NIGHT TIDES

Author: Alex Prentiss ISBN: 9780553592979 2/2010 PARANORMAL Publisher: BANTAM

One by one they go missing. And in the lake a voice cries out: “Save them. . . .” In the darkness, in a lake in the middle of a prosperous college town, Rachel Matre feels the water caressing her bare skin, teasing her senses, drawing her body into a lush erotic embrace. For twenty years she has communed with the lake spirits this way—and told no one. The price is simple: She must help those in need. But now a series of young women have gone missing. The police don’t have any bodies, or even a single suspect. Only the spirits seem to sense the truth. Through them, Rachel finds herself drawn into a madman’s web. She alone can save the missing women. But who can save her?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

If you have read any of my reviews, you may have guessed that I read a lot of (and quite enjoy) weird stuff. Although there are times I feel tapped out on the paranormal, I am the most likely reviewer to embrace the bizarre, different, and strange themes present in the genre. Anyway, where I am going with this is that NIGHT TIDES has shown me where I apparently draw the line!

Let me start out in saying that NIGHT TIDES is Prentiss' debut. Kudos for being published; and with certain scenes and imagery, I see the potential for many fans and followers down the road. Honestly. But, if you have not already guessed, I don't like the book. 

Here is the short version why: incomplete dialogue, water spirits that would be cool if they did more than have sex with the heroine, and a romance that, well, isn't in the least romantic, since the heroine acts like a shrew and already has water lovers. If that was not enough, the last few scenes did it for me. I won't spoil it for those I am only intriguing with this review, but I think my thoughts as I read it were something like, "Is she really doing THAT there? In the middle of... SURELY there could be a better way to end this!" Add that to my shocked disbelief that the heroine just kind of dumps her rescuer in a moment I feel should bring them closer together, and you have my complete dislike.

This is not the way I want to review a debut book, but there it is. Perhaps DARK WATERS, the follow up to NIGHT TIDES, will make me eat my words.

Shannon Johnson