I was so excited to read the latest Vera Stanhope book! I am a huge Ann Cleeves fan - I have read all of the Shetland series (watched them too!), Matthew Venn, Vera and Inspector Ramsay series. I love disappearing into Ann's world that she has so uniquely created for all of her distinct characters.

This book was lovely to read and disappear into. Ann Cleeve's sets up the atmosphere perfectly, you can picture yourself in the story as a voyeur as events unfold all around you. This book is about a bunch of friends who reunite every 5 years at Pilgrim's island. They made a deep connection with one another back in their schooldays and this story is about them and their lives.

One of the friends dies at the reunion and secrets about their pasts begin to unfold. It was nice to see Joe and Holly working in harmony with Vera in this book without talking back too much. I did not see the ending coming - I hope this is not the end of the Vera series. I'd love to read the next one to find out how everyone deals with the aftermath.

The fatphobia and massive stereotyping in this book for the main character was appalling. You would think that an author that includes a plus sized woman as the main character and has done so for 10 books now (including a TV show, apparently) would understand the difference between fatphobia and plus sized representation. The author does not describe the skinny women as though they eat like birds or may fall through the cracks in the floorboards if they turned sideways, nor does she make much mention of the larger male character in the story’s size beyond what is necessary to convey he has put on weight as he’s aged. Yet, somehow, every mention of Vera Stanhope implies she eats like she’s never going to get another meal, or it will be taken from her so she shovels it in as fast as she can and is constantly thinking about her next meal. She is apparently so wide she fills entire hallways and blocks out the entire light in a room if she’s standing near the light source. Even other characters' POV seems to compare their meals to how Vera Stanhope eats. Every mention of food makes her sound like a gluttonous pig that does nothing but think of food. To top it off, she can’t dress either, because the first impression others have of her is how terrible her clothes are. It is obvious the author hates fat women and her main character. She’s put down the whole way through the book, with occasional mentions about how smart she is to, from what I gather, try and detract from the negative way she is described the rest of the time. This author should be ashamed of herself. She offers absolutely no kindness towards her lead character. Why bother writing a plus sized character if all you hate her (and plus sized women) so much?

As far as the story goes, nothing happened other than the insults in the first 40% of the book. The story didn't pick up until nearly 50% in and there was really nothing to uncover. There just wasn't anything to it. It wasn't very interesting and if not for the obligation I felt having been given early access on NetGalley, I wouldn't have finished the book. I won't be reading anything further from this author after being bored by the story and enraged by the cruelness directed to her main character over and over again.

Glad I got to read this early. Love this author. Good story with a shocking ending. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

THE RISING TIDE by Ann Cleves

Vera Stanhope is back, this time dealing with a murder among old friends who get together every five years to celebrate and remember their first retreat as teenagers with their too-involved teacher. That retreat ended in the death of one of their members.

Vera’s team, Joe, Holly and Charlie, follow the twisted paths of the group of friends whose number was further reduced by another murder at the latest reunion. As the team closes in on possible murderers, Vera finds the memories of her own youth point her to the killer.

And at that point, just after Cleves leads us to the murders’ solution, she drops a stunner of an ending., that will help you remember why you like Ann Cleves’ writing so much. THE RISING TIDE won’t disappoint.

Another great Vera story. This one will keep you guessing up until the last pages. What an ending! A must read for Vera fans.

The Rising Tide (Vera Stanhope Novel #10) by Ann Cleeves. Digital pre-publication review. Uncorrected proof from NetGalley.com. Publication date is set for 06 Sept 2022. Publisher: St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books. 5 Stars.

The rising and waning tides impose a parenthetical relationship upon both residents and the dwindling swell of tourists to the historic Holy Island of Lindisfarne in October. A foggy atmosphere that seems to manipulate both time and dimension obscures allegiances between local people who are deeply bound by the gravitational pull of their shared secrets, a group of old schoolmates’ with a seeming inability to transform itself.

In this standalone that includes characters Joe and Holly, murder suspects drop their defenses before Colombo-like detective Vera Stanhope, a character who understands natives and criminals better than most—and who seems to carry a deep empathy for them all.

The unassuming Vera—thickset, untidy, and sometimes blunt—endures til the very end, revealing an uncanny genius for plucking a resonant subject from the experience of each suspect with her probing intelligence and unsolicited questions—often understanding the trajectory of a person’s history far better than they do.

Cleeves, who captures the world and its people in shades of gray tone, evokes compelling images of nostalgia, sadness, yearning, envy…and murder. She is adept at conjuring the texture of their complex relationships, their stories, and the stories they tell themselves to keep on going.

With gem-like precision, she has created a world that surrounds you like a chilly blanket on a frosty evening—a story that you’ll want to read straight through to its shocking ending. Get ready for another great read from the masterful Ann Cleeves. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for providing this ebook for review.

This is number 10 in the wonderful Vera Stanhope series, and is as good as all the rest. Ann Cleeves is an expert at weaving her characters, the landscape and the setting together to make for a cracker of a book. The setting for this book is Holy Island just off the Northumberland coast, accessible only when the tide is out. Once a priory, it now caters to those looking for staycations without the modern trappings. Fifty years ago a small group of students and their teacher had a near religious experience that forged the bonds of lifelong friendships. Every five years a reunion is held. The first reunion ended in tragedy for one student but that didn’t stop the reunions from continuing. Fast forward to today when one of their group decides to write a thriller using their joint histories as fodder for his novel. Someone decides to “shut him up” permanently. Vera and her team must wade through the past to find a clever killer.

I was excited to see that there was going to be a book in the Vera mystery series. I enjoy the show and the books. This book had a great mystery and I enjoyed re-visiting these characters.

I read this as an arc from netgalley.
I love this book. I have never read Cleeves before and am so happy to have read this book because the book and author are superb.

A group of school chums meet at a small resort on an island that is shut off when the tide rises. Every five years. They are now 60.
First one death, then two lead into investigations into their collective and individual pasts.

You can't go wrong.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Tell that to a group of friends who continue to meet on Holy Island off the Northumberland coast. It's become a ritual over fifty years to set the stage of time within increments of gains and losses. The aging tribe meet at Pilgrims' House to light candles, reminisce over their years together at grammar school, and dine and drink heartily into the night. But there's always the unwelcomed visitor of memory over a tragedy that occured there in their midst so long ago.

Philip is now an Anglican vicar in London. Lou and Ken were married years ago and Ken now has Alzheimers so his memories are long gone. Annie runs a bakery on the island. Her ex-husband, Daniel, runs a family business there. Rick has just stepped back from his popular show on BBC being accused of some unseemingly behavior with a female staff member. His ex-wife, Charlotte, is a former model who now runs a yoga salon on the island. Their former teacher, Judy Marshall, still lives on the island quite differently from her new age mindset.

After that night of heavy drinking, each member straggles into the kitchen. But breakfast will never be served. Annie lets out a mournful moan. She's found Rick hanging from the beam in his guest bedroom. Immediately, it looks like suicide. But once D.I. Vera Stanhope and her team of Joe and Holly arrive, there's a murder on the books.

Don't shy away from the #10. The Rising Tide can definitely be read as a standalone because of the exceptional writing of Ann Cleeves. Although there is quite the pack of characters in this one, Cleeves works her magic and keeps Vera's intuitive nature at the forefront. Her descriptors of island life and the rising tide along the Lindisfarne Causeway add to the impending dangers from Nature itself. And then there's a murderer among them as well. When another body is found, Vera knows full-out that this will hardly be an easy case.

The Rising Tide will be a tricky read with vibes of Knives Out. You'll keep readjusting your list of the usual suspects......again and again. And the ending will be a shocker with a blade of an unexpected thrust to the heart. Seriously........

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to the talented Ann Cleeves for the opportunity.

This book is Cleeve’s at the top of her game . She is one of my fav authors and I find her characters to be like old friends. I love crotchety Vera. This book is just a cracking good mystery.
Thanks for letting me review this book to the publisher and Netgalley

A Vera Stanhope Novel #10

Since I have recently finished binge-watching the BritBox series Vera, I was happy to receive a copy of this newest DCI STANHOPE novel!

We are back on Holy Island for this one. Fifty years ago a group of high school kids and their young teacher went on a retreat there and stayed at the one-time convent with a nice chapel. A place to sit and be still.

They formed that tight bond that teenagers do, feeling everything so deeply. But on their first reunion, one of the girls argues with one of the guys and leaves in a huff, none of them worrying about the tides. And that is a death that ties them together. The priest, the playboy turned novelist, the broken woman who lost a husband and a baby, the strongest couple who now is the weakest. They all have secrets. No one is telling the truth.

When one of them is found hanging from a beam in his room, Vera and her team step in. Vera has no qualms about digging for answers in sensitive matters. Even though the man had recently been fired because of sexual misconduct, he didn’t seem upset about it. So why is he dead?

What are all of these people hiding? And Vera needs to figure that out quickly or there will be more deaths.

As in all good Vera stories, there was laughter, confusion, tears, and a few gasps!

Cleeves always gives us good mysteries!

NetGalley/ September 06, 2022, St. Martin’s Press

As I read Cleeves' latest installment in the enormously readable Vera series, I couldn't help thinking she had stepped up her game. Although the mystery revolves around Holy Island and a predictable group of old friends, I had trouble picking out the murderer until the very end. And then when it did end, I still turned the page expecting more. Unlike previous Vera mysteries, I was quite shocked at the end. Can't wait for the next Vera to see how the team fairs in light of these events.

This was a good book. A bit slow moving in the beginning, but then it got moving and carried you to the end. It kept you thinking about who the killer was through the end. It also had a very good ending leaving you hanging on for the next book in the series.

Ann Cleeves has written her own kind of locked door mystery. A man has died on Holy Island (Lindisfarne), an island shut off from the mainland when high tide covers the causeway. Vera Stanhope and her crew are tasked with confirming whether the death is suicide, as it appears, or murder. Staying with the victim at Pilgirms cottage are grammar school friends who had been there with him 45 years ago when one of their classmates died while attempting to drive off the island at high tide. Ann Cleeves drew me in, as she always does, to the story as it unravels, I feel as I’m getting to know Vera more and more as time goes by. A fabulous book that left me floored at the end. Thank you to Ann Cleeves, her publisher and Net Galley for putting such a great book into my hands.

An exceptionally well written book. This book is so strong in both atmospheric description and characterization. One thing I love about Ann Cleeves it that she portrays her characters as real people formed by their pasts and lets the characters remain with their foibles and flaws, The plot twist at the end of the book made me gasp and keep checking to make sure there wasn’t one more chapter lurking. Somehow Ann Cleeves just keeps getting better and better. I highly recommend all of her detective series and can not wait for her next book.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, St. Martin’s Press and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Brilliant writer, brilliant novel, suspenseful, well written entertaining story. Characters who were crafted with adoration and care.

A remote location that becomes an island at high tide. A forty-five year old death and a recent one. A group of school friends who have met every five years for fifty years. Layer upon layer of secrets, some kept better than others. Add Vera Stanhope to the mix and you get The Rising Tide, the latest mystery from the incredibly talented Ann Cleeves.

The friends are older now. One is a vicar, near to retirement. One has dementia and is cared for by his wife, another friend. One has a gourmet shop. And one was a popular BBC host until the MeToo movement cost him his job. When on the first morning of the reunion a body is found, Vera Stanhope leads the investigation. Could the two deaths, many years apart, be related?

The Rising Tide is one of those rare books that becomes totally visual to the reader. I can see the causeway, smell the rising tide and feel the cool dampness of the fog. I saw the streets and lanes of Holy Island through Vera’s eyes. And I was so shocked by the conclusion that I kept trying to turn the pages hoping for another chapter. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Ann Cleeves for this ARC.

For fifty years a group of friends have been meeting for reunions on Holy Island, celebrating the school trip where they met, and the friend that they lost to the rising tide five years later. Now, when one of them is found hanged, Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct and allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now.
This is book number 10 in the Vera series. I have read all the others before so I am very familiar with the series. It is a series of characters that speak for the author and the plot is such that I have kept the pages turning until the very surprising ending. It is very hard to guess the killer as Ann Cleeves does not leave anything unturned until the very end. I look forward to the next book as I have enjoyed each one. If you love thrillers then you will love this one. I would like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a copy for an honest review.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

It is hard for me to read these without imagining the television Vera and her colleagues, but they are so similar that the differences aren't too distracting. This was intriguing throughout, and the setting on Lindisfarne was strong and well-done. The fact that the characters were mostly in their mid-sixties was appealing, although the references to them sometimes as 'elderly' was not. I am deducting a star for the ending, which was a bit underwhelming after all the excellent misdirection - I was convinced I knew who the murderer was, but I was wrong. Also because the murderer had to helpfully make a full and lengthy confession to clarify things, which always strikes me as a weakness.

Otherwise, recommended.