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A review by readsewknit
The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves
4.0
Ann Cleeves is an accomplished mystery writer, and in The Rising Tide, we get another installment from her detective Vera Stanhope.
A sign of clever plot and character development is that the characters in question are the focus for the first ten percent or so of the novel; only after the death occurs does Vera Stanhope and her team appear. It's a diverse cast of school chums who meet up regularly, seemingly remaining friends although their lives are so disparate and they've gone separate paths, some finding fame and wealth, others living their simple, ordinary lives. Stanhope and her team delve into their pasts, learning the complex relationships and the pivotal moments that bonded them together, questioning whether a previous death decades earlier at the same site has any significance to the current day murder.
Cleeves is adept at striking a balance, ensuring all characters have nuance and flaws. No one is spared, and that allows characters to feel believable and genuine.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)
A sign of clever plot and character development is that the characters in question are the focus for the first ten percent or so of the novel; only after the death occurs does Vera Stanhope and her team appear. It's a diverse cast of school chums who meet up regularly, seemingly remaining friends although their lives are so disparate and they've gone separate paths, some finding fame and wealth, others living their simple, ordinary lives. Stanhope and her team delve into their pasts, learning the complex relationships and the pivotal moments that bonded them together, questioning whether a previous death decades earlier at the same site has any significance to the current day murder.
Cleeves is adept at striking a balance, ensuring all characters have nuance and flaws. No one is spared, and that allows characters to feel believable and genuine.
(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)