The Blood Tide

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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DEAD MAN'S GRAVE SPOILERS AHEAD
It's impossible to talk about this sequel to Dead Man's Grave without spoiling it. If you haven't read that yet, go do so instead of reading this post.

WHAT'S THE BLOOD TIDE ABOUT?
It's been a few months (if we're told specifically, I missed it) since Dead Man's Grave, but not too long. Tam Hardie's in prison for his crimes, his wife and kids are out of the country, and his syndicate is in trouble from without and within. The Policing Standards Reassurance Team, now established, is still trying to find Hardie's remaining contact(s) in the police. On the personal side, Max Craigie's wife has moved back in with him, and things are going well.

Basically, things are in a good place. This means it's time for things to happen—a fisherman goes missing on a routine fishing trip (well, a routine something anyway), not long after that, an intelligence officer with the National Crime Agency commits suicide—and the only witness's notes go missing, too. And then there's another (apparent) suicide. There's almost no reason for anyone to see a link between them—but once Max Craigie is shown the link, he's able to convince the rest of his team and soon will get more proof.

This is where things get really dicey—and the Team is immersed in a case involving drugs, murder, corrupt officials—and at least one criminal in their own midst.

CHARACTERS
In the previous book, we got a pretty good handle on DS Max Craigie and DC Janie Calder. In this book, we get to know their boss, DI Ross Fraser better as he's able to take a greater leadership role (since it's not an off-the-books investigation anymore) and as we see him deal with problems in his home life.

We also get introduced to a new member of their team, and get to know her fairly well. I liked the fact that we didn't come into this book with a greatly expanded team, and only added someone after this book's action had started—it helps the readers to connect with everyone, and it's also a nice touch of realism, if the team expands too quickly, it'd be more difficult to keep it to those who can be trusted.

POLICING THE POLICE
Max and his team operate far differently from the other fictional Scottish detective looking into Police Corruption that I'm familiar with—Malcolm Fox. There's no way that Fox in his role with Complaints and Conduct would pursue a case this way (although by the end of his time with them, that had started to change, and he might be more open to it).

The Policing Standards Reassurance Team is a band of mavericks, or at least operate as a collective maverick—going back to their inception. They seem more effective running that way—although I do wonder about realism (for those who care about such things—and it's more exciting to read about than a bunch of people being careful about paperwork.

So often reading what Max and Janie are going through, I wondered how they trust anyone in the Police service. It almost seems like luck when they have an operation go well without someone having leaked something to their target. Does that take a toll on people? I wonder if Lancaster will deal with that in the future.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE BLOOD TIDE?
It is really hard to talk about this in any kind of detail—the twists and reveals start early on and I fear I may have said a bit too much already.

I will say as someone who's been reading Lancaster from the beginning, that it's great to see his growth as an author—the writing, the characterization, the details in The Blood Tide is leagues beyond what his debut displayed. And I enjoyed his debut, and would've kept reading him if he kept producing books like it. It's just so much easier to do when they're as good as this one.

Along the same lines, there's growth to this series—as ought to be expected. Dead Man's Grave was about establishing this world, these characters, and their mission. Now we get to see them in action, we're ready to see them at work, in danger, and taking on bigger challenges.

Do I recommend The Blood Tide? You bet—a good author getting better at his craft, a handful of strong characters, and a plot that'll keep you guessing as it ratchets up the tension. Grab both of the DS Max Craigie thrillers and you'll be in for a good time. The third book is due this autumn, which is too far away for my tastes.

This was another excellent read for me by Neil.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, so was really looking forward to this one and it didn't disappoint!

I loved being reunited with Max and the team again. There was the addition of a new member to the team, Norma. I liked her and hope she makes an appearance in future books!

Once again the book was full of tension, and there was a clever twist at the end that I didn't see coming!

I would definitely recommend this.

Thank you to PH and Neil for the chance to read this book!