left out at sea?

The book is full of atmosphere of the perils of the sea. It was a fast-paced, on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller, which was dark and traumatic. You really couldn’t ask for better writing of a thriller. Characters are well written and well developed and the story flowed well.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

I loved the authors previous book but this one was a bit underwhelming for me. I'm not sure what it was but I just couldn't get into it and it all felt a bit daft at times. However I seem to be very much in the minority in this opinion

The Rising Tide is a hauntingly chilling thriller that will keep you gripped to the bitter end.

Lucy Locke discovers that their family yacht has been discovered off the coast amidst the beginning of a turbulent storm.

She can’t get hold of her husband, so when she’s told there was a mayday from him on board, she doesn’t know what to do.

Only when she receives a partial voicemail from Daniel - with their son’s voice in the background and the later discovery her daughter is missing too - she panics that something untoward has happened to them all.

When Daniel is finally found her heart breaks on two when her children are not recovered with him. What happened during that storm to make Daniel take the boat out?

At first I thought the prose was a little disjointed, but as the story progressed it added to the angst that Lucy was feeling.

The description of the storm during the attempted rescue with Jake was truly horrifying; the sea truly is a powerful beast to be feared.

A remarkable story with some unusual heroes and one that had me on the brink of tears

I really enjoyed this book, got into it pretty quickly and kept you hooked through out. Lots of twists and turn all the way though, fast paced and the descriptions of the sea was terrifying.
A good read.

This book is from an author that I'm unfamiliar with. It was ok to read hut didn't quite hit the mark with me.

I read The Memory Wood earlier this year and absolutely loved it. It had me gripped from start to finish so as soon as I saw another novel by Sam Lloyd there was no question as to whether I was going to read it.

The start of this novel was brilliant and for the first 3/4 I couldn’t read fast enough, I was devouring every page. Coming from a fishing town I loved the descriptions of the sea and how it was almost a character in itself. You could feel the swell of the waves and the danger that they brought.

The whole way through I was questioning the reality of what I was reading, knowing that things couldn’t be as they seemed. I was convinced I knew which character was going to be responsible for what had happened, it couldn’t possibly be what it appeared to be on the surface.

I was wrong.

Then we hit the 80% mark. I have a theory that 80% is where the bombshells hit, the twists happen, the pace of the story increases. And that’s where this story fell apart. There was a twist. I found it a complete let down. Things didn’t ramp up and I didn’t enjoy the end of the novel. I read this with my reading buddy and after “the big twist” she put it down in disgust. Over 80% through and it ended as a DNF for her. Now, it didn’t annoy me that much but I did think it let down what had been shaping up to be a 5 star book.

This story really resonated with me - a storm, a missing husband and an abandoned' yacht with nothigng quite as it seems. Lots of twists and turns to ratchet up the tension. Kept me awake until the small hours to finish it.... Much better than their previous book, Memory Wood....

Lucy has a happy life, husband Daniel, 2 kids, and her own business. All that changes when Daniel and the kids go missing on a boat when a terrible storm is brewing. Some fantastic descriptions of the sea and its ways and the reader could almost have been there as it was so vivid. As for the characters, well can’t say I liked any of them very much, especially Lucy and the ailing policeman Abraham. Some parts of the book didn’t add much to the story so I either skimmed or missed them out completely. Read it, if only for the stormy parts!

Loved this. Engrossing and fast, page Turner and I couldn't put it down!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion