6 February 2013

Review: REVENGE OF THE TIDE, Elizabeth Haynes

  • Published Text Publishing Melbourne 2012
  • ISBN 978-1-921922-55-8
  • 344 pages
  • source: my local library
Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Following her bestselling debut Into the Darkest Corner - Amazon's Best Book of 2011 and winner of Rising Stars - Elizabeth Haynes' second novel is a taught and gripping murder mystery introducing a compelling new heroine, Genevieve - office worker by day and pole dancer by night - who finds herself implicated on a mob underworld of murder, corruption and betrayal.

Genevieve has finally escaped the stressful demands of her sales job and achieved her dream: to leave London behind and start a new life aboard a houseboat in Kent. But on the night of her boat-warming party the dream is shattered when a body washes up beside the boat, and she recognises the victim.

As the sanctuary of the boatyard is threatened, and her life is increasingly at risk, the story of how Genevieve came to be so out of her depth unfolds, and she learns the real cost of mixing business with pleasure.

My Take

It is rare for me to dislike a character as much as I did Genevieve, the central character of REVENGE OF THE TIDE. At first I was on Genevieve's side, sympathetic to her desire to escape the London rat race by buying a river barge in Kent. Where we came unstuck was when Genevieve revealed that, in her second job as a pole dancer in an exclusive men's club, she would do almost anything to raise money to buy a houseboat.The club where she is working has gangland and drug connections but Genevieve is really gullible when she thinks that she can escape.

She leaves a trail which brings criminals into the boatyard community where her boat is moored. This also diminished my empathy with her.

I tried to put those plot elements aside and I admired the way the author has skilfully woven two plot time lines together. 

So, for those who like to know if I enjoyed a book - well, no, I didn't enjoy this one although I did read it to the very end just to get the complete story.

My rating: 4.0

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kerrie - It is hard isn't it to really get into a story if the main character isn't likeable. I was curious about this one but I think I'll catch up on my TBR a bit before I venture in...

RebeccaK said...

I just read this one too because I've seen such glowing reviews of her first book, and I didn't care for the main character either.

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