Category: Crime, Thriller, Mystery

Review of The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross

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Synopsis: GET UP. KISS YOUR FAMILY GOODBYE. GOT TO WORK. DIE…

They say bad luck comes in threes. But for Karen Friedman’s family, bad luck is just the beginning.

It starts with her husband Charlie’s investments going wrong and the sudden death of a family pet. Then one morning Charlie takes the train to work – straight into a lethal terrorist blast. For his widow Karen and their children, all that remains of Charlie is a shared past.

Or is it? When the Friedmans begin to receive terrifying threats Karen turns to Detective Ty Hauck for help. Hauck’s family fell apart too, after a tragic accident he still blames himself for. Now he’s determined to keep Karen’s safe. But Hauck doesn’t know about how people who investigate Charlie have a way of ending up dead…

Kat’s Rating: 4/5

Kat’s Review: I first read Andrew Gross who co-wrote with James Patterson and loved the book. I then read the Blue Zone which I thoroughly enjoyed and decided to pre-order The Dark Tide. I was not dissapointed.The book tells the story of Charles and Karen Friedman who live a wonderful life in a wealthy suburb with their two children. Charles runs a successful Hedge Fund and all is well until he is killed in a bombing in Grand Central Station. Karen then discovers that her husband may not really be dead. Along with Ty Hauck a cop with the violent crimes unit they follow the leads they get about Karens husband Charles and his supposed death. The story is excellent and keeps you reading until the very last chapter. I think Andrew Gross is a fantastic author who clearly writes his own novels just as well as Patterson. I look forward to his next book with just as much anticipation. Well worth the read

Hide by Lisa Gardner (DD Warren #2)

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My Rating: 5/5

 Lisa Gardner has written many books and has quite a following for a series that features FBI Profiler Pierce Quincy. This book is part of the DD Warren series of books however.

Detective Bobby Dodge is introduced to us again in this new thriller. When the discovery of six bodies is made in an abandoned hospital, he feels the fear creeping up on him. Is this the return of his worst nightmare and is it coming back to haunt him?

Annabelle Granger has been running for years. Never knowing why but just trailing along behind her family. Always changing name and identity, and nearly 30 years later she is still doing it and can’t quite work out why. When a body is discovered with wearing Annabelle’s locket and she is named as the dead girl in the paper she decides she will no longer hide in fear, but that it’s time to confront her past. Before long she realises that this may be what her family were running from and now they are after her.

With Bobby’s discovery of the bodies he realises that he can’t face this challenge alone and asks his old time lover and partner DD Warren from Boston PD to help him. They quickly realise that this could be a copycat murder or it could be something more sinister than that. Unfortunately for Bobby, his past isn’t leaving him alone and is more tied up in this case than he could imagine.

As usual Lisa Gardner has produced a fantastic book with edgy writing and a great character. The story keeps you interested enough to keep turning the pages and before you know it your nearly finished. She is fast becoming one of my top ten authors and I would recommend her books to anybody who likes reading the thriller/crime type of book. I also think that if she carries on producing books this good, the following for the Bobby Dodge series could well be as good as the following for the Quincy series.

Gone by Lisa Gardner (FBI Profiler #5)

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My Rating: 5/5

 Lisa Gardner has written many books and her first in the Quincy series is ‘The Perfect Husband’. There are also follow on books which I will detail below.

 For this book we again meet ex-FBI profiler Pierce Quincy. His worst nightmare is quite possibly coming true. There is a car abandoned, with the engine still running and no sign of the owner. The problem is the car belongs to his estranged wife Rainie Conner who was an ex-cop. When Quincy starts to receive ransom notes he decided to call in help in the form of his daughter Kimberly who is an FBI agent and her partner Mac to help him find Rainie. Quincy is well aware that he is racing against the clock as he tries desperately to find Rainie and the person responsible. There is one man who also knows what happened that night and he has his own plans. He has already contacted the media and is intent on money and power. Can Quincy and Kimberly stop him or is it too late?

I have read and followed the Quincy series of books that Lisa Gardner has read but this book can be read on its own as the characters and past are explained in summary to you. However, Lisa Gardner’s style of writing is great and she has a real knack for drawing you in and becoming really familiar with the characters and their flaws. This is what I love about the way she writes the series. I will be honest and say that my only worry is that other authors who have tried to do follow on series have sometimes gone off the boil. Lisa Gardner certainly hasn’t followed suit and I can only hope that she continues to write her books as well as she has done up until now.

This particular book was a fantastic read and had me hooked from chapter 1 and I highly recommend not only this book but the whole Quincy/Rainie series.