This had been sitting on my kindle longer than anticipated, so I went into it pretty blind. And oooh, what a ride it was! Fast paced and engaging with complex, imperfect characters. It's sci-fi with heart. I"m only sorry it took me so long to get to it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy.


I liked the start of this one, especially with a bit of romance before the world went to bits. A one night stand on the beach between two strangers grabbed my attention and I held on to that initial connection even while I felt the story just wasn't doing much for me. There were some bits I enjoyed more than others, like the cosmic horror vibes and isolation, but not so much the characters intentionally doing things that were obviously going to bite them in the ass. Overall, not a bad read, plus it's a quick one.

3-3.5 Writing was well done and the story was interesting, but not enough actually happened by the end. I was left wanting to know more about what happened to the characters and creatures.

Black Tide is a horror novel that is marketed as Cujo meets A Quite Place which I loved the sound of. Neighbors Mike and Beth end up stuck together on the Oregon coast and must help each other survive. I liked the concept of this book but not the writing or the characters which I just felt could have been more fleshed out.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. Try as I might, I couldn't get into the plot or connect with the characters.

At the time that I’m writing this, it is a week to go before Christmas 2022 arrives. Yes, I am sitting down to write a review of a horror novel in the Yuletide season. What kind of person sits down to read and review a horror novel at such a time, the most wonderful of the year? Me, apparently. I should have probably reviewed this book a week before Halloween or something, but even then I would have been late. The novel in question, debut author KC Jones’ Black Tide, was originally published at the tail end of May 2022. I offer nothing in the way of apology for being so late, except to say that it has been a hellish year and this was the only time that I could get around to reviewing this. However, as the saying goes, it’s better to be late than never do anything at all — so I hope that suffices for something of a mea culpa. In any event, Black Tide is an interesting book — one that starts quite excellently, especially for a work in the much-derided horror genre. However, it, unfortunately, fizzles out the deeper and deeper you get into it. But more on that in a few moments.

The story alternates between the viewpoints of two characters named Beth and Mike (a surprising third character comes into play in the latter half of the book). Beth is a thirtysomething loner who is housesitting on the Oregon coast when, one evening, she stumbles across her neighbour, Mike, sitting alone in his backyard beside a campfire, nursing a bottle of champagne. You can probably guess where the story progresses from there. Yes, after much drinking, the two share a carnal night — and, because this is a horror novel, that’s when the weird start going pro. A meteor shower happens, but it turns out these meteors are housing alien creatures — some of which are invisible. Essentially, the pair winds up being trapped in a car on a beach with Beth’s dog, Jake, surrounded by these alien creatures on one side and a rising ocean tide on the other. There is seemingly no escape from impending doom.

Black Tide is interesting as it plays out like a more claustrophobic version of the Stephen King novella “The Mist.” And the book is engaging before the horror elements kick in because both Beth and Mike are somewhat ruined as characters. The back and forth between the two is quite absorbing essentially up until the point where the pair have sex. Alas, the novel just gets silly from there. There are two inherent flaws to this book: one, because the bad guys are (mostly) invisible, it’s hard to imagine what they “look like” and the damage they could inflict, and, two, author Jones can’t help but have his characters start to make wisecracks as they go about their narration, which deflates the tension of the read. The humour feels out of place for a novel of this ilk and ultimately makes it tough to take Black Tide as a suspenseful work of horror fiction. This is a shame because the book does have a bit of an original and unusual premise, allusions to Stephen King’s work notwithstanding. Even with its weaknesses, readers will still want to flip the pages forward to find out exactly what happens to the, um, star-crossed couple of protagonists. (You can make your jokes about this, but Mike is a fairly successful Hollywood film producer. So, groan!)

Even though I wasn’t very enamoured by Black Tide in the end, I would encourage its author to keep writing books. My recommendation would be to keep the humour to a minimum in future works because the one-liners felt at odds with what is ultimately a life-or-death situation. I’d hate to quote Ron Jeremy here, and I don’t mean to go on and on about this particular criticism, but he once remarked in an Onion A.V. Club piece that once the sex starts in a porno, the jokes have to stop. The same could be said about, well, blood and gore. Death or the threat of death is a serious matter, and it didn’t seem right to watch a couple of characters try to diffuse a stressful situation by joking about it. Face it: if you were trapped in a car with seemingly no way out of your predicament, would you turn into a Jim Carrey-esque person? Probably not. I’m guessing you would be scared out of your mind. Thus, that’s ultimately what makes Black Tide unsuccessful: its tone. It simply doesn’t jive with the actions on the page. Still, if you’ve read all of Stephen King’s novels and are looking for a quick fix, Black Tide may be the thing that could, um, tide you over. If anything, it shows that Jones is a writer who may have some real potential if he (the “K” in the author’s first name is Kevin, so I’m making a pronoun assumption here) dials down some of his indulgences. If he can manage that, then I’m positive that he will become a very successful writer. All in all, Black Tide shows promise. Even though this might not be, by now, a timely read that is concurrent with its release date, there’s stuff here that may be of interest to horror fans looking for new shocks, if they don’t mind that they’ll never see them coming because most of the antagonists here aren’t visible. Flaws such as that aside, this might be still worth a look for the curious.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I appreciate it! This book grabbed my attention the moment I read what it was about. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It did keep me engaged and I just had to know how it ended. For those reasons, I give it 4 stars.

I'm not the biggest fan of aliens or creatures, but BLACK TIDE drew me in from page one. My only regret is I hadn't read it sooner. I was interested in this book because the comparison was A Quiet Place meets Cujo. This book had the same edge of your seat intensity as those two comps.

After a drunken one-night stand Beth and Mike find themselves fighting for their lives when aliens attack.

The two never really knew what was happening or if it was real, a nightmare or a parallel universe situation. But they knew this - they had to run for their lives.

I thought the premise of two characters, both broken (in their own minds), meet, have relations and then are thrown into a life and death situation was just different from what I've been reading.

I enjoyed the touch of ... not really romance, but connections ... these two were trying to make when they were both very down on their luck. And, of course, the true hero of the book is Jake the Dog.

When I saw War of the Worlds (the one with Tom Cruise) I kept thinking what would I do? How would I handle this? Surely, I'd be dead in the first five minutes and I kept picturing myself in Beth's shoes.

So, the ending sets up for a sequel and that needs to happen now. We were left with a cliffhanger and what about Jake? I need to know what happened to Jake. That is my only issue with this book in fear of a sequel not happening.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an e-copy of BLACK TIDE to review,

I rate BLACK TIDE four out of five stars.

I love survival stories, and that is why I requested this. I did not realize it had a cosmic/alien aspect to it. Also, there was some animal cruelty, which I cannot handle. This was not for me,

I really enjoyed the setting of this story! Nothing more creepy than a beach horror. I felt this was very tense and the main character made a lot of choices I was questioning, but she was so fun to follow! The ending definitely through me for a loop and I loved it!

Meteor showers almost never bring good things in media – amirite? Similar to such masterpieces of film and literature as Night of the Comets, The Day of the Triffids, Battle: Los Angeles, etc. Black Tide features a beautiful meteor shower that brings unspeakable horrors to earth.

Set on the Oregon coast, Black Tide is a non-stop thrill ride through hell come to one of the most scenic places in the continental US (although certainly not the most relaxing, so…there’s that).

I like Beth a lot because she is a self-professed hot mess. I hate a squeaky character. She is definitely not that. Mike, I was a little less into. I know dude has a lot of baggage, but he’s clearly a wallower. That being said, I do appreciate that both of them have dimension – whether I liked their dimensions or not. And Jake. Oh, sweet, floppy Jake. I grew to really love that boy over the course of the story. So loyal, so pure.

And purity and loyalty are in short supply in any tale of the end of times. Thus, Jake is the perfect character. Jake-only story next, please (I’m only joking – let’s move on).

Black Tide is genuinely freaky. It has moments of extreme intensity, when I felt like I might snap my e-reader in half. I was legit white-knuckling it. I like invasions – I like unknowable horrors – and I like survival horror. I had a whole lot of fun reading this one.

*this review goes live on my website November 9, 2022*

A very creepy apocalyptic horror!

I enjoyed the pace of this book, and all the different aspects of the story. I thought the twists and turns were good, and the writing made this apparent. The characters were likeable and I was starting to root for them from the get go.

This is the perfect spooky book for spooky season, with the blend of horror and mystery element, so I'd highly recommend reading this during October! I can't believe this is a debut, and what the author brings out next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-arc!

unfortunately this just wasn't for me. this solidified that i don't enjoy survival type stories. i thought the possible alien/sci fi aspect would make it better for me but i just did not enjoy it!

This book was an interesting concept, but it fell flat for me. The creatures in this story were so complex and weird, that I wasn't scared of them. The story also feels dragged out quite a bit.

I dnfed at about 30% and I still had no idea what was going on. Is it a dream or not?Is it extraterrestrials or a mass hallucination?

Liked this one. I wasn't sure what to expect as I went in a bit blind, but in the survival tale genre, this is a good one. It'll go by in a flash and even if it follows the guidebook on how these stories go the characters and writing keep you turning the page.

Black Tide had me at the first page and did not let go. Sharp writing, strong plot, fascinating characters, and a surprising twist out of nowhere. I read the entire book in a single sitting. Humorous and filled with tension and excitement. Highly recommended!

Two strangers meet during the night of a meteor shower. Beth is trying to get her life together and house sitting for a wealthy couple. Mike has given up on life, but something changes during the meteor shower and the next morning, there are weird remnants of the night before. They look like bowling balls and smell horrible. As the two venture out, they discover that something has invaded our world. Something that will leave behind no survivors. They’ll have to rely on each other to survive and escape the beach they’re stranded on.

I read this book in a day and was stressed out the whole time, in a good way. So much happens in such a short time, and it’s a wonderful character study…with aliens. Such a wild ride. Do recommend, as every Tor book I read. It’s out now wherever you get your books.

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this book, but I do feel that it lacked a bit of originality. It reminded me a lot of A Quiet Place, except lacking some of the more innovative scenes from the movie. I really enjoyed our main characters, and they were part of the book's saving grace for me. I was intrigued for the first 100 pages or so, but then the novel hit a plateau that it just wasn't able to break out of, unfortunately. A lot of the scenes were getting repetitive, and I was getting bored with the pacing. Not to mention, the ending of the book was a bit lackluster as well. It was a fun ride, and, as aforementioned, the characters really sold me on 3 stars for this book, but don't go into it expecting anything super original.

If you like "trapped on the scene" survival tales then you know what to expect. Some questionable decisions, weirdly timed soul searching, and a bit of walking off injuries that one would have thought completely incapacitating. But, I guess if you can believe in invading monsters from another dimension, the apparent invincibility of the main characters isn't too big a stretch. It's basically what you're here for anyway.

While it wasn't my favorite in the survival tale niche, it was still a reasonably entertaining low-demand read