The Rising Tide

By: Sam Lloyd

Narrated by: Charles Armstrong

Perfect for fans of Jane Harper, the beautifully written, evocative and pulse-pounding new novel from Sam Lloyd. A family pushed to its limits, set against the backdrop of the most unforgiving of landscapes.

The news doesn't strike cleanly, like a guillotine's blade. Nothing so merciful. This news is a slovenly traveller, dragging its feet, gradually revealing its horrors. And it announces itself first with violence—the urgent hammering of fists on the front door.

Life can change in a heartbeat.

Lucy has everything she could wish for: a beautiful home high on the clifftops above the Devonshire coast, her own thriving business, a devoted husband and two beloved children.

Then one morning, time stops. Their family yacht is recovered, abandoned far out at sea. Lucy's husband is nowhere to be found and as the seconds tick by, she begins to wonder—what if he was the one who took the boat? And if so, where is he now?

As a once-in-a-generation storm frustrates the rescue operation, Lucy pieces together what happened onboard. And then she makes a fresh discovery. One that plunges her into a nightmare more shocking than any she could ever have imagined . . .

©2022 Sam Lloyd (P)2022 Knopf Canada

Critic reviews

"[An] absorbing and deftly written tale. . . . Lloyd is a born storyteller. He has an eye for detail, drops tantalising breadcrumbs and makes your brain whirr with the prospect that almost anyone could have the means and motive to have carried out some yet-to-be-revealed dark deed. In that vein, The Rising Tide bears similar hallmarks to The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins and Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, in which you're never quite sure whether the prickly, self-contained and not-always-entirely-likeable main protagonist should be pitied or feared. . . . Woven throughout are passages where you simply want to pause and savour the imagery as Lloyd lays bare the terrifying raw power of nature. . . . Lloyd is able to turn on a sixpence and send the reader into a tailspin. Every page promises the literary equivalent of a fresh jab to the solar plexus when least expected." —The Herald (Scotland)

"Lloyd is terrific on atmosphere, channeling the hostile, volatile power of the sea both literally and metaphorically. . . . He's also very good at seeding doubt into the reader's understanding of events through the perspectives of secondary characters, and he excels at taking readers to very dark places. . . . Lloyd sustains the tension against the challenges of credibility through the sheer lyrical power of his writing. I read most this feeling sick and yet still found myself unable to stop." —Metro (UK)

"A darkly chilling and original novel. . . . A series of twists keeps readers captivated until a shocking climax." —Daily Express