The Blood-Dimmed Tide

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Reasonable story, pedestrian writing - Rated
I found River of Darkness to be a reasonable read and picked up Blood Dimmed Tide in a second hand book store for some holiday reading. It's very much the same style and suffers from the same weaknesses. The plot is quite engaging and well paced - at a period between the World Wars, the similarity in the murders of some school girls starts off a hunt for a serial killer. The trail of detection is interesting, involving Scotland Yard, Home Office, police and retired detective John Madden who gets involved when he helps discover one of the bodies. The eventual resolution is rather telegraphed and fails to maintain the menace or tension that it should. Much of this is down to Airth's writing style which is flat and rather old fashioned. While this works at times, it makes much of the dialogue stiff, stilted, humourless and unconvincing. Even close friends and working class characters talk in clipped, formal lines. The characters are too one dimensional, Boy's Own, black and white creations - as if before WW2 people were naive, innocent and sexless. It doesn't help that Airth's hero Madden himself, although marginalised during most of the action, is a bit wet. References are made to the rise of Nazism in Germany with the implication even in 1932 that the British authorities and even citizens like Madden were already predicting WW2. Without wishing to spoil the enjoyment of future readers - this makes Airth's choice of villain rather interesting. I won't rush to read the final chapter of the trilogy ... but you never know.

An enjoyable if simple thriller - Rated
This is an enjoyable book, there are no twists of any consequence and the so the storey is very straightforward. No more than two plot treads persist at any one time. As a result this means is not hard to see how things are going to develop and you get the general idea of what's about to happen a chapter before it does. As a new storyline is introduced, you know why it's there; its presence seems too obvious at times.

The characters are easy to like, and none to complex to get to know. Despite being a principal subject on the cover, John Madden feels like a sideline character, appearing every now and then to keep the storey moving. This is an enjoyable if simple thriller.

Disappointing - Rated
I thoroughly enjoyed Airth's first novel "River of Darkness" and was anticipating this one with great excitement.

Unfortunately "The Blood-Dimmed Tide" turns out to be decidedly ordinary and, I have to say, hum-drum. It's a perfectly reasonable thriller but it paints a very unlikely picture of an idyllic, rural pre-WW2 England, and the rise of Nazism and the post depression problems in Germany are spelled out in a very laboured way.

Wow! This was a great read. - Rated
I really looked forward to this book. I read the authors' River of Darkness and enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed this work a great deal as well. All of Rennie Airth's characters (in Blood-Dimmed Tide as well as River of Darkness) are very well drawn and enjoyable. I especially liked Topper. He is a hobo of few words but with a great deal to say. The way that Rennie Airth describes the way in which Topper and other hobos live is fascinating.

One of my favorite themes from this book is the Depression of 1929. Here in the U.S., we envision long lines of out-of-work folks waiting for food hand outs as a characteristic of the Depression. I enjoyed reading about Eddie Noyes a great deal. His story encapsulates many expriences world wide of the depression. Here is this decorated WWI veteran having to work odd jobs to support his family after being laid off. I also liked Sam Watkin, a fellow veteran willing to help someone down on his luck.

The mystery in this book is appealing and horrendous at the same time. Solving the crime is so important because children are being brutally assaulted and murdered. Angus Sinclair and Bennett reprise their earlier roles at Scotland Yard and are particularly enjoyable.

Finally, I thought the descriptions of England to be wonderful. I can really see those places due to the author's excellent prose. Rennie Airth has crafted a splendid book here that I hope others will enjoy as much as I did.