Red Tide: A Novel (Ford, G. M.) (Hardcover)

~ G.m. Ford (Author) "The native son is missing..." (more)
Key Phrases: bus tunnel, aid car, dead citizens, Charly Hart, Jim Sexton, Harry Dobson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ford hits the ground running with his fourth solid Frank Corso novel (Fury; Black River; etc.). Someone has sprayed a modified Ebola virus into a Seattle bus tunnel, killing more than 100 people. Journalist Corso promptly descends into the deadly tunnels to see what's going on—because that's the kind of guy he is. The masterminds behind the plot have a pretty good reason for the destruction and are a welcome change from the genre's familiar wild-eyed Arab terrorists. It's all very straightforward, especially after a note warns that the next round of virus will become airborne in 30 hours and will live for 30 days—which makes the bus tunnel business look like child's play. Scientific modeling points to a doomsday scenario, with the death of virtually every human on the planet the probable result. From then on it's a race against the clock as Corso teams up with courageous Seattle cop Charly Hart to stop the terrorists. Ford creates likable characters, whom he has the nerve to subject to the worst, no matter how attached the reader has become to them. There's not a lot of flash, and the twists and turns are easily negotiated, which keeps the pace fast and the characters in the foreground, making this an entertaining read in a dependable series. FYI: Ford also writes the successful Leo Waterman series.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Frank Corso would be way better off if he could only mind his own business, but mystery lovers would be very much the poorer. In this fourth installment of the series, the disgraced journalist turned successful crime novelist and inveterate snoop finds himself in the neighborhood when terrorists strike the Seattle bus tunnel with a ghastly mutation of the Ebola virus. Does he sensibly scamper away to safety, or does he somehow manage to purloin a haz-mat suit and masquerade as a member of the team investigating the scene of the carnage only to end up as the prime suspect? Readers of Ford's prior Corso novels will know the answer to that one, and they will also know to expect a great deal of mayhem to ensue as Corso pursues the terrorists while eluding the cops in an attempt to save his beloved Seattle from an infinitely more devastating attack. They won't be disappointed, either. Ford's intelligently constructed story, peopled with convincingly three-dimensional characters, gathers momentum like a runaway monorail car. You simply can't get off until the ride is over. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (June 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060554800
• ISBN-13: 978-0060554804
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,303,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrorism hits Seattle, just not like we all thought, July 24, 2004

By	David Roy (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

After roaming the Midwest in A Blind Eye, G.M. Ford brings his intrepid and nosy reporter, Frank Corso, back to the Pacific Northwest in Red Tide. In this one, Ford tackles international terrorism but in his own, unique way. Ford ignores the stereotypical "Let's make the Arabs the culprits." Instead, he does something much more interesting, all along commenting on the state of affairs in today's United States. He reminds us that horrible things have happened in other parts of the world, and maybe one of those will come back and bite us as just as Middle East policy has. The book is extremely tight and well-plotted, with twists and turns that will make your head spin. The ending, however, leaves a lot to be desired. I don't mean the ending of the story, but the ending of the book itself.

The book starts at the photo exhibition of Meg Dougherty, sometimes lover of Frank Corso. It's going extremely well, but it's interrupted by the police coming in and saying that everyone has to evacuate. They won't say why, which is Frank's signal to stick his nose into the situation. He discovers that somebody has released a deadly disease in a Seattle bus tunnel, killing over 100 people. Meanwhile, Meg heads home but stumbles upon a man from her past. She follows him, loses him, but then finds him again, dead on her kitchen floor. Are these two occurrences linked? Who would do something so horrible to the citizens of Seattle? And worse, will they strike again? Corso, Dougherty, and the Seattle police race to find out what happened, constantly interrupted by the Feds, who have their own agenda and thoughts on the situation, as they usually do.

Red Tide benefits from using the current political climate to add a lot of tension to an already interesting plot. At first, I thought Ford was making his political point much too blatantly, with the Feds coming in and trying to use the Patriot Act to intimidate everybody. The message is a bit strong, but I realized that this is what the Feds in these books always do, just more so. They always butt into the situation like they know everything and the hero has to avoid them and solve the crime despite them. Sometimes they help at the end, sometimes they don't. In this case, they just serve to get in the way. Corso makes some comments against the war in Iraq, especially referencing weapons of mass destruction, but much of that can be attributed to the fact that Corso is a pretty liberal guy anyway.

When you look at the situation like that, it becomes a lot more bearable. The rest of the book is extremely interesting. It's also very tight, taking place over two days, except the last few pages. It's nice to see that, for once, Corso isn't on the outs with everybody, and the cooperation between Corso and the cops was a great change of pace. The description of the victims of the disease is horrifying, even more so when you see the reactions of the experts to the situation. The plot is intricate and red herrings abound. This is actually tough considering, for the first time I can remember in a Corso novel, Ford actually presents us with the viewpoint of the villain(s). Anybody with a good memory of the last twenty to thirty years will be able to guess what's going on before Ford actually reveals it, but that's not a bad thing. Even better, when you do figure it out you still won't know exactly what's going to be done about it.

As always, the characterization is what really makes the book. Ford presents us with a lot of them, some more fleshed out then others. Usually, Dougherty and Corso are the only ones with a lot of meat to them, but Ford gives us three cops who are vividly drawn, as well as a few others (some of whom may be villains). He gives us a lot of information on the police chief, making him three-dimensional, as he does with the cops who go around with Corso and Dougherty. Corso is a winner too, and Dougherty has a lot done with her. My only disappointment was that Dougherty disappears about two-thirds of the way through the book.

Then, there's the ending. Once everything is settled, Ford does something with Dougherty that I really hate. I don't know what Ford plans for the next Corso novel (and the cover jacket says that he's writing it, so it looks like he's not abandoning Corso as he did Leo Waterman), but it better resolve this issue with Dougherty. Otherwise, it's exactly what happened with the last Waterman book, and it annoyed me then, too. The ending of the story drags a little too, but it's more understandable as we have to wait along with the characters to know exactly how things are going to settle and how many deaths there will be at the end. It's interesting, but it's slow.

Overall, Red Tide is another winning Frank Corso book from a wonderful Seattle author. It's neat to see all the familiar Seattle landmarks, and it adds to the tension when all of this is happening to a city that you love. It's still well worth a read. Just don't let the ending get you down.

David Roy

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars - Needed a better end., April 9, 2005

By	L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It was nice to see Corso working with the police, for a change. And there were a couple other very good characters in the policeman Hart and reporter Sexton. The pace is tense and fast and keeps you turning the pages late into the night. Although I was disappointed with the very end of the book, I shall certainly be first in line for his next one.

2.0 out of 5 stars to be sneezed at.., May 14, 2009

By	John Coffey - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Red Tide (Frank Corso) (Mass Market Paperback)

The theme is hardly new but Ford can't decide if this is a one man crusade, a police procedural or a disaster story. The narrative and plot feel totally confused. As a result it's difficult to follow and really rather boring.