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The Loch
SWIFT TIDES OF DREAD
Janet Ogilvy began to fear the strange rumors circulated about the caves that mysteriously appeared after a tidal wave hit the town of Lochy, and relics of other ages were uncovered. They were only rumors, but her heart told her that Alan, the attractive man she secretly loved, might be in danger. Then one day a daring young man scaled the cliffs, clambered into one of the openings and fell back to his death minutes later. It was clearly evident that his battered body had been tampered with. Someone -- or something -- was living in the caves. Janet knew she must risk unlocking their treacherous secrets before she could ever again embrace the man she loved.
Janet Ogilvy began to fear the strange rumors circulated about the caves that mysteriously appeared after a tidal wave hit the town of Lochy, and relics of other ages were uncovered. They were only rumors, but her heart told her that Alan, the attractive man she secretly loved, might be in danger. Then one day a daring young man scaled the cliffs, clambered into one of the openings and fell back to his death minutes later. It was clearly evident that his battered body had been tampered with. Someone -- or something -- was living in the caves. Janet knew she must risk unlocking their treacherous secrets before she could ever again embrace the man she loved.
223 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
214 people want to read
About the author
Janet Caird
20 books3 followersJanet Hinshaw Caird was a teacher and a 20th-century writer of Scottish mysteries, poems, and short stories. Daughter of Peter Kirkwood, a missionary, and Janet Kirkwood, she was born in Livingstonia, Malawi, and educated in Scotland. She attended Dollar Academy in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, and the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a master of arts in English literature in 1935 before further study at the University of Grenoble and the Sorbonne in 1935–36.
She married James Bowman Caird in 1938, and they had two daughters. She taught English and Latin at Park School for Girls in Glasgow in 1937–38, at Royal High School, Edinburgh in 1940–41, and at Dollar Academy from 1941 to 1943. After several years at home, she returned to teaching at Dollar Academy in the 1950s before moving to Inverness in 1963.
Her novel for children, Angus the Tartan Partan, was published in 1961, followed by five murder mysteries set in Scotland and an historical novel, The Umbrella Maker's Daughter (1980), set in Dollar. Her three books of poetry appeared between 1977 and 1988. Caird also wrote short stories for publication in periodicals and anthologies, and she wrote reviews and critical articles for Cencrastus, Chapman, Scottish Literary Journal, and other publications.
She married James Bowman Caird in 1938, and they had two daughters. She taught English and Latin at Park School for Girls in Glasgow in 1937–38, at Royal High School, Edinburgh in 1940–41, and at Dollar Academy from 1941 to 1943. After several years at home, she returned to teaching at Dollar Academy in the 1950s before moving to Inverness in 1963.
Her novel for children, Angus the Tartan Partan, was published in 1961, followed by five murder mysteries set in Scotland and an historical novel, The Umbrella Maker's Daughter (1980), set in Dollar. Her three books of poetry appeared between 1977 and 1988. Caird also wrote short stories for publication in periodicals and anthologies, and she wrote reviews and critical articles for Cencrastus, Chapman, Scottish Literary Journal, and other publications.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 20, 2015
4, 5 I don't know!
When I finished I wanted to Scream long and hard. I have never felt like this before. I will review this when I am more collected and calm, not Wild and half demented.
Having now calmed down I can review this rationaly… I think.
Janet, the heroine, has all her ducks in a row until an earthquake in some foreign land send the town Loch quivering and swelling. After that everything goes down hill.
Alan makes for a reliable, easy going hero, if a tad boring. Then John shows up to take the place of the old minister. Now Alan and John both are vying for Janet's attention. But will either ever have her? That's when the Loch takes on a sinister gleam, and slowly but ever so surely begins to sink. As the sparkling water drains the villagers uncover artifacts from years ago but, that is before the caves appear…With the caves comes a shocking murder and a mysterious man. Who is the real hero of this story? Will the Loch change the course of their lives?
Janet Carid is spot on when it comes to a thriller, she made my mouth hang, knees shake and spine shiver. In simple terms, she left me a lump of quivering jelly.
And yet I can't say that I completely loved it. I got to the last page and scrambled trying to see if there was a page ripped out. Nope, that was the end. This book is in need of an epilogue, in bad need. One paragraph would have done the trick, then she wouldn't have left me griping the page wondering what happened next. Would I reread this? Believe it or not I would. And then I would wonder why as I then needed a fluffy light read afterwords. If it was ever made into a movie the very last song should be "Wind Beneath My Wings", it fits the last chapter to a T.
There is mention of two people sharing a blanket in the caves, (not the heroine), you know what happens but it is behind closed doors. Apart from that nothing is objectionable, unless you find the horror and suspense too much, you can't possibly find it too little.
PG
When I finished I wanted to Scream long and hard. I have never felt like this before. I will review this when I am more collected and calm, not Wild and half demented.
Having now calmed down I can review this rationaly… I think.
Janet, the heroine, has all her ducks in a row until an earthquake in some foreign land send the town Loch quivering and swelling. After that everything goes down hill.
Alan makes for a reliable, easy going hero, if a tad boring. Then John shows up to take the place of the old minister. Now Alan and John both are vying for Janet's attention. But will either ever have her? That's when the Loch takes on a sinister gleam, and slowly but ever so surely begins to sink. As the sparkling water drains the villagers uncover artifacts from years ago but, that is before the caves appear…With the caves comes a shocking murder and a mysterious man. Who is the real hero of this story? Will the Loch change the course of their lives?
Janet Carid is spot on when it comes to a thriller, she made my mouth hang, knees shake and spine shiver. In simple terms, she left me a lump of quivering jelly.
And yet I can't say that I completely loved it. I got to the last page and scrambled trying to see if there was a page ripped out. Nope, that was the end. This book is in need of an epilogue, in bad need. One paragraph would have done the trick, then she wouldn't have left me griping the page wondering what happened next. Would I reread this? Believe it or not I would. And then I would wonder why as I then needed a fluffy light read afterwords. If it was ever made into a movie the very last song should be "Wind Beneath My Wings", it fits the last chapter to a T.
There is mention of two people sharing a blanket in the caves, (not the heroine), you know what happens but it is behind closed doors. Apart from that nothing is objectionable, unless you find the horror and suspense too much, you can't possibly find it too little.
PG
December 5, 2013
It all starts when an earthquake in Portugal shifts a fault line on a loch floor in Scotland. This, in turn, triggers a tidal wave which reshapes the scenery and sets off a chain of events that bring horror to a small Scottish village where "nothing ever happens"....
The loch starts receding...caves appear where water once covered them. Finally, the water completely drained, the inevitable happens. People want to explore the caves. But not all is as it appears..or as safe. And then there's the caves inhabitants....who have lived there for hundreds of years...
Awesome book! While I was reading this I thought of two books. The Birds & Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Both authors would have been proud of this book. The atmosphere builds slowly, allowing the mist to settle on you; you notice how still the air is, the behavior of the birds, the sky's color, unusual ripples in the water. You can FEEL the unease and fear start to build before the tidal wave hits...
As the waters in the loch disappear, objects are unearthed in the floor of the loch; boats, pots and pans, an old car wreck etc. Casually while exploring, a man pokes around a large white pebble with his walking stick...read the description of what follows: "she watched while he worked and worked with the stick until it was revealed- a skull, water-smoothed and yellowed, with sand and silt dribbling from the eye-sockets in thick oozy tears."
If you like thrillers that are high in atmosphere and mystery but not in violence you'd like this.
CONTENT:
SEX: Once implied but not shown to reader
PROFANITY: None
VIOLENCE: Natural disaster, a man falls from a cliff after being blinded
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS:None
MY RATING: PG
The loch starts receding...caves appear where water once covered them. Finally, the water completely drained, the inevitable happens. People want to explore the caves. But not all is as it appears..or as safe. And then there's the caves inhabitants....who have lived there for hundreds of years...
Awesome book! While I was reading this I thought of two books. The Birds & Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Both authors would have been proud of this book. The atmosphere builds slowly, allowing the mist to settle on you; you notice how still the air is, the behavior of the birds, the sky's color, unusual ripples in the water. You can FEEL the unease and fear start to build before the tidal wave hits...
As the waters in the loch disappear, objects are unearthed in the floor of the loch; boats, pots and pans, an old car wreck etc. Casually while exploring, a man pokes around a large white pebble with his walking stick...read the description of what follows: "she watched while he worked and worked with the stick until it was revealed- a skull, water-smoothed and yellowed, with sand and silt dribbling from the eye-sockets in thick oozy tears."
If you like thrillers that are high in atmosphere and mystery but not in violence you'd like this.
CONTENT:
SEX: Once implied but not shown to reader
PROFANITY: None
VIOLENCE: Natural disaster, a man falls from a cliff after being blinded
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS:None
MY RATING: PG
December 12, 2013
Closer to 4.5 stars
Who knew an earthquake in Portugal could wreak such havoc in a loch up in Scotland. The book begins with a description of how the land and the lochs were formed ages ago. Then we meet the people in the town of Lochy. Next, the earthquake causes a tidal wave/tsunami that inundates Lochy. The water recedes and everything gets back to normal, right? No, something strange is going on with the Loch. At this point I really don't want to say anymore about the plot.
Janet Caird sets up such a feeling of dread and fear as she writes about darkness, the senses and what is under the water in a deep loch. Don't read this if you are afraid of the dark or what might be hiding in the dark.
Learned of this book and author from Hannah
Who knew an earthquake in Portugal could wreak such havoc in a loch up in Scotland. The book begins with a description of how the land and the lochs were formed ages ago. Then we meet the people in the town of Lochy. Next, the earthquake causes a tidal wave/tsunami that inundates Lochy. The water recedes and everything gets back to normal, right? No, something strange is going on with the Loch. At this point I really don't want to say anymore about the plot.
Janet Caird sets up such a feeling of dread and fear as she writes about darkness, the senses and what is under the water in a deep loch. Don't read this if you are afraid of the dark or what might be hiding in the dark.
Learned of this book and author from Hannah
May 19, 2019
Started out good and unsettling. Halfway thru it became stupidly weird.
Big let down.
Big let down.
February 17, 2016
This gothic suspense opens with a bizarre tidal wave hitting the town of Lochy. It sits on a great, deep, black loch somewhere in Scotland. A peaceful sleepy town. After they recover from the flood, people start noticing the loch seems to be losing its water! Getting lower and lower each day until it is empty. A strange eeriness descends on the town and no one wants to talk about the loch. Now an empty, dry sea bed, a cave has been revealed up on the cliffs. What mysteries does it hold? When Evan Ritchie, the town adventurer decides to climb the cliffs and investigate Janet stands at the edge of the loch bed and watches. Suddenly Evan is catapulted out of the mouth of the cave. Did he just lose his balance and fall or was he pushed? Janet is sure she saw movement at the cave before and that she saw a figure push Evan. But how could that be? Evan's body is battered and obviously tampered with. Someone or something is living in the cave!
Alan, a local administrator in town and John the new minister are both sweet on Janet. The three of them decide they need to find out what is going on in the cave. What the men find there is mind blowing!
This was a sweet read! Great suspense and unusual tale. I felt like I was on Loch Ness reading it. I enjoy Janet Cairds books. This is the third one I've read.
Alan, a local administrator in town and John the new minister are both sweet on Janet. The three of them decide they need to find out what is going on in the cave. What the men find there is mind blowing!
This was a sweet read! Great suspense and unusual tale. I felt like I was on Loch Ness reading it. I enjoy Janet Cairds books. This is the third one I've read.
December 8, 2022
Dear god this book sucks. So I decided to read this as I'm going through Stephen king's danse macabre list, first 50 pages were boring. Mostly just introducing characters, detailing the small town, none of the characters really stand out as interesting to me and most of them just complain about how bored they are. Then a giant flood happens flooding the loch and killing a bunch of people. The next 50 pages detail people dealing with the emergency, still not all that interesting but at least something's happening. Finally the loch, due to flooding opens up these caves people didn't know existed.
One guy who's dating the town skank Mavis, decides to try to explore and ends up getting his eyes ripped out and pushed off the cave which was high off the ground so he dies. So two of the main characters (John and Alan who are in love with a girl named Janet, hmm wonder why the author chose that name) decide to explore the caves and almost end up getting killed themselves but luckily a blind guy who was stuck in the caves finds them and leads them out. Okay this part needs a little bit of explanation, basically inside the caves live a group of very primitive people who live in the caves and they captured this guy who helps John and Alan, years ago and PLUCKED OUT HIS EYES so he couldn't leave. So he's been stuck in the caves for who knows how long but he can use that to his advantage and takes John and Alan out of the caves. Now at this point in the story we know the cave people have killed one guy and permanently blinded another so they're severely dangerous right? And the obvious thing to do would be to call the cops and let them deal with it right? Nope, this one girl comes in who is a historian and wants to study the tribe and decided to give them food while the city talks about housing them. I could explain the rest of the book but it's just so stupid and unrealistic at this point, no one would respond to crazy cave people in this way and the cops would want them for grievous injury and murder. Just the dumbest, most liberal philosophy the characters adopt and it doesn't even make sense. You would figure that will, the man who had his freaking eyes plucked out, would want revenge on these people but nope. I think the only one who brings up how dumb the whole idea of bringing these crazy people food is Alan. Just totally unrealistic garbage while trying to be super serious the whole time and the conclusion is a total whimper with you not even being able to actually read the action until after it's passed and Janet is telling the historian chick what already happened. I was expecting something like the Descent and got dumb liberal garbage about how we should be nice to crazy cave people who kill other and pluck our their eyes. Do not read. Oh also Janet ends up falling in love with Will the guy who has no eyes and was stuck in a cave for years over the two characters we spend most of our time with (Alan and John) making the whole love triangle seem pointless considering Will dies at the end and Janet knew him for like just a couple of weeks. Just bleh.
One guy who's dating the town skank Mavis, decides to try to explore and ends up getting his eyes ripped out and pushed off the cave which was high off the ground so he dies. So two of the main characters (John and Alan who are in love with a girl named Janet, hmm wonder why the author chose that name) decide to explore the caves and almost end up getting killed themselves but luckily a blind guy who was stuck in the caves finds them and leads them out. Okay this part needs a little bit of explanation, basically inside the caves live a group of very primitive people who live in the caves and they captured this guy who helps John and Alan, years ago and PLUCKED OUT HIS EYES so he couldn't leave. So he's been stuck in the caves for who knows how long but he can use that to his advantage and takes John and Alan out of the caves. Now at this point in the story we know the cave people have killed one guy and permanently blinded another so they're severely dangerous right? And the obvious thing to do would be to call the cops and let them deal with it right? Nope, this one girl comes in who is a historian and wants to study the tribe and decided to give them food while the city talks about housing them. I could explain the rest of the book but it's just so stupid and unrealistic at this point, no one would respond to crazy cave people in this way and the cops would want them for grievous injury and murder. Just the dumbest, most liberal philosophy the characters adopt and it doesn't even make sense. You would figure that will, the man who had his freaking eyes plucked out, would want revenge on these people but nope. I think the only one who brings up how dumb the whole idea of bringing these crazy people food is Alan. Just totally unrealistic garbage while trying to be super serious the whole time and the conclusion is a total whimper with you not even being able to actually read the action until after it's passed and Janet is telling the historian chick what already happened. I was expecting something like the Descent and got dumb liberal garbage about how we should be nice to crazy cave people who kill other and pluck our their eyes. Do not read. Oh also Janet ends up falling in love with Will the guy who has no eyes and was stuck in a cave for years over the two characters we spend most of our time with (Alan and John) making the whole love triangle seem pointless considering Will dies at the end and Janet knew him for like just a couple of weeks. Just bleh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2018
A great story about the sleepy little town of Lochy, near the water. The quaint town is forced to come together when a tidal wide hits hard leaving death and destruction for the survivors. However something is much worse than the powerful force of disaster. Something is hiding in the caves. Something primitive yet dangerous. Will the townspeople figure it out in time?
An engaging read that actually causes you to feel claustrophobic when reading. Caird is a master of building suspense as her characters wander the caves and someone or some creatures are silently waiting for the opportunity to strike. Highly recommended.
An engaging read that actually causes you to feel claustrophobic when reading. Caird is a master of building suspense as her characters wander the caves and someone or some creatures are silently waiting for the opportunity to strike. Highly recommended.
July 6, 2021
Loved it again, upon re-read 35 years later!
Because there's no supernatural involved, I was surprised at this novel being listed as "gothic." But, when I looked up the definition of gothic genre, yep.. turns out to be exact: literature that combines mystery, fear, death, horror, and sometimes an element of romance.
I dislike romance novels, or too much romance in a novel of any genre, but I was okay with the limited bit found here, since the other gothic elements shine with suspense. Well written, enjoyable.
Because there's no supernatural involved, I was surprised at this novel being listed as "gothic." But, when I looked up the definition of gothic genre, yep.. turns out to be exact: literature that combines mystery, fear, death, horror, and sometimes an element of romance.
I dislike romance novels, or too much romance in a novel of any genre, but I was okay with the limited bit found here, since the other gothic elements shine with suspense. Well written, enjoyable.
January 20, 2011
My son asked me to read this book (which I was reading) aloud to him when he was very, very young. He has remembered it for over 30 years and has become very, very interested in books about alternate societies.
Want to read
July 16, 2011Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.
September 23, 2016
A book of two sides. An intriguing first half - mysterious and captivating. Flavoursome narrative and characters. Once the tragedy strikes it all falls down to lower than avarage and tired suspense semi-supernatural thriller. A missed opportunity here.
January 1, 2008
Janet Caird didn't write many books that I'm aware of, although maybe more were published in Britain than here in the U.S. I liked them because they're all mysteries that take place in Scotland.
May 4, 2016
I don't know what it is about this 60's book, but I loved it just as much on the re-read!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews