Blood-Dimmed Tide [Hardcover]

Rennie Airth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

It is 1932 and John Madden, former Scotland Yard Inspector, is now a farmer in the peaceful Surrey countryside. However his peace is about to be shattered, for when a young girl goes missing, it is he who discovers her disfigured body hidden in a wood. Disturbed by what he has seen he is convinced the killer has struck before...When a second body is found, Madden's instinct is proved right - there is a multiple killer at large. Allying himself with his old colleagues, and against the wishes of his anxious wife, he immerses himself in one more case, and his insights into the personality of the man they are seeking are soon borne out. Self-taught in a world of secret agents, this psychopath is a master of reinvention who has been covering his tracks for many years. The investigation leads to Germany. The Nazis are on the brink of power. The killer has so far eluded the German police. And the mutilated bodies he has left in his wake are just a shocking foretaste of the horrors to come...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Rennie Airth's first John Madden historical thriller, River of Darkness, found a place on more than a few "best of the year" lists in 1999--with good reason. Set in post-World War I England, it was serial-killer fiction of an unusually exalted order, with Madden, then a taciturn and wearily pragmatic veteran-turned-Scotland Yard inspector, investigating the eerie slaughter of a well-respected family in Surrey.

Fortunately, Airth's first sequel was worth the six-year wait. The Blood-Dimmed Tide (which takes its title from a W.B. Yeats poem) finds Madden now retired and living peacefully on a farm in Surrey with his doctor wife, the former Helen Blackwell, and their two children, 10-year-old Rob and 6-year-old Lucy. The year is 1932, and the precipitous rise of the Nazis in Germany leaves many of their fellow countrymen, as well as no few Brits, worried for the future peace and stability of the European continent. More immediately concerning for Madden, however, is his discovery of the corpse of pubescent Alice Bridger--raped, disfigured, and secreted near a tramps' backwoods campsite. Suspicion falls quickly on a vagrant known as Beezy, who was supposedly visiting the area, but Madden--with his remarkable insight into crime ("Madden's always had a way of seeing things clearly, of seeing through them, or rather beyond them," relates a former police colleague)--thinks this is more than an isolated homicide. Sure enough, a records check turns up similar slayings elsewhere in England, dating back to 1929, as well as an active investigation by German law enforcement into half a dozen dead girls in Bavaria and Prussia. What accounts for both the wide range of these mutilations, and the lengthy lag time between them? Could the police be looking for a psychopathic traveler, or worse, a rogue spy who's managed to maintain a respectable front at his international postings, while satisfying his malevolent appetites in his spare hours? And what is the "devil’s mark" that this killer reportedly bears?

Airth is a fastidious plotter, expert in trickling out twists that heighten story tension but don't leave readers awash in red herrings. Although Madden's role here is somewhat less than it was in River of Darkness--a consequence of his strong-willed wife trying to protect him from further hurt, after the horrendous events of that previous tale--the author compensates by giving us a supporting cast of amply dimensioned Yard types, led by Chief Inspector Angus Sinclair, a perceptive Scot whose doggedness pairs well with Madden's gift for inspiration. While Airth fails, oddly, to exploit a couple of opportunities for interesting plot turns at book's end, his psychological portrait of the murderer imbues Tide with a fine pathos, and the backdrop of Nazi power-grabbing sets the stage for what is supposed to be a third and final Madden yarn. Let’s hope that novel appears in more expeditious fashion. --J. Kingston Pierce --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The many admirers of Airth's impressive debut, River of Darkness (1999), which was an Edgar finalist, will relish his gripping second police procedural, set in 1932. The brilliant Scotland Yard inspector John Madden has retired to the countryside and built himself a new life and a new family, but his tranquil, pedestrian existence is shattered when he stumbles on the battered corpse of a young girl. Despite himself and the importunings of his wife, Helen, Madden is drawn into the police inquiry and quickly challenges the official theory that a passing vagrant is responsible. Evidence soon surfaces that the killing is one of a series that spans several countries, and the trail gets murkier when a major suspect proves to be linked to international espionage. The political ramifications of the murders, which may complicate British-German relations on the eve of the Nazis' rise to power, only add to the challenges the police face in preventing another death. While the plot structure may be a little too similar to its predecessor for some, Airth's full-blooded characters and convincing evocation of rural 1930s England will have most eager for a shorter wait for his next book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333904095
• ISBN-13: 978-0333904091
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,227,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Madden's always had a way of seeing things clearly...", September 6, 2005

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Blood-Dimmed Tide (Hardcover)

Before the convenience of modern electronic communications, John Madden, former Inspector of Scotland Yard, does his sleuthing the old-fashioned way, with lots of leg work and forensics, the psychological components of crime only recently introduced into the detective's bag of tricks. In 1932, Madden has returned to the bucolic countryside, purchasing a farm in Surrey, living quietly with his wife, Helen and two children, Rob and Lucy. A widower when he first met Helen, who is a physician, John hadn't expected to ever find happiness again.

Passing through Brookham, John and Helen run into a colleague from Madden's former involvement in a series of brutal murders a decade ago, Will Stackpole, now a constable who needs Madden's help with the disappearance of a young girl. Madden and Stackpole discover the girl's mutilated body hidden by a stream that runs near a tramp's camp. While the local police are actively searching for a tramp that may have been at the scene, Madden is instinctively concerned with the brutality of the crime and certain aspects that cause him to suspect a serial killer. In true procedural form, Madden defers to the local authorities, but puts in a cautionary word to Scotland Yard, should their expertise be required. When similar crimes are uncovered, the Yard takes over in the person of Chief Inspector Angus Sinclair, who assigns Billy Sykes to the investigation, both of whom are close friends with the Madden's and were featured in the previous novel, River of Darkness. Coordinating with the Yard, Sykes liaisons with Madden, in the limited capacity his over-protective wife allows the former Inspector.

The investigation throws a wide net to catch the scent of a serial killer with unhindered movement, possibly crossing borders with impunity, someone who can easily cover his tracks, camouflaged by his position. The political ramifications are serious in the delicate balance of relations between England and Germany, as Germany is beginning to assert itself, building up to the regime that will ultimately change the course of world history. The country is still reeling in the Depression of the `30's, the brutal murders followed by detectives who are also concerned with an evolving political climate, the entire mystery shrouded in the threat building in Europe, Jews already the target of random attacks.

Even with the serial killer in their sights, unforeseen complications arise, involving delicate diplomatic issues and a monster to be brought down. Airth melds the world of the serial killer with the current affairs of the 1930's, with implications that there is more afoot than meets the eye, a protected identity escaping behind porous European borders. Artfully constructed in the almost meditative style of River of Darkness, the author builds his tale on a framework of character studies and details, the only disappointment a lack of involvement by Madden, thanks to his wife; fortunately, other memorable characters are emphasized, their roles expanded to fill the void. The author's incisive observations of human deviance and police procedure are joined in a taut thriller that brings back the menace of Hitler's Germany, in prose evocative of quieter times, when even the threat of war captured every nation's attention, and evil was easily identified. On the brink of great societal upheaval, this novel is an excellent portrayal of dedicated men caught in the crossroads of history. Luan Gaines/2005.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Sequel, March 18, 2005

By 

chico (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood-Dimmed Tide, the (Paperback)

I was thoroughly satisfied with this well-written follow-up to River of Darkness. As in the first book, Airth reveals the villain halfway through, then the suspense begins! Well-developed characters and plot add to its appeal.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Riveting - Not quite a sequel & better for it, October 5, 2005

By 

S. Robertson "redd001" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Blood-Dimmed Tide (Hardcover)

This story only marginally follows the hero of the previous "River of Darkness" and allows the investigation of child murders to be the story.

Great characterizations, and a setting between the Great Wars in England and Germany, helps to give this historical perspective. Slight psychological profile is interesting, but not overdone, so that it fits with the era. Can't wait for another book from Rennie Airth. Far and away better writing than the Charles Todd books, which uses a battle scarred veteran of World War I. Highly recommended.