Black Tide

by Del Stone Jr.

Black Tide

by
Del Stone Jr.

book data

2 ratings, 4.00 average rating, 2 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		50%
4		0%
3		50%
2		0%
1		0%

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published

2007 by TELOS PUBLISHING

binding

Paperback, 111 pages

url

http://telos.co.uk/

isbn

7818458304

description

£7.99 + £1.50 UK P&P
GENRE: Horror

What would you do if you were stuck on a deserted island with a beautiful girl, her clueless boyf...more

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04/22/08

Sheri rated it:

Read in April, 2008

Title : Black Tide
Author: Del Stone Jr.
Publisher: Telos Publishing Ltd.
61 Elgar Avenue
Tolworth, Surrey, KT5 9JP, England
http://www.telos.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84583-049-6

Award winning author, Del Stone Jr. delivers a fast-paced and horrifying disaster thriller in Black Tide that I found a fun quick read. Anyone who’s visited the Florida Keys will find the setting familiar, except, it’s not a lazy sunbathing day that entices the hero out o...more Title : Black Tide
Author: Del Stone Jr.
Publisher: Telos Publishing Ltd.
61 Elgar Avenue
Tolworth, Surrey, KT5 9JP, England
http://www.telos.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84583-049-6

Award winning author, Del Stone Jr. delivers a fast-paced and horrifying disaster thriller in Black Tide that I found a fun quick read. Anyone who’s visited the Florida Keys will find the setting familiar, except, it’s not a lazy sunbathing day that entices the hero out onto one of the smaller mangrove clogged keys off a vegetation dense coastline far from a marina and next door to the military. Instead, duty and research call Professor Fred Miller out to study the effect of creating a passage through a key in Santa Rosa Sound to relieve a stagnant area and help out the fishing industry.

The premise for the story, a variety of red tide that looks black and kills everything in the water and air above it is well developed. The effects of its passage are quite stunning, rich with special effects that hint why this story and the reader is quickly caught up in the action as our hero has to think fast. The scientific gadgets are used and the science dealt with quickly without a lot of infodump heaviness. The reader believes in this horrific plant life and its powered-by-photosynthesis effects on the human body. Although this could be just another Zombie or vampire movie, it has a unique twist that will appeal.

The love triangle presented by the Professor’s crush on his student assistant, Heather, and her boyfriend, Scotty, makes for a great deal of conflict. That the triangle is an unwanted one by all members of the trio has good payback in emotional affects with some amount of tongue-in-cheek humor. The reader can well relate to the Professor’s middle-aged trauma over getting caught with his heart hanging on his sleeve for all to see.

The three are thwarted by their isolation on the small. Delivered by boat, the three have to use their heads to figure out how to get off. And every time they have an answer to their dilemma, Del Stone Jr. adds an interesting twist to the tale. Black Tide is a fun tale for fans of dark science fiction and horror genres.
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08/10/07

Elizabeth Anne rated it:

bookshelves: booksread

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: Horror/Zombie Fans

Fred Miller is a college professor who recently experienced a humiliating separation and divorce from his wife, who left him for a younger man. When the opportunity to conduct an environmental impact study in a deserted island comes his way, he decides to ask Heather, a nubile young assistant, to accompany him. To Dr. Miller's great dismay, she also brings her boyfriend, Scotty, along for the expedition.

The story opens with them taking a boat across Santa Rosa Sound to a spoil island...more Fred Miller is a college professor who recently experienced a humiliating separation and divorce from his wife, who left him for a younger man. When the opportunity to conduct an environmental impact study in a deserted island comes his way, he decides to ask Heather, a nubile young assistant, to accompany him. To Dr. Miller's great dismay, she also brings her boyfriend, Scotty, along for the expedition.

The story opens with them taking a boat across Santa Rosa Sound to a spoil island by Okaloosa—a barrier island—to investigate a red tide outbreak in an area due to be flushed out by the opening of a new channel. When the three of them are alone on the island, Scotty decides he wants Heather to play Frisbee, rather than work: but when a toxic fog released by the irrigation threatens to overwhelm them, the quick-thinking professor uses the Frisbee to bury them all in the sand, until the fog rolls over and past them.

When the fog clears, they see people on the opposite shore combust, and walk into the water. They hear the havoc on the mainland. Apparently, everyone is either dead, or dying. The problem is worse than your run-of-the-mill red tide. It is a kind of black tide. It caused the fog which had earlier rolled over them.

The fog had turned the people on the mainland into photosensitive zombies, ones that burn at the slightest indication of unfiltered light. The three of them manage to incinerate a few with flashlights between dusk and dawn. In the daylight, Scotty decides to swim to the mainland in search of help. Not that he makes it...

BLACK TIDE sets the zombie mythos on its ear.

Del has zombies that can "live" underwater, filtered from the direct light of the sun. Starlight is too far removed to affect them, and sunlight filtered through the water, or if they are in shade, leaves them unaffected.

In a way, Fred gets what he wants at the end, Heather's undivided attention, though he does not really want it, by then. ;-)

The story is an interesting read, and throws an unlikely protagonist into an horrific situation. Can Fred and Heather make it out of this situation alive? Well, you'll have to read it BLACK TIDE find out. It's worth the journey.

Oh, and stock up on batteries, and candles. ;-) You never know...(less)

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