The House Between Tides

The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It was a perfect read on an extremely hot summer day. The setting on wild Scottish islands, with the wind, the water, the birds, and the weather was amazingly described. It all transported the reader right to pre-WWI Scotland.
I did start and stop the book a few times in the beginning chapters, but once I delved in, I was drawn in. The dual time-lines were handled quite well, and I found myself staying up too late to find out what happened next.
The mystery was interesting, and although I guessed some aspects, others were a surprise.
One problem I had with the book was the character of Hetty. I did like her, and sympathized with her circumstances, but whenever she interacted with her "boyfriend" and his associates, she just seemed to turn into a helpless doormat with no voice. She literally let them take over, and would not speak up. There were several times when I was saying in my head, "Just interrupt them and say 'NO!'"
The only other real criticism I had with the book was that in the last chapters all the actions were focused on Hetty in the present. We discovered what really happened in the past along with her. A lot of big things took place that I think would have had a bit more resonance with readers if we could have gone along with the characters as they lived the actions. At least sat along with them as they wrote the letters Hetty would read almost 100 years later. And not to give away any spoilers, but who grabs Beatrice's arm at the bonfire? I would have really liked to have known what happened after that. I'm sure it would have been quite the scene. It was as though everything in the past was resolved without too much mess or emotional pain to make it easier on Hetty, when the reader knows it would have been agonizing for Beatrice and the other characters. The closing chapters of the book were dedicated to Hetty and Beatrice kind of got brushed under the rug. It was a little disappointing to me, because more attention had been paid to Beatrice throughout the earlier portions of the book. While I was interested in what was happening for Hetty, I was just not as invested in her as I was Beatrice. Perhaps if Hetty's character and her interactions with the present-day inhabitants of the island had been fleshed out more deeply, and if we could have had one more chapter with the characters in the past, this novel would have really been amazing.
As it is, this in an interesting book with an intriguing mystery, as the present intertwines with the past. I did enjoy reading it, and the way the author describes the setting was great. The story was resolved in the last few chapters, but a couple of changes could have made the ending amazing instead of leaving the reader saying, "Oh, well...that's nice..."


View all my reviews