Dark Tide [Unknown Binding]

I first read Andrew Gross who co-wrote with James Patterson and loved the book. I then read the Blue Zone which I thoroughly enjoyed and decided to pre-order The Dark Tide. I was not dissapointed.The book tells the story of Charles and Karen Friedman who live a wonderful life in a wealthy suburb with their two children. Charles runs a successful Hedge Fund and all is well until he is killed in a bombing in Grand Central Station. Karen then discovers that her husband may not really be dead. Along with Ty Hauck a cop with the violent crimes unit they follow the leads they get about Karens husband Charles and his supposed death. The story is excellent and keeps you reading until the very last chapter. I think Andrew Gross is a fantastic author who clearly writes his own novels just as well as Patterson. I look forward to his next book with just as much anticipation. Well worth the read.

For Charlie and Karen Friedman, one morning starts off like every other morning except for the threat Charlie received, a threat he kept secret from his family. One moment changes everything. When Charles takes his car into the shop, he breaks his normal routine and takes the train into his work. An explosion rips through the train station just as the Metro-North train pulls into Grand Central Station. In the flash of a moment, a nice domestic scene becomes a nightmare for Karen. Not only does she have to have to deal with the uncertainty of her husband's fate and comfort her children somehow, questions about her husband's financial dealings intrude upon her grief, adding questions about the man the man she loves and what secrets he has kept from her. Karen never involved herself with her husband's work and financial dealings before, but now she has no choice as others now pry into his past.

The day of the explosion, a hit and run accident interrupts the tranquil life of Ty Hauck, once head of the Violent Crimes Unit on the Greenwich police force. Having worked the information office when the Trade Towers were hit, Hauck knows all too well what to do and he begins collecting names of those now missing. A call comes in and suddenly he must investigate a possible murder. Hauck's examination of the body turns up a couple of possible clues, including a Post-It note with the name Charles Friedman in the dead man's trousers. Hauck's investigation leads him to Karen. With his past experience of 9/11, Hauck understands Karen's dilemmas with a sense of empathy that helps her give expression to her grief. When a year later, Karen uncovers a shocking clue about the events of Charlie's last day, she turns to Hauck for help. Together and separately, Karen and Hauck follow this new clue all the way to its end with investigations into all the hidden details of her husband's financial world and into the lives of families affected by his past dealings.

A fast-paced thriller, THE DARK TIDE pulls together seemingly unrelated events into a complex suspenseful tale of international fraud. Andrew Gross weaves together disparate threads in just the right measure as he looks into the families and lives of all affected by shadowy figures and seemingly isolated events. One decision here and another there by men often with a noble ideal or purpose turns deadly when a decision threatens to unravel a financial scheme. Relentless in his pursuit of justice, Hauck follows the trail into every nook with a persistence and intuition others cannot match. Only a man as determined as Hauck, only an officer willing to bend and break some of the rules and procedures himself in the pursuit of true justice can track down the ruthlessness of the villains who know no limit to what they will do. Hauck's resolve motivates him to pursue all the intricate connections to their shocking end.

Andrew Gross's brilliant characterization gives THE DARK TIDE an emotional depth beyond a thriller with clever plot twists and turns as the mystery unfolds. Hauck's past history makes him uniquely suited to the case at hand. Hauck feels the pain of the victims and their families in ways that touch them and enrich their lives in the midst of their despair. Hauck's pursuit of villains is not just a job or a puzzle to be solved. Hauck becomes a force beside Karen as she tries to uncover all the secrets of her husband's life. By confiding in Hauck, Karen starts to put her life back together again. Hauck stands by her, not pushing her but allowing her to process the event and her loss as he hunts down the clues. Andrew Gross gives just as much attention to the plot details, the histories and the emotional depth of his secondary characters such as the family of AJ Raymond, the hit and run victim. THE DARK TIDE provides an unsettling glimpse into a corner of the financial world where greed insinuates itself into characters, overshadowing all else. Andrew Gross gives a chilling portrait of the denial used to justify financial fraud and the consequences that one moment, one decision, can have for the lives of his characters and the lives surrounding theirs.

Charles Friedman, an investor and a family man, heads off to work one day like every other day, only this time he takes the train. This is something he never usually does but on that particular morning the train he is on is hit by a terrorist explosion and is blown up, killing Charles. Or did it? His widow, Karen is left to mourn with her two children until her and her family start receiving threats. She looks deeper into her husband's life and realises he has a lot of secrets that he kept from her. Secrets that could get her and her family killed. She turns to the help of violent crimes detective Ty Hauck who finds out a lot more about Karen's husband than she could of ever have imagined.

I loved Andrew Gross's first solo novel, The Blue Zone, last year and also liked most of his efforts when he teamed up with James Patterson but `The Dark Tide' just really let him down in my opinion. Bad editing, terrible dialogue (mainly because of editing), dull storyline, annoying characters and just being pretty boring from after about 100 pages in just made this a real struggle to get through.

First the editing and terrible dialogue - I read a review on Amazon.com about this book before reading it and one reviewer commented on how many times first names are used in the dialogue and I completely agree - it's ridiculous! A typical piece of dialogue will go something like this (not actually from the book, but very similar) -

"What are you doing here, Ty? I've been looking through Charles things and can't find anything, Ty".

"Don't worry, Karen. I have done some research and have found out a lot, Karen" replied Ty.

"Oh thank God, Ty. I was getting worried. So what have you found out, Ty?".

And so on.... It does get really annoying after a while. There are literally 3 or 4 uses of their forenames in each paragraph.

The story itself starts off really good with the bombing on the train and the mystery of whether Charles is still alive or not and what he's done, but once Hauck gets on the case the story is repeated over and over again that you could skip about 100 pages of the book and it wouldn't matter as it will be repeated later again and again. It got to the point where I was just skim-reading the pages due to such boredom.

The characters were also really unlikeable although Hauck did have the potential to be a great detective and according to Andrew Gross's website, he has signed a contract to write another 9 books staring this character. Let's just hope this is just a bad start the gets increasingly better!

Overall this is a real disappointment and should have been at least 150 pages shorter to make it even mildly enjoyable. It's a real shame as his first solo book was so good, but this is just awful. I give it 2 stars rather than one as there are some good twists although you do see them from a mile off and like I said, Hauck could turn out to be a fairly decent character with a lot of work, but generally this is a pretty poor "thriller" that fails in all departments when it comes to excitement, thrills, shocks and chills. I'd recommend not wasting your time with this and read The Blue Zone instead (if you haven't already) or something by James Patterson.