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Elizabeth Haynes’ second novel is a taut and gripping murder mystery introducing a compelling new heroine, Genevieve – office worker by day and pole dancer by night – who finds herself implicated in a mob underworld of murder, corruption and betrayal.
Genevieve has finally escaped the stressful demands of her sales job and achieved her dream: to leave London behind and start a new life aboard a houseboat in Kent. But on the night of her boat-warming party the dream is shattered when a body washes up beside the boat, and Genevieve recognises the victim.
As the sanctuary of the boatyard is threatened, and Genevieve’s life seems increasingly at risk, the story of how she came to be so out of her depth is unfolded, and Genevieve finds out the real cost of mixing business with pleasure...
is a police intelligence analyst. She started writing fiction in 2006 thanks to the annual challenge of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and the encouragement of the creative writing courses at West Dean College. She lives in a village near Maidstone, Kent, with her husband and son. Her first novel, Into the Darkest Corner, was the winner of Amazon's Rising Stars and has been translated into thirty languages. The novel is being adapted for film by BAFTA winning director Tinge Krishnan with Revolution Films. A third novel, Human Remains, will be released in early 2013.
Elizabeth Haynes’ first novel, Into the Darkest Corner, a powerful psychological drama and portrayal of obsession, was an internet sensation last year and this, her second, is just as impressive and in much the same mould.
Haynes, does a great job in ratcheting up the suspense…and there are many lip-biting moments.
Fear about the loss of control is at the heart of readers' obsession with crime: loss of life acts as a conduit for fears about livelihoods, relationships and bodies. That she lends Genevieve power over fear, her body and the men for whom she dances has enabled Haynes to create a character with more complexity than is usual in genre thrillers. Genevieve's fearlessness is matched only by naivety – she goes from selling financial products to selling her body with the blithe rapaciousness of a Big Brother blonde at Chinawhite. As she narrates increasingly dangerous scenarios, it feels like watching someone slip into addiction.
Since Haynes is a police intelligence analyst she might have been expected to produce a conventional procedural. Instead, she plays with the form and, in doing so, subverts it.
Haynes’s first book was Amazon’s Book of the Year last year so it was always going to be a tough act to follow. Revenge...clearly shows her initial success was no accident.
Haynes has created a captivating heroine in Genevieve. For all her post-sexual-revolution behaviour, she comes over as a good old-fashioned tomboy. She is practical and pragmatic, with enviable physical skills, touchingly naive, and enhanced by an uncomplicated tender heart beating beneath her tough guy image.
As Haynes herself is a police intelligence analyst she is well placed to add authenticity to her skills of storytelling. Unputdownable, this thriller with a heart of gold reads like a breath of fresh air.
It's hard to put the uniqueness of Elizabeth Haynes' writing into words. Her stories grip you by the throat and force you to acknowledge that this is what real crime and real horror look and feel like, as well as real love, hope, fear. Suddenly, much of the other crime fiction you've read seems, in comparison, rather like stories made up by writers. Haynes is the most exciting thing to happen to crime fiction in a long time.
This racy jeopardy thriller, making good use of several interesting settings, proves that Haynes' much-praised first novel was no fluke.
Do you know that feeling of dread when you pick up the second book of an author whose first book pulled you in and wouldn't let you go? You're longing for it to be of the same standard with hours of indulgent, satisfying reading ahead of you, but you're equally conscious that it might be 'the difficult second book' which tells you quite clearly that this isn't going to be an author to follow. I loved Elizabeth Haynes' first book: it was our crime book of the year in 2011 and quite a few other reviewers endorsed our conclusions. This book sat on my desk for days and then I thought that it wouldn't harm just to have a look, just to get an idea of what it was like...
I finished it in the small hours of the following morning. It's not long before you discover that this is the difficult-to-put-down second book. And if you haven't read Into The Darkest Corner then you really should.
Revenge of the Tide simply has everything you could possibly want from a thriller: an intelligent and feisty heroine, a mysterious packet, complicated relationships and a great cast of characters who are not always as guilty or as above suspicion as they might at first appear. Plus, Haynes’s enviable talent for dialogue and descriptions is like the icing on an already delicious cake! Do you want to add tension and intrigue to your everyday life? Read this novel. Now.
This, the second novel by Elizabeth Haynes, is as excellent as her first one....It is full of suspense and intrigue and keeps the reader hanging on its every word, as well as being very well written...Very highly recommended
I really enjoyed Into the Darkest Corner and was looking forward to this second book. It is every bit as engaging. The style is easy to read with flashbacks leading into the present. The plot is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent read. Plenty for reading groups to discuss.
What does compel our attention is the portrait of an alternative community afloat on barges, as well as the unfolding drama of Genevieve's recent past on the edge of a criminal world. There's much more to pole-dancing than meets the eye. Really.
Packed with unexpected twists and turns the plot moves seamlessly from the past to the present to reveal how Genevieve got sucked in to a murky underworld of dodgy deals and violence. As Revenge of the Tide surges towards its thrilling conclusion it will give your brain a workout that's as thorough as one of Viva’s pole dancing routines!
A thoroughly gripping read...This is another great book from a promising author who is fast becoming one of my favourites.
Haynes plants tantalising snippets of what's to come, keeping the reader gripped to the book...Revenge of the Tide delivers everything I crave from a murder mystery; suspense, emotion, an element of humour, surprise, and, just when I thought I had the answers, Haynes adds another twist.
Dangerous stuff, mixing business with pleasure. Verdict: a thriller star on the rise.
Her first book was a runaway success so Haynes' second had a lot to live up to. I'm happy to say that from the first page I was engrossed in this gripping murder mystery; so much so that I finished it in just three sittings!
Haynes is skilled at moving seamlessly from the present into the past, building up curiosity and suspense at just what Genevieve became involved in. And, unlike many other thrillers, there's no obvious answer....
It seems Elizabeth has truly found her calling as a writer and I look forward to her third novel.
Into the Darkest Corner was my personal favourite book of 2011, an absolutely cracking read that I have happily recommended to many fellow readers and will continue to do so. Therefore, to say that I was excited in my anticipation of the author's next book would be an understatement. I was also a bit nervous; how would the author follow on from her debut, would I enjoy it, would I find it compelling too? The answer to both is a definite yes.
I found the storyline gripping and I finished the book in a couple of sittings...I really enjoyed Revenge of the Tide. Roll on novel number three, please!
RRP £7.99 pbk
368 pages • 129 x 198mm
ISBN: 978-0-9567926-4-8
E-ISBN: 978-1-908434-06-7
Published 15 March 2012
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Visit Elizabeth Haynes' website
Read Elizabeth's piece on how her day job impacts her fiction writing on the It's a Crime site.
'This house holds a secret: inside lives the hottest new crime writer of 2011...' Read Elizabeth's full interview in the Independent on Sunday
