The main plot is based on a serial killer working as a pianist on board a number of international cruise ships. There is also an exciting secondary, intertwined plot that runs throughout the book. The key protagonist is an ex-US Secret Service agent who wants resolution and retribution for the death of his sister.
This isn't the genre of book that I would normally read, and I was a bit hesitant about starting it. However, after reading the first chapter I was totally hooked and couldn't stop reading it.
Mysterious deaths or disappearances on a cruise ship open up many intriguing possibilities. The cruise companies naturally try to downplay or hide any serious incident. In international waters, no police force would have full jurisdiction over the case and often cannot be bothered to investigate. The killer can also stop off at various spots on the route of a cruise ship to kill and return to the liner before the bodies are found. Perhaps a cruise ship is the right environment for a perfect crime.
I loved the author's attention to detail in describing the various places the characters visited. Also, being a military buff, - the details of the types of weapon systems used.
The plot and overall pace of Tidal Rage were so enthralling, I believe that it would make an amazing action movie.

The basic premise of the book is that the protagonist Max Cutler is hunting for the murderer of his sister who disappeared on a cruise, he is joined in his efforts by various people he met whilst working for the secret service. Max has siphoned off some cash that belonged to a criminal gang he was hunting and has set up an organisation to look into missing people.

On the whole, it wasn't a bad book, but I found the writing didn't always flow that well and some of the conversations were quite stilted.

There were two separate threads to the book and everything was neatly wrapped up at the end, possibly a little too contrived?

I thought Max Cutler was very Jack Reacher/James Bond and didn't really gel with his character, the way the book was written I expect it to become a series.

A couple of typos in the last 25% of the book, which was annoying,.

Was an OK read

This is an awesomely intriguing and scary book. Look over your shoulder, constantly. You don't know who's watching you, waiting to kill you!
Exquisite chills! Definitely recommend.

Something that promised so much did not deliver. I was looking forward to fast-paced high seas thriller, but found a story that wants to be a hard boiler but doesn't quite get there.

White-blue-red American boy, hare-lipped born monster slash pianist prodigy, secret agents, beautiful girls, conspiracies and organised crime... It might have been suspenseful, mysterious and fun. But... It was too descriptive, step-by-step, word for word narrative of the old radio serials. I found this too off putting.

Overall, I failed to follow the story as it kept jumping between places, characters and even timelines. I failed to get on with characters as I found them flat and over the top (either too bad or too good to be real and interesting)..

I believe this book has its readers but it is not me.

A complex novel. The author has a very clever mind. This is the first book I have read by this author and will now search out other books! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Loudhailer Books for the electronic copy.

I didn't really enjoy this book at all. The jumps between timelines - between Sebastian McKenzie and Max Cutler's lives were really difficult to follow; you're reading about Sebastian, his childhood and his obsessions, then interrupted to read about a talented Secret Service agent-in-the-making, Max Cutler, and all the attendant boring detail of what his training consisted of; then his assignment in Europe tracking a counterfeiting gang. Meanwhile years are passing whilst Sebastian is perfecting his art of killing, torturing, with horrific and seemingly gratuitous violence, his chosen victims, as he cruises the high seas as a talented pianist.

Their paths eventually cross but I found it all rather "contrived". The writing really didn't "flow".

Not for me I'm afraid.

So I have decided from now on I will not cruise alone and stay away from the musicians after reading this book. The things this guy gets away with are beyond and it’s scary to think you can be lost at sea and maybe no one will ever know what happened. This is an exciting read about a serial killer with a strange obsession (other than murder) and the complex team of characters who get involved in his story. It’s gripping and has the makings of a really dark tv series but no idea who they would get to play the lead.

This book has it all. A bent secret service agent's sister dies on a cruise and it is labelled as suicide. He knows better and he decides to take the case using money from dodgy dealings to investigate,

Sebastian is a incredible pianist working on the ship, a child born addicted to heroin, with a penchant for murder, which has led him to cruise ships, the perfect situation and amount of people to hide in plain sight and kill a few off.

This book is such a thrilling promise but suffers with an inordinate amount of detail. There is nothing the author will not explain down to the smallest intracacies that have no plot furthering point.

A good read and great if you enjoy extreme detail

This fast-paced story revolves around Sebastian, Jozef and Max, three men with very different backgrounds whose lives come together in an unexpected way.
The good points of this book are that the story is good; a serial killer that plays the piano beautifully, a criminal and an ex-Secret Service agent - lots of international crime but also interesting characters. The author is also very good in describing different countries, cities, places, history, science, psychology and more.
And there is where things go wrong: there is Too Much Information. Literally every paragraph is filled with extra information we often don't need.
The book begins with a short and very thrilling chapter. But before we are back to this situation, we are more than halfway in the book. In the mean time we read how Sebastian came into this world and exactly why he is who he is, but we are a whole lot wiser about Bavarian woods, the art of counterfeiting, and much, much more. We read about Sebastians cabin boy on one of the ships where he works as an entertainer- the author takes a couple of pages to introduce him and tell about his background and his life. And then this parts ends with the death of this person. It's going nowhere - the cabin boy plays no further role and is not interesting.
And this goes on and on.
Then suddenly we again read some very good and interesting parts and you get the feeling we are back on track with the story. But no, alas.

I would love to read more of this author but I hope he'll find a good editor to help him to get rid of so many irrelevant details.

Thanks to Netgalley and Loudhailer books for this digital review copy.

‘No day is a good day to die...’

Sebastian McKenzie is a brilliant pianist, working as an entertainer on some of the world’s leading cruise liners. Josef Werner is a criminal, a key part of a European counterfeiting ring. Max Cutler is a member of America’s Secret Service, working on breaking up the counterfeiting ring Josef Werner is part of. When Max’s young sister Elisa goes missing from a cruise ship off Alaska, his life changes forever. He is determined to find out what happened to Elisa, and it just so happens that after leaving the Secret Service, he has access to the financial means to do so.

After learning about Sebastian’s disadvantaged birth and past, we quickly learn that he is a murderer with a fetish. And what better place to murder than on an ocean liner where the evidence can be (comparatively easily) disposed of?

Josef Werner, with the help of a corrupt politician, manages to escape custody. He establishes a new base in Turkey and is after revenge.

And Max Cutler? He is determined to use his skills and contacts to finish off the counterfeiting ring and to find out what happened to Elisa.

All these strands are brought together in a fairly satisfying conclusion, but Mr Evans’s inclusion of excessive detail (at times) reduces the tension in what should be a gripping read. While I enjoyed the novel, I believe that a good story could have been even better with some judicious editing.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Loudhailer Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Having a cruise ship where people either get killed or go missing is not something that the operators want to talk about. However, in “Tidal Rage” by David Evans, it is something that comes into stark reality. People are going missing.

It seems likely to be up to Max Cutler, a former law enforcement agent, to solve. One previous case seems to come back to haunt him from time to time and plays a role in the missing/murdered persons one. While tying these two storylines together, the author does a masterful job of keeping the suspense going.

Cutler has a personal stake in solving this case as his young sister disappears on an Alaskan cruise with their parents. His previous case has a way of popping up at inopportune times, thus complicating his personal interest.

Cruise ship, onboard musicians, lackadaisical ship’s officers, lack of evidence, involvement by outside bad guys are all part of the plot that Agent Cutler and his gang of well-trained investigators and agents must solve. The story is wide-ranging and moves from the US to Europe and onto various oceans.

The climax has some unexpected twists and is almost guaranteed to keep the reader’s attention to the very end. A most enjoyable read.

Very good novelist. Exciting, engrossing, page turner. Keeps you involved even if you know it's fiction. A little bit flowery and a little bit atmospheric but tolerable.

Tidal Rage is a complex novel involving a serial murderer, a counterfeiting ring, and caught between them a crooked Secret Service agent. The killer is Sebastian, a mixed breed child who is unattractive and has a horrific fetish involving hair. If you can get past this disgust, then you focus on the counterfeiters and the Secret Service agent, handsome Max Cutler. But, for me, focus is an aloof concept given the author's penchant for detail. There is not a detail that he doesn't expound upon, and it seriously interfered with my enjoyment of the story. Ultimately it all comes together, but it was a struggle to get there.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this mystery. The twists and turns keep peeling. I enjoyed how the characters were developed. The story was my favorite.... Its such an interesting book!
Secret Service agent Cutler’s sister Elisa dies on an Alaskan cruise.
Sebastian McKenzie is a star. A brilliant pianist and singer, he entertains the wealthy on cruise ships. But every time beacon ship someone goes missing.
So he takes on his own investigation.

Thank you NetGalley, Loudhailer Books and Author for this great thriller

When Secret Service agent Cutler’s sister dies on an Alaskan cruise, he investigates as he knows it wasn’t suicide as it was declared. When his parents are murdered, he knows he must take matters in his own hands. Using funds he banked in a counterfeiting case, he forms his own investigate firm to solve cases that governments closed. A number of cases are brought together while two major cases converge, both of which have exceptionally bad characters involved.