The Turning Tide [review]

The Turning Tide by Brooke Magnanti
[Synopsis]

A thriller about secrets and lies, from an author who knows what it’s like to lead a secret life…
Erykah Macdonald has a nice life – the kind of life you’re meant to want. But she’s about to cross a line.
Several hundred miles away in the shallow waters of a Hebridean island, a body is found. It’s been in the water long enough to make identification tricky, but it’s clear this is no accidental death.
Erykah knows she’s about to make a choice you can’t reverse – but she’s lived with secrets most of her life and she thinks she’s ready. The trouble is, there are far worse secrets than her own about to emerge.
If she’s going to keep her head above water, Erykah must leave behind her comfortable life and start breaking rules.

The Turning Tide
[My Review]
The Turning Tide is a gritty and at times quite shocking thriller which has elements of political and social commentary mixed with well-written descriptions of Scottish highlands and the murky world of MPs!
Though I felt this was really well written and felt quite smart and sophisticated to read, the storyline just didn’t pull me in as much as I’d expected. I love crime/ thrillers and hoped I would be helplessly sucked into this, especially as reviews have on the whole been very positive, but I found myself getting a little distracted whilst reading… I’m not 100% sure why. It might be because there was a lot of focus on the political party in question and dialogue between people that I got a little bored reading. Although I’m really interested in politics, I didn’t find this aspect of the story that thrilling. Unfortunately, that is kind of what the entire plot is about!
The characters are all pretty believable, though many I didn’t really like at all. I did like Erykah, though, and preferred the narrative which focussed more on her, before it tied together towards the end- the situation with her husband and home life is complicated but interesting. The story moved along at a good pace and there were lots of action-packed, tense moments that I really enjoyed reading.
Overall, though, I just didn’t find myself hugely taken with this. I think I’ve just read so many incredible novels in this genre that it would have to be excellent to impress me. It does get a solid 3/5 though, as I ultimately did still quite enjoy it.
[Rating: 3/5]
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

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