HIGH TIDE

by P.M. Hubbard

Curtis, after serving a prison term for murder, is trying to build a new life for himself, but as he travels across England looking for the right place, he realizes he is being followed by people with murderous intentions.

Genres: Mystery

181 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 1971

About the author

Philip Maitland Hubbard was an English writer. He was known principally for his crime and suspense stories although he wrote in other forms and genres as well, for example contributing short stories and poetry to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and articles, verse and parliamentary reports for Punch.

Hubbard was born in Reading in Berkshire, but was brought up in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. He was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey and at Jesus College, Oxford, where in 1933 he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry with "Ovid among the Goths". He served with the Indian Civil Service from 1934 until its disbandment in 1947 upon Indian independence, after which he worked for the British Council and as Deputy Director of the National Union of Manufacturers. From 1960 until shortly before his death he worked as a freelance writer. He lived in Dorset and in Scotland, and was married with three children, although separated at his death.

P. M. Hubbard's main output was sixteen full-length novels for adults. These are typically suspense stories which have their settings in the countryside or coastline of England or Scotland (although one, The Custom of the Country, is set mainly in Pakistan). Most of the novels feature a male protagonist (although in some, such as Flush as May and The Quiet River, the protagonist is a woman) and characters who in general are middle-class, articulate and strong-willed. Most of the novels draw extensively on one or more of the author's interests and preoccupations including country pursuits, small-boat sailing, folk religion and the works of William Shakespeare.

Hubbard's novel High Tide was adapted for television and broadcast in 1980 as part of the UK ITV network's Armchair Thriller series.

He was described in his obituary in The Times as a "most imaginative and distinguished practitioner", writing with an "assurance and individuality of style and tone." He died on 17 March 1980.

Reviews

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: after serving a prison term for murder, Curtis is travelling and realizes he is being followed by people with murderous intentions.

[spisok_korablei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Characters in this novel are almost devoid of personality. They possess a quality or two, which is sufficient to go along with the plot, but nothing extra. At some point I realised this is not an awkward misstep on the writer’s part but a prefabricated peculiarity of his bleak world. One might compare Hubbard’s character creation patterns to those of Camu. Their characters are equally prone to fateful fits and stark irresoluteness.
In Hide Tide people are driven by mighty natural forces which invoke in them sudden outbursts of purposefulness and fateful determination. No will of their own has ever shown itself during the course of their existences (at least that’s what readers are led to surmise) and the encounters they make in life only push them further down the slope towards the inevitable. The landscape characterisation on the contrary is abundant and detailed - moody sea winds, graphic lines of rock faces, languid curves of hills. This is where personality dwells, and the will as well. This is where the puppet-masters are hiding.

[Mikee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book four years ago. Gave it a “meh” rating. No memory of having read it. Second time around I enjoyed it much more. A good old-fashioned page-turner. The plot thickens from page one, the mystery is identified late in the book, and the ending is muted. Much is left unresolved, as it must be in real life.

[Regan MacArthur · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been mentioned that a literary thriller is actually a euphemism of a well-written book that contains no thrills at all. Well, this one has a few thrills but it's definitely more literary than thriller. Case in point, this book had me laugh out loud. Now there's nothing wrong with that, except I promise you that it wasn't the author's intention for me to laugh. I laughed because I couldn't help thinking that, usually, in a thriller, the hero doesn't have enough time to read a novel, especially so close to the finale. I mean, talk about nail-biting suspense for the reader: will the hero enjoy the novel he's reading? Will he have to consult a dictionary over a difficult word? Will he pause to get himself a snack?
Oh, well. I can't say I have any regrets. I did like the author's voice. I liked it very much.