Fatal Tide [Hardcover]

Iris Johansen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Johansen, Iris | Publication Date: September 9, 2003

A high-stakes treasure hunt…A twisted trail of murder…A secret one woman may die to discover…

Number one New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen last electrified readers with Dead Aim and No One to Trust. Now she offers a new pulse-pounding thriller that takes suspense writing to an all-new level: deep below the surface, where a ruthless killer strikes without warning, without mercy...and with the deadliest intent.

Melis Nemid is treading in dangerous waters--and she’s about to be dragged under. As a marine researcher, Melis knows all too well the dangers that can lurk under even the calmest surfaces. But not even she can guess how deep the darkness runs. Only one oceanographer ever came close to discovering the deadly mystery that lies beneath the sea--and he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Now Melis is the last one who knows the truth. And someone is determined that the truth will die with her. For what Melis knows about the deep-sea mystery is only part of a nightmarish past torn by violence. She thought she had put that past behind her when she arrived at her Caribbean island home to research dolphin behavior.

But her peace--and her life--is about to be shattered by the arrival of a savage killer. Someone--for reasons unknown even to Melis--is cutting a path of destruction and death that leads directly to her.Only one man can save her--a man who claims to be a fellow oceanographer. He will seek to gain Melis’s trust, getting close to her secret and her life. But what this enigmatic man really wants, Melis may not discover until it’s too late. Because whoever is after her knows her nightmares intimately, and soon she will be forced to relive them all over again. Except for the final nightmare. The one she can’t possibly survive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Johansen, author of many bestsellers (Dead Aim; No One to Trust; Body of Lies; etc.) knows exactly what her devoted readers want and gives it to them once again in this impassioned romantic suspense novel. Her lusty characters, both good and evil, preen and snarl as they fight, love and kill with almost superhuman stamina and appetite. Delicate but sensual Melis Menid lives in harmony with her two dolphin pals, Pete and Susie, on a remote, Eden-like tropical island. Her foster father, Philip Lontana, harbors many secrets, chief of which is the location of the fabled island of Marinth, an incredibly wealthy, hidden city that was lost beneath the sea aeons ago. Rich, hunky, ex-SEAL Jed Kelby crisscrosses the world's oceans on his lavish yacht searching for treasure-laden shipwrecks. He also seeks the fabled Marinth. Malevolent arms dealer Archer is determined to acquire Phil's research into an underwater sonic gun of immense destructive capabilities. While attempting to coerce Melis into telling him the location of Phil's research, he kills her best friend, threatens the innocent dolphins and tortures Melis with details from her horrific past. Jed, now in love with Melis and determined to stop Archer, calls in his partner, half-Apache Nicholas Lyon-"a giant of a man"-for help. Johansen writes with all her category romance roots showing ("Now she looked like a weary little girl, all tousled and warm, and so goddamn beautiful it made his throat tighten to look at her"), but the exotic locals, lusty sex and capering dolphins provide easy-reading entertainment.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Melis Nemid's isolated life on her own Caribbean island studying dolphins is interrupted by word from her foster father, Phil Lontana, introduced in Johansen's Dead Aim [BKL F 1 03]. He wants her to contact wealthy oceanographer Jed Kelby, who shares his fascination with the mythical, Atlantis-like city of Marinth. Against his nature, Phil insists he's eager to let Jed help him. This seems fishy, so Melis travels to Athens in search of Phil just in time to see him and his ship blow up. This is the first in a series of horrendous tragedies, and Melis seeks Kelby's help in finding out who is behind it all. Kelby agrees but sets a high price, insisting that Melis assist him in finding the lost city. There is a strange chemistry between them, but, initially, very little trust. Melis is the key to finding the underwater city, but first she must relive her tragic past in order to find and destroy a psychotic killer. Johansen is in fine form here as she presents a truly deranged villain, a reluctant heroine, and a less-than-perfect hero. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1ST edition (September 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055380247X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553802474
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,236,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Iris Johansen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pandora's Daughter, Stalemate, Killer Dreams, On the Run, and many more. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish this book would never end!! : (, April 3, 2006

By 

- Kasia S. (New York City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fatal Tide (Mass Market Paperback)

I have just finished reading Fatal Tide and I still can't get over how much I loved it. My first thought wile reading the last sentence was "Wow, what a good book!!" and I was sad in a way that it was over. I fell in love with the characters, I mean those are some juicy, meaty, live breathe and jump out of the page people; Jed Kelby, Nicholas, Melis Nemid and her beloved dolphins Pete and Suzie. They took some magical grip on my eye balls and still have me enchanted for the world I just read about.

This was my first Johansen book, as I bought few more moths ago ( I'm like a hamster, I buy gazillions of books and then run my finger on the bookcase and stop at some delicious one and read whenever I please, but I always make sure I have tons and tons of unread books to choose from) and It didn't occur for me to read her earlier because I've seen some reviews that made her look like some romance novelist, and I do not read romance, but the cover and the story in the back really intrigued me, first to buy it, then to read it few weeks later.

This was a story about a woman named Melis, who lived with her dolphins Pete and Suzie on her own Caribbean Island. She was a tough cookie, strong smart but not annoying, she was wonderful to read through and I felt real connection with the character because she was simply marvelous. There are flashbacks to her tortured past, as we learn that Melis is being stalked by a very violent, evil and deadly snake of a man; Archer.
I think I had a nightmare with him in it, that's how real he was to me. He stops at nothing to get to Melis; she is the only one who knows where sunken city of Merinth lies lost in the Ocean, and only her and the dolphins can find it. With the help of Jeb Kelby, an ex SEAL she ventures out in an adventure to find the treasure, to deceive and for once get rid of Archer who is killing her friends and family and to free her soul of her black, tortured past. We find that Archer has some sick sadistic plans for her, and more of her past is revealed as he find ways to hurt her and those around him until they can beat the clock and stop him.

I adored the relationship that build between Kelby and Melis, at one point in the end I was crying, I kid you not (I wont say if it was good or bad but the ending was insane!) but no spoilers here!! : )

I loved the ending, it was solid!!! I can't wait to read everything this woman wrote, because if she created Melis and Jeb then I wonder what other delicious and marvelous characters and stories she cooked up as well!

The beginnings was a bit fast, with many characters introduced, but hang on in there, it's a very satisfying and succulent story!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FATAL TIDE, August 9, 2005

By 

Christy T. French "author" (Powell, TN, author, "The Bodyguard") - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fatal Tide (Mass Market Paperback)

Oceanographer Mellis Nemid lives an isolated life on a secluded island in the Caribbean, with two dolphins for company. After her foster father, Phil Lontana, is killed while seeking funds to aid in his endeavor to discover Marinth, a legendary city under the sea, Mellis becomes the target of Hugh Archer, a perverted madman, who believes Mellis holds information to the whereabouts of Marinth. Archer will stop at nothing to get to Mellis, including killing her good friend and psychologist, Carolyn Mulan, to learn more about Mellis's tragic childhood in hopes of using this information to force Mellis to help him.

To Mellis's rescue comes rich playboy, oceanographer Jed Kelby, who agrees to help Mellis seek vengeance against Archer for the death of Mellis's close friend and foster father, in exchange for information about Marinth. With the aid of Mellis's two dolphins, the two explore the ocean floor for signs of Marinth while developing a plan to lure Archer into their net.

As always, Johansen gives her readers plenty of what they want: suspense and romance encompassed within a thrilling novel.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Far Fetched, but fun!, September 18, 2003

By 

Vesta Irene (the Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Tide (Hardcover)

I'm sorry to have to disagree with my good friend Katie about Iris Johansen's "Fatal Tide" (see Comic Book Heroine on the Printed Page, a review of this book by Captain Katie Osborne on September 11, 2003), but I've lived on a sailboat in the Caribbean too (we actually met in Trinidad) and in my opinion, Ms. Johansen is asking us to stretch our imagination a bit too much with this one. Lotana's Island, couldn't buy it, sorry. But even though the island and some of the characters were a bit over the top, I still finished the book in one sitting, still enjoyed it immensely, was still captivated by the story.

I thought our heroine's romantic interest in this book broke himself out of that jail in Iraq a little too easily in the first chapter, but I did like how the book opened with his dream sequence and how Johansen segued from the past into Melis Nemid's dream in the present. I liked Pete and Susie, though they were a tad bit more intelligent and communicative than any of the dolphins that have frolicked around my boat.

Melis is certainly a Wonder Woman Heroine, as Katie says, but her childhood was just a little too awful for me. However, I like strong female characters and Melis is certainly that. The love story was predictable, but I wouldn't have had it come out any other way. The destructive weapon, bad guy Archer is after, is straight out of James Bond, but if you bought the dolphins (and I did), you'll buy the sonic gun.

My recommendation: This is a swift read that is much more fun than anything you'll find on television. I give it four stars. You won't go wrong if you buy this book.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene