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Red Tide
When the truth is chasing you, how far can you run?
The lives of surfing buddies Pete and Tom are changed forever when they venture in an abandoned power plant one fateful night in 1968. Instead of finding adventure, they find murder.
Fearful of revealing the truth, their lives are soon spinning out of control as they seek to escape from their terrible secret in surfing, drugs, and alcohol. Hoping to run away, they embark on an odyssey that will take them from their small Southern California beach town all the way to Cabo San Lucas at the end of the Baja Peninsula. Along the way they meet Anjanette, a beautiful young woman with a dubious past who teaches them the true meaning of life and friendship.
Red Tide is a tale of people seeking the truth and finding redemption.
The lives of surfing buddies Pete and Tom are changed forever when they venture in an abandoned power plant one fateful night in 1968. Instead of finding adventure, they find murder.
Fearful of revealing the truth, their lives are soon spinning out of control as they seek to escape from their terrible secret in surfing, drugs, and alcohol. Hoping to run away, they embark on an odyssey that will take them from their small Southern California beach town all the way to Cabo San Lucas at the end of the Baja Peninsula. Along the way they meet Anjanette, a beautiful young woman with a dubious past who teaches them the true meaning of life and friendship.
Red Tide is a tale of people seeking the truth and finding redemption.
427 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2015
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 12, 2020
I would give 5 stars for the story and vivid descriptions of the landscapes and area and also main characters. I received this book from the author via @BookTasters
Red Tide by Mark James Miller is a coming of age heart breaking story of two friends who think by escaping or running away from their problems and dysfunctional families can make them happy but they find otherwise and have to return and on the way berfiend a former prostitute who thinks she has has to atone for her past. There are many other characters in the story which leads to complex interactions and relationships both good and bad.
The plot makes for a story that is hard to leave or forget. But the shortcoming ids events and the mistakes they make is repetitive and also I personally feel there is unnecessary too much violence and badness in the story. Making same mistakes again and again and repenting and then making same mistake again may be Real Life but makes not for a very interesting reading
But that surely is my personal feeling
Otherwise the story is realistic and hard hitting .
Red Tide by Mark James Miller is a coming of age heart breaking story of two friends who think by escaping or running away from their problems and dysfunctional families can make them happy but they find otherwise and have to return and on the way berfiend a former prostitute who thinks she has has to atone for her past. There are many other characters in the story which leads to complex interactions and relationships both good and bad.
The plot makes for a story that is hard to leave or forget. But the shortcoming ids events and the mistakes they make is repetitive and also I personally feel there is unnecessary too much violence and badness in the story. Making same mistakes again and again and repenting and then making same mistake again may be Real Life but makes not for a very interesting reading
But that surely is my personal feeling
Otherwise the story is realistic and hard hitting .
January 22, 2020
Review originally posted at kittylishareviews.blogspot.com.
Pete has always felt like he had something to live up to. A name, or in this case a nickname, given to him by his father: Pete. Pete was a fallen soldier with whom is father served during the war and who Pete has always believed had something to tell him. That being said, growing up can be hard. When there is so much around you that is confusing and you don't know what to do with it the stress of it all can get to you. Add in big secrets and it can send you over the edge. That is what has happened to our young Pete. Now we must strap in and begin the ride to see just how far he will go to find himself and put himself back together after all that he has witnessed.
Tom has ran from his problems all of his life. When he wanted to do something he has always just done it. No fear of repercussions. When he meets Pete they instantly become best friends and when he convinces Pete to go into the tower that night he never imagined what they would discover. But, running away has always been what he has been best at. Now would be a great time to run from his problems and he has convinced Pete to go with him.
Anjanette is also on the run from her past. As a prior prostitute she feels she has much to atone for. Leaving her daughter is one of those things and she hopes one day to be good enough to be a part of her life once more. She has made a pact with God that if he only spared her life she would get out of that life and never be with another man again. That seems possible until she meets two young boys who take her with them on a whirlwind adventure to Mexico.
There you go. In what is above I have summarized everything that I found remotely exciting about this book. That took some doing. It took me a long and grueling 16 days to complete this book. There was nothing wrong with the writing itself. It was understandable, which is more than I can say for some books that I have read in the past.
Initially I even wanted to like this book. After all, in a way it struck close to home for me. My grandfather's nickname is Pete. He was from California, blonde, loved to surf, and even got tied deeply into religion for a while. His home life was a mess, and he dropped out of high school. All things that our young Pete in this book also faced. Even down to playing around with older women and having his heart on a girl his age. So to say I wanted to like this book is easy.
The problem is that there is just so much foulness in this book that I was disgusted. When I was not disgusted by this book I was bored out of my mind. I am by no means a prude; which anyone who looks at my blog can surmise. However, there are some lines that I will not cross and this book toed that line multiple times. Although the author stated to me that he does not intend for this book to be read by adolescents (and after having read it I can understand why) this book starts out following the lives of two 17 year old boys. If you, dear reader, are like some and read the age of the characters and believe that the book is safe for children then take this review to heart and do not let your teenagers near this book.
Pete has always felt like he had something to live up to. A name, or in this case a nickname, given to him by his father: Pete. Pete was a fallen soldier with whom is father served during the war and who Pete has always believed had something to tell him. That being said, growing up can be hard. When there is so much around you that is confusing and you don't know what to do with it the stress of it all can get to you. Add in big secrets and it can send you over the edge. That is what has happened to our young Pete. Now we must strap in and begin the ride to see just how far he will go to find himself and put himself back together after all that he has witnessed.
Tom has ran from his problems all of his life. When he wanted to do something he has always just done it. No fear of repercussions. When he meets Pete they instantly become best friends and when he convinces Pete to go into the tower that night he never imagined what they would discover. But, running away has always been what he has been best at. Now would be a great time to run from his problems and he has convinced Pete to go with him.
Anjanette is also on the run from her past. As a prior prostitute she feels she has much to atone for. Leaving her daughter is one of those things and she hopes one day to be good enough to be a part of her life once more. She has made a pact with God that if he only spared her life she would get out of that life and never be with another man again. That seems possible until she meets two young boys who take her with them on a whirlwind adventure to Mexico.
There you go. In what is above I have summarized everything that I found remotely exciting about this book. That took some doing. It took me a long and grueling 16 days to complete this book. There was nothing wrong with the writing itself. It was understandable, which is more than I can say for some books that I have read in the past.
Initially I even wanted to like this book. After all, in a way it struck close to home for me. My grandfather's nickname is Pete. He was from California, blonde, loved to surf, and even got tied deeply into religion for a while. His home life was a mess, and he dropped out of high school. All things that our young Pete in this book also faced. Even down to playing around with older women and having his heart on a girl his age. So to say I wanted to like this book is easy.
The problem is that there is just so much foulness in this book that I was disgusted. When I was not disgusted by this book I was bored out of my mind. I am by no means a prude; which anyone who looks at my blog can surmise. However, there are some lines that I will not cross and this book toed that line multiple times. Although the author stated to me that he does not intend for this book to be read by adolescents (and after having read it I can understand why) this book starts out following the lives of two 17 year old boys. If you, dear reader, are like some and read the age of the characters and believe that the book is safe for children then take this review to heart and do not let your teenagers near this book.
April 2, 2020
Overall Rating = 3.83
Storyline & Concept = 4.25
Writing & Delivery = 4.25
Editorial = 3
Red Tide is a story, set primarily in 1960s California, told from the point of view of Pete, who, along with his friend Tom, witnesses a murder. Afraid and guilt-ridden, Pete agrees to keep it a secret, but they eventually quit school, run away from everything they know, and travel to Mexico, where they meet people who change their lives forever.
This novel was submitted to SBR as an action adventure story. While it does contain elements of both action and adventure, a large part of the novel involves Pete’s soul-searching and observations about life, love, family, and friends. His relationships with other people are often deep and complex.
The novel is somewhat unpolished, but the imagery is vivid and powerful. The author’s strength is found in his descriptions of the characters, their emotions, and the settings. These are the factors that truly drive this story and make it a worthwhile read.
Sublime Line: “Well-developed characters and settings are the highlights of this novel about murder, fear, depravity, and morality.”
Storyline & Concept = 4.25
Writing & Delivery = 4.25
Editorial = 3
Red Tide is a story, set primarily in 1960s California, told from the point of view of Pete, who, along with his friend Tom, witnesses a murder. Afraid and guilt-ridden, Pete agrees to keep it a secret, but they eventually quit school, run away from everything they know, and travel to Mexico, where they meet people who change their lives forever.
This novel was submitted to SBR as an action adventure story. While it does contain elements of both action and adventure, a large part of the novel involves Pete’s soul-searching and observations about life, love, family, and friends. His relationships with other people are often deep and complex.
The novel is somewhat unpolished, but the imagery is vivid and powerful. The author’s strength is found in his descriptions of the characters, their emotions, and the settings. These are the factors that truly drive this story and make it a worthwhile read.
Sublime Line: “Well-developed characters and settings are the highlights of this novel about murder, fear, depravity, and morality.”
December 5, 2020
I got to read this book thanks to @booktasters on twitter. The story really caught me from the beginning, however, as it progressed I got a bit lost in the flashbacks, I feel that they could have been spread throughout the story or narrated more briefly because there were moments where I didn't know when the story was narrated. It was quite difficult to know when the past ended and the present began. The characters surprised me a lot, especially Pete. Tom had my heart from the beginning, there is a paragraph where he is compared to Dave but at the same time it's pretty clear that they are totally opposite, I loved that paragraph. Nonetheless, the descriptions of violence were too much for me. sometimes I had to stop and process it before continuing, but that's just something of my personal taste. In general, the story is captivating and it made my skin crawl at times. It made me understand that there are people who have only evil within them, others who are only good, and others who have both coexisting within.
February 28, 2020
I received this book from the author via @Booktasters as well and I must say I loved reading the well described landscapes and characters descriptions.
As to the story, it’s raw and there may be too many violence, but isn't the real world raw and violent as well? I feel like the characters kept getting into bad situations and you would think they would know better by now, sometimes life is just like that and there's not much you can do to avoid it.
I think what the whole story is trying to tell is that it doesn’t matter how fucked up things turn out to be, it doesn’t define you as a person, sometimes we must keep secrets and do bad things even if we don’t want to…
As to the author's writing skills, I found it easy to understand, good detail on the setting and characters development as I already mention, I wouldn't change the style, I hope that you as a potential reader find this review helpful and inspires you to read this book because it is worth your time.
As to the story, it’s raw and there may be too many violence, but isn't the real world raw and violent as well? I feel like the characters kept getting into bad situations and you would think they would know better by now, sometimes life is just like that and there's not much you can do to avoid it.
I think what the whole story is trying to tell is that it doesn’t matter how fucked up things turn out to be, it doesn’t define you as a person, sometimes we must keep secrets and do bad things even if we don’t want to…
As to the author's writing skills, I found it easy to understand, good detail on the setting and characters development as I already mention, I wouldn't change the style, I hope that you as a potential reader find this review helpful and inspires you to read this book because it is worth your time.
November 23, 2020
First of all, thanks to @booktasters for helping me read the book and to author Mark James Miller for giving me a copy of the book. Now I will briefly talk about the subject of the book. Pete witnesses a murder with his friend Tom, and despite his fear, Pete agrees to keep it a secret. But in the end they run away from everything, go to Mexico and meet new people. The narrative theme of the book was very nice, but in some places I did not like it and in some places it caused me to turn pages with excitement. Not everyone may think like me, but I still think this book is worth reading.
January 9, 2020
Pete and Tom are best friends tied to the hip.Together they 'heard' a secret.They vowed never to tell,but now the secret is keeping them awake at night,make them hallucinate during the day.That's when they decided to skip town,but that did not help,the secret followed them.
They had to make a decision, one that would free them.But that decision involved going back home to face all that they were running from.
It's an absolutely beautiful story,told awesomely.
They had to make a decision, one that would free them.But that decision involved going back home to face all that they were running from.
It's an absolutely beautiful story,told awesomely.
January 10, 2020
The story was sad and real, a rough life full of bad situations and Pete trying to find comfort in people and religion and it doesn’t work just seems to bring him deeper. There was Brian and Deacon, and lots of tragedy along the path for Pete and for Tom his best friend after Brian. No happy endings with this kind of life and that part is realistic and sad.
December 12, 2020
i found this book quite complicated was following the story line from the beginning loved the fact that it was adventurous but lost the story line by the time i got to the middle of the book. The book was quite descriptive it had its twists and turns in it and was exciting but i did not really understand it that well.
November 14, 2020
You grow to love and hate each character ,a bunch of young friends going through life discovering themselves ,
Religion , society vice and uncertainty , dealing with guilt and friendship and lust .
I enjoyed every bit of the book .
Religion , society vice and uncertainty , dealing with guilt and friendship and lust .
I enjoyed every bit of the book .
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews