Dark Tide by Elizabeth Haynes

Published by Harper Paperbacks on March 12, 2013 

Having quit her jobs in software sales and pole dancing, Genevieve Shipley lives on a barge in a marina on the River Medway, a lifestyle that is more sedate than the one she left behind in London. She throws a party on her barge to show off the current stage of its renovation and wonders why her friend Caddy doesn't make it. Later that night, she finds Caddy's body in the water, bumping up against her boat. Genevieve calls her former lover, Dylan, who has been absent for months, leaving Genevieve in charge of a mysterious package that he promised to reclaim. The contents of the package and the reason for Caddy's death supply the twin mysteries that are meant to supply the novel's suspense.

While we're waiting for the main story to advance, Genevieve fills us in on her backstory, her relationships, and her part-time work in the lucrative field of exotic dance. Genevieve's background is constructed carefully and credibly. The buildup is, in fact, the best part of the novel.

Suspense, however, is in short supply. Genevieve is threatened from time to time, but never in a way that suggests her life is actually at risk. She interacts with characters who may be not be what they seem -- a helpful neighbor, a police officer she takes to bed -- but the story lacks the element of surprise.

Although Genevieve is blindingly naïve for a woman who is often described as smart, it's easy to feel sympathy for her predicament. (Some readers might have difficulty feeling sympathy for an exotic dancer; if you're one of those, this probably isn't the book for you.) While it's easy to sympathize with Genevieve, it's less easy to care about her. She spends most of the novel in a gloomy fog, doing nothing to make her situation better. When she's not mooning over Dylan she's mooning over the police officer who becomes bedroom Dylan's substitute. Instead of being proactive, Genevieve makes unanswered phone calls and waits for a man to come along and rescue her.

In the end, a sentence that begins "Eventually his hand between my thighs made me forget everything ..." tells you everything you need to know about Genevieve. She forgets her common sense. She forgets to question obvious lies. She forgets to be smart. She forgets to be resourceful. She spends most of the novel longing for a hand between her thighs. In that sense, Dark Tide tries to be a romance as much as a suspense novel, and doesn't fully succeed at being either one.

The resolution of the mysteries is anticlimactic. There isn't much of a mystery at all, which makes the story, after a strong start, disappointingly dull. Genevieve finally shows some initiative toward the novel's end in a reasonably tense action scene. Unfortunately, a romantic triangle, rather than suspense, remains the novel's focus. Perhaps the triangle is meant to be suspenseful -- will Genevieve end up with Dylan or the cop? -- but I just didn't care. In the end, although I liked the setup, the suspense fizzles out. Fans of chick lit might like it more than I did.

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