A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton

ISBN-13: 9780593069189
Publisher: Bantam Press 
Publication Date: May 2014
Format: Hardcover, 444 pgs
Source: Purchased

This is the 4th book of the Lacey Flint's series. In this installment, Lacey quit the force from a detective to join the marine police unit. Aside to recover from the trauma the previous cases had led her, she feels she wants a safer, quieter life too - to allow her to think things and her relationship with DI Mark Joesbury, who has gone missing in action for an undercover assignment. 

But of course, life has its own way of turning things and before Lacey could find any peace living alone on her boathouse, she found a dead body floating on River Thames near her home; her body wrapped in burial cloths. Needless to say, this discovery shook Lacey to the core, especially knowing that the corpse was deliberately left for her to find after further investigation. As much as she didn't want to return to her profession she knew she couldn't (and shouldn't) let this case goes unresolved and let the woman died without giving her a justice. However, there are loads of questions surrounding the investigations; as no one knows why the corpse was wrapped in that way and further searches have shown it has got nothing to do with religions or honour killings. 

And as if the case isn't complicated enough, there are speculations about Mark Josebury's involvement in a cop shooting incident and whether if he's gone over the dark side after his most recent undercover assignment. After all, there's a very fine line between the good and the bad and some coppers could be bent given some circumstances and the law and rules they've known so well. Lacey, on the other hand, knew there must be some explanations behind and she intends to find that out, too. That said, like Lacey, I still believe in Mark; and I know whatever he has done or need to be done it's always for good reasons. 

As the story slowly unfolds, we will soon learn more about people-smuggling, as well as people-trafficking are some of the issues the world is still facing today and why they could be so hard to wipe off completely, especially if they are immigrants who are trying so very hard to escape from the hardships they are suffering and would pay any price to make their escape possible. And of course behind these sad situations there are some twisted people who'd do anything for whatever reasons they believe in. 

A Dark and Twisted Tide is not something I'd expected from a conventional thriller, but the intensity and suspense are all there. There are also some dark elements thrown in in a sense that makes you wonder about the assignments the undercover officials have to go through and to what extent they've to do to make their aliases believable. And lastly, not to mention the immigrants victims who are murdered not knowing the real reasons why they are lured and then disposed of cruelly. It was a compelling read, but there's also sadness behind the intensity. And after reading this installment I found myself liking and respecting Lacey and DI Dana Tulloch more than ever.