A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton, aka S. J. Bolton

Minotaur Books, 448 pages, $21.99 (paperback)  (c2014)

I have a tremendous (tremendous!) number of books waiting to be read. Every once in a while I grab something from down deep in the pile, resist the siren call of newer titles, and dig in. “A Dark and Twisted Tide” is what I plucked out of the grab bag and it actually made it to the finish line.* That’s because it had a couple of elements I couldn’t resist.

First, the heroine of the story, Lacey Flint, recreationally swims in the Thames. How clean is that river, really? How clean was it in 2014, when the book as issued. There is even a warning at the end by the author: “Please do NOT swim in the tidal Thames. Lacey Flint is a fictional character and a reckless one at that. The Thames is deep, fast, and dangerous.” Ooo, doggie! That is enough to get me started.

In addition, as if I needed more incentive, the part of the Thames where Lacey swims and lives (on a houseboat) is haunted by stories of “The Mermaid.” She is spoken of in whispers, and seemingly, just by one who has seen her to another who has seen her. If you know, you know. Lacey has seen her. Maybe.

“A Dark and Twisted Tide” is actually Bolton’s fourth Lacey Flint novel. I read it without having read the others (or, more accurately, having remembered if I had read any other), and it did not disappoint. Lacey has demoted herself to the river patrol unit of the police from a being detective with the crime squad. Her boyfriend is in the wind and may have delved a little too deeply into the underworld in which he is supposedly undercover. Her ex-boss still thinks highly of her and doesn’t mind when a series of dead bodies brings Lacey back to an association with her department.

The dead bodies are all of young women of Middle Eastern descent. They are bizarrely wrapped like mummies in linen sheets, drowned in the Thames, and weighted down to live forever in the depths below. Except a couple corpses pop up to pique Lacey’s curiosity. What is an officer to do when a corpse literally bobs up in front of you while you are navigating the waters?

Are the women victims of a human smuggling operation? a sex ring? a racist serial killer? to assuage family honor? All the clichéd reasons of why there are dead Middle Eastern women float to the top along with the corpses.

There’s enough tension, sideways glances, and personal revelation to make a solid story.

* As an aside, this book has been in my pile since it was an ARC in 2014!