An alien invasion tale by the way of the creature feature, Black Tide is stunningly mismarketed as Cujo meets the Quiet Place. The worst thing about derivative unimaginative comparison-based descriptions like that is that it’s misleading and sets up wrong expectations. I’m so glad I didn’t read it prior to going into this book.
Do we even need to compare a book to a preexisting popular work? Can it just stand on its own two (or many) legs? This book certainly tries. To be fair, there isn’t much to the story here plot-wise. It takes place virtually in real time during an alien invasion (you want a comparison, how about Cloverfield?) with a tiny cast of three people and a Labrador. One of the main characters is Beth, a snarky and sarcastic but kind funny 33-year-old trainwreck of a person who’s trying to change her ways by building up a career of hopping from place to place housesitting. Is she really a trainwreck or did her mother just do such a thorough number of convincing her of it…you kind of have to read to find out. The fact that a 33-year-old woman’s entire sense of self-worth and self-esteem comes from her mother is pretty lamentable, but then again Beth doesn’t really read her age, she reads much, much younger. Alternatively, she reads very much like a millennial her age might. Mike, her circumstantial partner in crime/neighbor, is about a decade older and also reads a lot younger. A movie producer in exile, he’s been moping around his beachhouse, bemoaning the end of his relationship, the end for which he has been holding himself responsible. Mike’s all set to off himself out of his sorrows, when Beth pops along, the booze, they schmooze, the carouse, and the next morning it’s Apocalypse. And now the two of them, plus Jake the Labrador, are stuck dealing with a variety of creepy creatures, some of which are not even conventionally visible. And so, real time, detail by gory detail, Mike and Beth must fight to survive their new and terrifying reality. Along the way they’ll find romance and meet their innerheroes, get tough and get going…because it’s that kind of a story. There’s a kid there too, but she doesn’t get nearly as much screen time until later. So, overall, it’s kind of fun if all one very drawn out one note sort of fun. It’s lightly humorous, it has a lot of creature effects. It’s hip in a very young almost YA sort of way, although it’s definitely not YA and then it just ends…like maybe there might be a sequel or maybe it’s just a classic off into the sunset sort of thing. Middle of the road sort of read, albeit reasonably entertaining. Thanks Netgalley.
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