Di Morrissey is one of Australia’s most successful and prolific authors. Her latest, The Night Tide, involves a mystery with a family tragedy. Once more there is much on offer here to entice the reader with a variety of themes and stories - personal development, lifestyle, family secrets, small community living and of course, Di’s considered focus on the environment.

‘Life is full, complicated, busy . . . but when you look back, it was happy.’ She looked at him. ‘You don’t always realise it at the time.’ She glanced away, her lip trembling slightly as she added in a low, tight voice, ‘And now I feel so angry with him. How dare he . . . just leave us . . .’

This time Di gives readers an interesting male lead which makes for a nice change as he takes time out of the rat race to reflect and review on his life. As always there are a range of secondary characters and life in a small rural community. I appreciated not only the descriptions of the wonderful location but also the acknowledgement of land versus development debate. I did, however, find the mystery to be the weakest link. I kept waiting for some big reveal but much like the story, it was a gentle reveal - dare I say, a little disappointing? That being said, I would rather the book have had a central focus on the environment and corporate takeovers of the natural bush for development; or, on Dominic (lead character) and the search for a new start in life. The mystery reveal was insipid and fell flat for me.

‘So little was known. What was the point of dragging all this up again after a quarter of a century?’

A Di Morrissey book is always guaranteed engaging reading. A thoughtful story to lose yourself in for a few hours.








This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.