Vera Stanhope, star of ITV's Vera, returns in the tenth novel in number one bestseller Ann Cleeves' acclaimed series.
Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island, forging a bond that has lasted a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship, and remember the friend they lost to the rising waters of the causeway at the first reunion.
When one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now . . .
But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible . . .
"Cleeves crafts a clever central puzzle, then confers remarkable emotional complexity using her keenly drawn characters' advancing age, wistful nostalgia, and thorny shared history. A pinwheeling third-person narrative drives the pace, while Vera's candor tempers the plot's darker elements. Fair-play mystery fans will delight."
"A character-driven puzzler that ends in a painful denouement."
"...it is a joy to watch a writer as skilful as Cleeves lay out her version of a locked room mystery. As ever, Cleeves goes deeper, examining the precarious nature of life and what it is to age and face your own mortality. I'm still absolutely reeling from the ending."
"Flawed characters take center stage in an intense novel with a shocking conclusion.."
"The Rising Tide is classic Cleeves: an atmospheric, gripping police procedural in which the environment is as deadly as the desperate murderer ... and with Vera."
"What more could you ask for in a crime novel?"
An episode of ITV's VERA, adapted from Ann Cleeves' novel The Rising Tide by Sally Abbott, was broadcast as a Christmas special on 26th December 2023; watch it again on ITVx.
Visit Lindisfarne, and the setting for The Rising Tide, with The Book Trail.
The Rising Tide is published in the UK by Pan Macmillan: the hardback was published on 1st September 2022 (ISBN: 978-1-5098-8961-7), and the paperback on 16th March 2023 (978-1-5098-8965-5). It is also available in an ebook edition, and as an audiobook, read by Janine Birkett.
The US edition was published by Minotaur on September 6th 2022 (ISBN: 978-1-2502-0453-0). It is now also available in a trade paperback edition.
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