A Dark and Rising Tide

By: Debra Castaneda

Narrated by: Jesse Ganteaume

When a massive storm surge hits the central coast of California, the ferocious surf destroys buildings, floods streets, and washes up something sinister from the depths of the Monterey Bay.

Peter, a retired state lifeguard, knows the water better than anyone. Carla, owner of a beach-side restaurant, is still mourning the loss of her son in a boating accident. While both love their quaint small town with spectacular views, their personal lives are as complicated as the changing weather forecasts.

After a mysterious creature in the water kills two men, Peter and Carla are plunged into a living nightmare as a massive tidal surge traps them and their friends in a battered, unstable building.

While the storm rages through the night, they discover something horrifying swims between them and escape, just waiting to attack anyone within reach.

They need to make life or death decisions to survive.

But first, they need to make it to morning.

Inspired by real events, A Dark and Rising Tide is part of Debra Castaneda’s Dark Earth Rising series of standalone novels. Listen to the books in any order.

©2023 Debra Castaneda (P)2024 Debra Castaneda

one of my new favorites

By far one of my new favorite books. the pacing was perfect and the ending blew my mind. I can't recommend this book enough.

Fun dark and creative

The creatures are very creative and interesting. The people seem like they could be real and hard not to want to survive. Not the creepiest or scariest but a great creature story.

Wow!! We're impressed!

What a unique storyline! Hubby and I listened to this together, and we both really enjoyed it. A "disaster" theme with creepy sea creatures trapping you in your home - what more could you want? We appreciated that we could feel the suspense and emotions, picture the horror and could grasp what was happening like we were watching a suspenseful thriller.

We also liked that the characters were such unique individuals. Each had a story of their own, and it was nice to read just enough personal details about each one without losing track of what the story is about. It was the same throughout the book - enough well-worded details regarding the beach location, the close-knit community, the catastrophic storm, and the horrific creatures so that it felt like you were there; however, not so many details that you grew bored and wanted to skip ahead to get to the good parts! (In other words, no rambling like I currently am.)

I'll just end with being glad that we stumbled across this great book. It was hard to stop listening, and we plan to check out the other books by this great author!!

Great grief and found family horror tale

I loved how this story explored grief and found family. I just wanted more creature time!!

Chilling

When a massive storm hits, a group of locals decides not to evacuate and buckle down to wait it out. What they don’t know is that there’s something in the water. A horror that’s come in with the storm unlike anything they’ve ever experienced.

My favorite horror stories are those that don’t just instill fear but that also have strongly written characters. The cast of survivors were well-fleshed out and not only brought the horrors to life but explored the themes of grief, loss, friendship, and survival.

This book is an experience, and though this was my first piece by this author, it’s not going to be my last.

Full of dread

There are few things more upsetting than being trapped during a storm, and Debra Castaneda tapped into those feelings perfectly. Add in some unexplained and spooky deaths just before the storm rolls in, and you've got a recipe for some serious dread.

A Dark and Rising Tide

When a massive storm hits the California coast along Monterey Bay, a group of locals decide to listen to their mayor's prediction that the storm won't be that bad. Unfortunately, he has believed the wrong weather forecast and by the time they realize this, it's too late to evacuate.

As if the storm wasn't bad enough, it appears that there is some type of creature in the waters that is killing people. The horrors become all too real when walls are breached and these creatures come inside the buildings where the group is trying to survive.

The author has created a wonderful cast of characters and depicts their grief, love and instinct to survive in a great way. You have a retired lifeguard/hero, a spunky grieving mother, a new widow, a female sea captain (how cool!), a whiny young woman and a couple of young men that want to live to see another day. The writing builds up the tension and you can almost feel the terrors of trying to get through huge tidal surges while fighting off the unknown. The element of the unknown about the creatures added a lot to the horror and the author has left it open-ended enough for the reader to make their own decisions.

The narrator does a great job and his performance really added a lot to the book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone is looking for their next stay-up-all night read!

A Very Cinematic Tale

I loved this book so much. The narration was wonderful and the story itself was very visual and engaging. It had a strong cinematic feel to it.

Great Characters/Story, Poor Audio

A well-develop cast of characters. Suspenseful plot with tension that built in a delicious way.
The narrator sounded like he was speaking inside a closet or bucket. His reading was good, the sound quality was just rough and unprofessional.
i'd suggest saving your Audible credit and reading this one on Kindle if possible.

"Riveted to the voice of Jesse Ganteaume"

Reading has become more difficult to focus on as my age has increased. The narrator of this book caught my attention & held it to the end. It was like listening to a movie I couldn't see, yet was able to visualize.
I enjoyed hearing this book.