Lacey Flint is now working with the Marine Police so that she can have a more peaceful life. She now lives alone on a houseboat, trying to get over the man she is in love with, Mark Joesbury. But, then Mark goes missing during an undercover assignment and there are rumors that he may be a dirty cop. Lacey can't believe that, but why has he gone AWOL? And, if that's not enough, she discovers a carefully wrapped body when she is swimming in the Themes...

A Dark and Twisted Tide is the fourth (and last? I hope not) book in the Lacey Flint series and just like the other three is it a very thrilling book with a great story. There are a lot of things going on in the book; Mark's missing, Lacey finding a dead body and then someone is leaving small gifts on her boat and Dana Tulloch is trying to solve the dead body case and also planning on have a child. It's a well-written, interesting and suspenseful thriller, a real page-turner.

Lacey Flint is such a great character, with her mysterious past and her tendency to find trouble wherever she is. The case in this book was interesting, and there are turns and twists in the story that I definitely didn't see coming. Bolton really knows how to write a story that keeps you captivated from the beginning until the end. I have grown very fond of Lacey, Mark, and Dana during the readings of the books.

The ending is great. I love the kind of ending that you really can't see coming and you are lost to the world around you and when you have turned the last page is it with a bit of sadness, but also with satisfaction. A Dark and Twisted Tide is a book like that. ( )

Lacey Flint is now working with the Marine Police so that she can have a more peaceful life. She now lives alone on a houseboat, trying to get over the man she is in love with, Mark Joesbury. But, then Mark goes missing during an undercover assignment and there are rumors that he may be a dirty cop. Lacey can't believe that, but why has he gone AWOL? And, if that's not enough, she discovers a carefully wrapped body when she is swimming in the Themes...

A Dark and Twisted Tide is the fourth (and last? I hope not) book in the Lacey Flint series and just like the other three is it a very thrilling book with a great story. There are a lot of things going on in the book; Mark's missing, Lacey finding a dead body and then someone is leaving small gifts on her boat and Dana Tulloch is trying to solve the dead body case and also planning on have a child. It's a well-written, interesting and suspenseful thriller, a real page-turner.

Lacey Flint is such a great character, with her mysterious past and her tendency to find trouble wherever she is. The case in this book was interesting, and there are turns and twists in the story that I definitely didn't see coming. Bolton really knows how to write a story that keeps you captivated from the beginning until the end. I have grown very fond of Lacey, Mark, and Dana during the readings of the books.

The ending is great. I love the kind of ending that you really can't see coming and you are lost to the world around you and when you have turned the last page is it with a bit of sadness, but also with satisfaction. A Dark and Twisted Tide is a book like that. ( )

This is the fourth book in a psychological thriller detective series set in the London area featuring Detective Inspector Mark Joesbury and Detective Constable Lacey Flint. It begins in the second month that Lacey has been serving in the Metropolitan Police’s Marine Unit. She lives in a houseboat on Deptford Creek, where the River Ravensbourne meets the Thames.

She has made a number of acquaintances among the people who lived along the river, including Thessa and Alex, an eccentric older couple who are brother and sister. Thessa in particular is very observant - much too much so for Lacey, who suggests Lacey is wearing a “burka”: “We can’t see it, but it’s hiding you all the same.” She even comes close to guessing Lacey’s true identity.

In an analogous plot thread, Mark is deep undercover as a bent cop, so Lacey is unable to see him, but is still obsessed with him, as he is with her. DI Dana Tulloch tells Lacey there is a rumor Mark has actually “turned.” Dana acknowledges to Lacey that officers sometimes do unconscionable things to get results. This practice is known as “noble-cause corruption.” Moreover, “Sometimes, it wasn’t quite so easy to see the distance between right and wrong. Sometimes, the moral code became blurred.” Tthey are both worried about Mark.

The Marine Unit as well as Dana Tulloch’s Lewisham’s Major Investigation Team get involved in the issue of the sex trafficking trade after bodies of young women wash up in the Thames. Not only did Lacey discover the first body, but the second was actually placed on her houseboat, along with other unpleasant items meant to send some sort of message. Someone was fixated on Lacey - again.

As usual, Lacey gets into great danger herself, as bodies continue to appear and the mystery of who is doing it begins to unravel, albeit not without many red herrings.

Evaluation: This installment is not quite as scary as previous ones, although it still qualifies as a dark, gritty page-turner. The characters are interesting, and Bolton does a fine job of bringing attention to the situation of women in third-world countries who are convinced to go to England where all kinds of “opportunities” await them. ( )

This instalment was more focussed on Lacey herself than the last one, which was good, but there were too many confusing chapters from the perspectives of other women; at the point in the text they appeared their meaning was opaque and by the time they would have made sense they were long gone. The ending was quite drawn out, and while the final twist was a good one, I skimmed the 'fight scene' which was difficult to visualize. I thought the plot was good, although one character's true identity (not to be spoilery) was hard really to believe in. ( )

The character of Lacey Flint is brave and impulsive…loyal and secretive. She is running from her past and avoiding her future. While I enjoy the character it is my hope that when and if Lacey does return…ms. Bolton chooses to begin a new characterization for her protagonist. Lacey often comes off as directionless…and careless in her actions and decisions. Almost seems that she has a death wish. While I know that this is part of who she is… it doesn't feel as if she is growing any from book to book. I hope to read about Lacey for many years to come but, for me, if she doesn't grow the series will become stale. There is so much more that these characters can contribute and many more stories to be told. I hope that Ms. Bolton will allow Lacey, Joesbury, Dana, Helen and the others live to tell more suspenseful tales. ( )