A Dark And Twisted Tide was released in 2014; Sharon Bolton has released three titles since this one. It is Sharon Bolton’s seventh book over all and the fourth installment of the Lacey Flint series. I’ve read and reviewed all of the Flint series and most of Bolton’s other stand-alone novels. Because it’s been four years since I read the last Flint novel it was hard to remember the time line of how much time has passed over the course of the series as well as where the characters were plot wise. This was a very suspenseful read that will keep the reader guessing right up until it’s final twist regarding the identity of the murderer.
Having given up a promising career in CID, Lacey Flint has returned to uniform with a transfer to the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Unit. She spends her days patrolling the River Thames and returns to the houseboat she now calls home that she keeps moored in one of the smaller tributaries of the river she guards during the day. For exercise she swims the river despite the contaminated water that will kill her if it’s ingested. But the swimming is therapeutic for Lacey, so despite the risks she continues to swim daily until a serial killer forces her to stop her daily swim excursions.
On one of her morning swims, Lacey discovers the shrouded body of a young women of indeterminate Middle Eastern origin in the Thames. Likely an undocumented immigrant, the police have little to go on, no leads, no clues, no persons of interest or witnesses while the woman remains unidentified. Lacey’s interest is piqued though and a search of police files yields two more likely victims. These new victims lead the police to search the stretch of river where the three corpses were dumped in an effort to turn up more bodies; however, the search proves fruitless.
After mysterious trinkets and live crabs are left as “presents” on Lacey’s houseboat, she finally realizes that someone is stalking her. Is it connected to the serial murderer stalking the Thames and preying on vulnerable women? Or is this a separate issue entirely unconnected to the murders? By now you should know there are no coincidences, that you should trust no one, and be suspicious of everyone in Bolton’s thrillers.
Meanwhile, weeks ago her quasi-boyfriend DI Mark Joesbury disappeared deep undercover and has been incommunicable for an unusually long spell. And now suspicious circumstances cast aspersions on his integrity as a police officer and threaten both his career and his life on this undercover assignment. However, this particular assignment will have tragic consequences for the city if not the country if Joesbury fails in his mission of sussing out a terror group’s next target. Has Joesbury turned to the dark side after one too undercover assignments? Admittedly this is a very minor subplot that largely serves to keep Joesbury off stage while Lacey and Dana take more central roles in this installment.
The story switches between the present in which the story alternates between Lacey and Dana’s perspectives and the past in which we see the story from the perspectives of a growing list of terrified, undocumented immigrant women who fall prey first to human traffickers and then to the killer who stalks the river. This particular element is at first confusing to follow while keeping all the different shifting timelines straight (both timelines move forward in time as the story progresses) as well as keeping track of all the characters. Then it becomes annoying as the book goes on. However, this is a page turning, suspenseful, terrifying read that will keep you guessing about the killer’s identity right up to the final pages even as you think you’ve finally sussed out their identity (if you think you have, you’re wrong).
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