Review: The Rising Tide

The Rising Tide by Sam Lloyd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
Oh my word, I loved this book! So many things about it were amazing: the descriptions, the characters, the story.... So good!
This book is about Lucy, a mother with the seemingly perfect life. She's got two kids, a thriving business, a wonderful husband, and an amazing home overlooking the ocean. Despite some rough times in her past and some financial issues that her family is facing, she appears to be one of those people whom fate has smiled upon. But all that is upended one afternoon when she gets the news that her husband, unbeknownst to her, has taken their boat out into what is shaping up to be the storm of the century. Why did he go out into the water, knowing what was coming? Why did he not tell anyone? Where is he? And where are Lucy's children? When the police get involved, led by dogged Detective Abraham Rose, Lucy is terrified to realize something truly evil may be at work, and her family may never be the same.
This book grabbed me from the very beginning and never let go. The cataclysmic storm that begins to build in the first pages and then erupts as the story careens along in tension and fury echoed Lucy's fear and determination. The way the author describes the storm--the clouds, the waves, the rain, the wind--is perfection. Oftentimes an author will spend (or waste) so much time and so many words describing a scene in excruciating detail that those details overshadow the action, and then the reader gets bored...but not in this case. Over and over again, in just a few words the author shows the reader exactly what the natural world looks, sounds, and feels like to an extent that with just a line or two of description and imagery the reader can see, smell, or feel exactly what is happening. It was spot on every time. Not only could was the reader almost physically transported into the action in the book, but the action never slowed down or let up. I truly commend the author for this!! It is not easy and the author does it through the whole book.
I could recommend this book for nothing other than the imagery and descriptions, but the characters were extremely dynamic as well. Lucy was fabulous as a terrified mother who knew she had to fight for her family and never backed down, even when pushed past the breaking point. In addition, Abraham was amazing character, and I was rooting for him just as much as I was rooting for Lucy. Abraham is variously described as a crusader knight, God's blunt-edged tool, God's servant, and he serves a similar purpose in the story, like an avenging angel or heavenly messenger sent to move along God's plan. He is equal parts endearing, stoic, tragic, fierce, and poignant (Fin's Bogwort story was perfect). Between the character of Abraham, the apocalyptic and almost Biblical descriptions of nature's fury, and the mentions of destructive katharsis, this book has a strong theme of the huge power of SOMETHING ELSE at work in nature--in the world--whatever that power might be. And that undercurrent really adds to the sweeping tension, fury, and urgency of the book.
Was this book perfect? No. I might be rounding up a bit. But it was the best book I have read in months. I did not want to put it down. I was never quite sure who to root for. I never once knew what what going to happen next. And I was completely sucked in to the harrowing destructive power of the storm at the beginning of the book and then later on the destructive power of human evil as well as the redemptive power of love and compassion. I gasped at parts, I got teary at parts, I looked away in agony at parts, I loved this book! If you like mystery, action-filled suspense and thrillers that leave you breathless, I HIGHLY recommend it!

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