Book Review: Fatal Tide

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Fatal Tide     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Iris Johansen
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Psychological Suspense
Bantam, Sept 2003, $24.95, 336 pp.

Lontana’s Island in the Lesser Antilles is the refuge of Melis Nemid, a woman who loves the dolphins Pete and Susie that she trains as if they were own children. She doesn’t like or trust men except foster father Phil Lontana or the crewmembers of his shop the Lost Home. Phil is obsessed with discovering the location of Marinth, an island of an advanced civilization that sunk beneath the sea millennia ago.

Arms dealer Hugh Archer wants the research notes concerning the weapon that Phil developed that can cause earthquakes because a Mideast terrorist group is willing to pay much money for it. When Phil refuses to deal, Archer blows up the ship with Phil aboard and goes after his protégée Melis who he knows has the location of the research notes. When Melis also refuses to deal, he kills her closest friend forcing her to team up with billionaire Jed Kelby who will help her kill Archer if she leads him to the location of Marinth.

Though feeling somewhat comic book in nature, FATAL TIDE is an exciting romantic thriller that starts off at light speed and just picks up speed until the climax is over. In between chase scenes, the two protagonists find room for romance but the real scene- stealers are the two dolphins, more loving and civilized than most of the humans in the novel. Melis will engage reader empathy especially when the audience discovers the extreme trauma she suffered as a child. Nobody will pity her though because she has grown into a strong woman who is not afraid to mete out justice to those who deserve it.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner