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FBI Thriller #5
Riptide
Agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock must protect the life of a young political speechwriter in this New York Times bestseller in Catherine Coulter’s FBI Thriller series.
A senior speechwriter for the governor of New York, Becca Matlock is at the top of her professional game when she receives a disturbing phone call that threatens everything: “Stop sleeping with the governor or I’ll kill him.” The thing is, she’s not sleeping with her boss, but that fact doesn’t stop the calls from the man who refers to himself as her “boyfriend.”
When her stalker murders an innocent in New York City and the governor is shot in the neck, Becca comes under suspicion and takes off for the sanctuary of Riptide, an isolated community on the coast of Maine. But she soon finds herself at even greater risk...
FBI special agents Savich and Sherlock are in Riptide to help out an old friend of Savich’s father, and soon become embroiled in Becca’s deadly situation. But as enemies new and old circle closer, time is running out for them all.
A senior speechwriter for the governor of New York, Becca Matlock is at the top of her professional game when she receives a disturbing phone call that threatens everything: “Stop sleeping with the governor or I’ll kill him.” The thing is, she’s not sleeping with her boss, but that fact doesn’t stop the calls from the man who refers to himself as her “boyfriend.”
When her stalker murders an innocent in New York City and the governor is shot in the neck, Becca comes under suspicion and takes off for the sanctuary of Riptide, an isolated community on the coast of Maine. But she soon finds herself at even greater risk...
FBI special agents Savich and Sherlock are in Riptide to help out an old friend of Savich’s father, and soon become embroiled in Becca’s deadly situation. But as enemies new and old circle closer, time is running out for them all.
Audio CD
First published July 10, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 500 reviews
August 14, 2007
The story could have been good, but the writing was horrible. I kept reading...for whatever reason...only to be disgusted by the cheesiness of the whole thing.
July 28, 2016
Riptide by Catherine Coulter is a 2001 Jove publication.
Many years ago I decided to hunker down and get caught up on this series. Even back then, I was pretty far behind, but I didn’t really care for the first few books, and I quickly abandoned it, so now I have a handful of these FBI novels sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust. However, I recently discovered a new book in this series will be released soon, which prompted me to give it another try.
Sadly, this book, which the fifth installment, was not the best place to start, as once again I was really unimpressed. All can say is this series surely must have improved over time and I just haven’t gotten to that stage in the series yet.
Hopefully, I will have better luck with the next one.
2 stars
Many years ago I decided to hunker down and get caught up on this series. Even back then, I was pretty far behind, but I didn’t really care for the first few books, and I quickly abandoned it, so now I have a handful of these FBI novels sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust. However, I recently discovered a new book in this series will be released soon, which prompted me to give it another try.
Sadly, this book, which the fifth installment, was not the best place to start, as once again I was really unimpressed. All can say is this series surely must have improved over time and I just haven’t gotten to that stage in the series yet.
Hopefully, I will have better luck with the next one.
2 stars
April 12, 2012
Did you all hear that massive thudding sound? That was me finally hitting rock bottom. Never before have I read a book so indescribably, savagely putrid as Riptide by
Catherine Coulter. It is interesting to begin by noting that Coulter previously wrote historical romances before deciding to crawl into the ever-expanding, ever-
excreting bowels of mediocrity by jumping on the band waggon of police procedural mystery/thrillers. In this terrible book, I found flaws on nearly every page. Sadly, I
was drawn in by the fast-paced beginning which, despite being poorly written, seemed to promise entertainment if nothing else. Then, as the terrible dialog began to
pound its way into my brain and the characters remained cliche, I came accross this quote. "She looked back once at the ghastly pile of white bones wearing Calvin Klein
jeans and a sexy pink tank top. Poor girl. She thought of the Edgar Allan Poe tale The Telltale Heart and prayed that this girl had been dead before she was stuffed in
that wall." Ummm, 'scuse me CC, but aren't you referring to Poe's story The Cask of Amontillado, and don't you think that using the word tale directly in front of the
word Telltale sounds very redundant? You probably do not because you are a bestselling author and you and your team of editors and so forth are too busy rolling around
in the money you make off easily-satisfied people to notice your countless mistakes. I mean, I was reading the paperback!! How did people not notice that when it was a
hardcover? It is all downhill from there. A ridiculous romance starts up which I did not predict because I did not expect this book to deliver such a low blow, a main
character constantly uses the expletive "damnation," and I stopped giving what little shit I had given in the beginning. I have never seen writing this bad. Never in a
published novel, that is. I can usually handle bad writing with a good plot or good writing with a bad plot, but when you put them both together and present me with a
novel cornier than Nebraska, I can't like it. I am actually offended by the book in its entirity which is something that has never happened to me before. Even the
mystery was ruined by its predictability and Coulter's horrible use of a second climax which was totally unrealistic. The whole thing simply can not be explained to me.
No excuse can valedate such a tragedy of literature. No amount of reason can possibly make up for something such as this being created and sold in a world where people
with college educations are starving on the streets. I am fucking repulsed and disgusted and beg all of you not to read this book and most likely nothing else by this
author. If she hasn't learned to write by this point in her career, she never will. I could go on and on about how bad this book is but frankly, I don't think it
deserves any more of my time or attention so goodbye Catherine Coulter and the Riptide of shit you road in on.
Catherine Coulter. It is interesting to begin by noting that Coulter previously wrote historical romances before deciding to crawl into the ever-expanding, ever-
excreting bowels of mediocrity by jumping on the band waggon of police procedural mystery/thrillers. In this terrible book, I found flaws on nearly every page. Sadly, I
was drawn in by the fast-paced beginning which, despite being poorly written, seemed to promise entertainment if nothing else. Then, as the terrible dialog began to
pound its way into my brain and the characters remained cliche, I came accross this quote. "She looked back once at the ghastly pile of white bones wearing Calvin Klein
jeans and a sexy pink tank top. Poor girl. She thought of the Edgar Allan Poe tale The Telltale Heart and prayed that this girl had been dead before she was stuffed in
that wall." Ummm, 'scuse me CC, but aren't you referring to Poe's story The Cask of Amontillado, and don't you think that using the word tale directly in front of the
word Telltale sounds very redundant? You probably do not because you are a bestselling author and you and your team of editors and so forth are too busy rolling around
in the money you make off easily-satisfied people to notice your countless mistakes. I mean, I was reading the paperback!! How did people not notice that when it was a
hardcover? It is all downhill from there. A ridiculous romance starts up which I did not predict because I did not expect this book to deliver such a low blow, a main
character constantly uses the expletive "damnation," and I stopped giving what little shit I had given in the beginning. I have never seen writing this bad. Never in a
published novel, that is. I can usually handle bad writing with a good plot or good writing with a bad plot, but when you put them both together and present me with a
novel cornier than Nebraska, I can't like it. I am actually offended by the book in its entirity which is something that has never happened to me before. Even the
mystery was ruined by its predictability and Coulter's horrible use of a second climax which was totally unrealistic. The whole thing simply can not be explained to me.
No excuse can valedate such a tragedy of literature. No amount of reason can possibly make up for something such as this being created and sold in a world where people
with college educations are starving on the streets. I am fucking repulsed and disgusted and beg all of you not to read this book and most likely nothing else by this
author. If she hasn't learned to write by this point in her career, she never will. I could go on and on about how bad this book is but frankly, I don't think it
deserves any more of my time or attention so goodbye Catherine Coulter and the Riptide of shit you road in on.
March 15, 2008
Okay, much better than The Edge. The characters had more to them, they didn't seem flat like those in The Edge. The way she describes everything, if Riptide weren't fiction, I'd love to visit the place! I swear I could taste the salt from the sea, smell the fresh air. With more than one twist to her story, she kept me hooked. I sort of figured out a few things didn't 'jive', and sort of firgured out who the 'Boyfriend' could be, but it was the twists and how it got there that kept me hooked. As for the main character, Becca was real to me. No matter how scared she was, she fought back. I do hope that the rest of the series doesn't fall flat like The Edge did. I don't want to be disappointed like that again.
February 13, 2013
Hard to believe this is Catherine Coulter's 17th novel. It was just so poorly written. Cheesy dialogue, unbelievable story, predictable plot. It started off promising. I mean, the writing was bad from the beginning, but the story was fast-paced and interesting. It didn't take long for it to lose me though. It's also hard to believe the book has received 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. Coulter must have some real die-hard, long-suffering fans.
Just a few reasons why I thought it sucked:
1. Almost every character was incredible unlikeable, with the possible exception of Sherlock and Savage.
2. I was listening to the audio book. For the first 5 disks there was little language, no F-words. Then suddenly, it was as if the author decided that to make the story more dramatic she should add a dozen or so.
3. The story just went on and on and on. This nine disc book could have easily been told in 3. I got through 7 of 9 discs. Then decided that I just couldn't take anymore, so I skipped straight to the 9th to finish up, and didn't really feel like I'd missed a thing!
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
4. Becca buys herself a blackmarket gun, has one session at the gun range and suddenly she's an expert marksman? Shooting randomly at the unknown - she's lucky she doesn't kill some innocent bystander - but no, she always hits her mark.
5. She has FBI who have been assigned to help protect her, but she's constantly insisting on going on every raid and shootout that they have. And they let her! "Becca can cover me," they'll say. Are you kidding me? She's a civilian. She acts like an idiot and everyone lets her.
Those are probably my biggest complaints, but not at all the only ones.
I understand that the author used to write Historical Romance novels - the more cheese and fluff the better. She probably should stick to that because this political thriller was full of the same cheese and fluff and it just didn't work.
Just a few reasons why I thought it sucked:
1. Almost every character was incredible unlikeable, with the possible exception of Sherlock and Savage.
2. I was listening to the audio book. For the first 5 disks there was little language, no F-words. Then suddenly, it was as if the author decided that to make the story more dramatic she should add a dozen or so.
3. The story just went on and on and on. This nine disc book could have easily been told in 3. I got through 7 of 9 discs. Then decided that I just couldn't take anymore, so I skipped straight to the 9th to finish up, and didn't really feel like I'd missed a thing!
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
4. Becca buys herself a blackmarket gun, has one session at the gun range and suddenly she's an expert marksman? Shooting randomly at the unknown - she's lucky she doesn't kill some innocent bystander - but no, she always hits her mark.
5. She has FBI who have been assigned to help protect her, but she's constantly insisting on going on every raid and shootout that they have. And they let her! "Becca can cover me," they'll say. Are you kidding me? She's a civilian. She acts like an idiot and everyone lets her.
Those are probably my biggest complaints, but not at all the only ones.
I understand that the author used to write Historical Romance novels - the more cheese and fluff the better. She probably should stick to that because this political thriller was full of the same cheese and fluff and it just didn't work.
June 18, 2015
The premise of Riptide is frightening: Becca Matlock has a stalker. He calls her, he assaults people to put on a show for her, he shoots the governor for sleeping with her - even though they aren't sexually involved. She tries to escape to Riptide, the hometown of a college friend, but her life spirals downward in fast-forward.
The issue with the novel, though, is the very stilted and contrived dialogue. Every character spoke the same way - despite their age and geographical differences. The fast pace of plot detracts from any chance to characterize Becca and Adam past vague caricatures: Becca is the strong-willed female lead and Adam is the protective male.
The constant mention of Becca's skinniness was unnerving - Adam spent a lot of time thinking about how he wanted to force feed her to get her weight up. It didn't really fit with the flow of the story and I'm not sure why it was mentioned as often as it was.
The ending hammered the final nail in the coffin:
Though cliches ruined a bunch of the surprises (such as the one at the very end), the story was interesting enough to finish. If you've read other mystery/FBI thrillers and liked them, then you'll probably enjoy this. Personally, I didn't like it; someone once told me reading this genre was like reading an embellished checklist and, unfortunately, I can't see past the very formulaic story.
The issue with the novel, though, is the very stilted and contrived dialogue. Every character spoke the same way - despite their age and geographical differences. The fast pace of plot detracts from any chance to characterize Becca and Adam past vague caricatures: Becca is the strong-willed female lead and Adam is the protective male.
The constant mention of Becca's skinniness was unnerving - Adam spent a lot of time thinking about how he wanted to force feed her to get her weight up. It didn't really fit with the flow of the story and I'm not sure why it was mentioned as often as it was.
The ending hammered the final nail in the coffin:
Though cliches ruined a bunch of the surprises (such as the one at the very end), the story was interesting enough to finish. If you've read other mystery/FBI thrillers and liked them, then you'll probably enjoy this. Personally, I didn't like it; someone once told me reading this genre was like reading an embellished checklist and, unfortunately, I can't see past the very formulaic story.
August 9, 2019
Re-read.
April 7, 2013
A murderous stalker who called himself "your Boyfriend", disbelieving police, a strange Maine town whose streets are named after poisons, a skeleton discovered in the basement of a house, and ex-KGB agent sworn to avenge the death of his wife - just a few of the elements in this fifth novel of Coulter's FBI series.
The heroine, Rebecca Matlock, is allowed to get away with some stupid behavior. The sub-plot's denouement I saw coming from a mile away. Still, I enjoyed the cat & mouse game played by the main bad guy and the circuitous path the good guys had to follow to figure out who it was.
Not the best in the series but a solid read.
The heroine, Rebecca Matlock, is allowed to get away with some stupid behavior. The sub-plot's denouement I saw coming from a mile away. Still, I enjoyed the cat & mouse game played by the main bad guy and the circuitous path the good guys had to follow to figure out who it was.
Not the best in the series but a solid read.
June 14, 2018
Another fun romantic suspense by Catherine Coulter. Not the best by her, but not the worst.
A little spy action, topped off by a good old fashioned psychotic stalker.
A little spy action, topped off by a good old fashioned psychotic stalker.
March 3, 2011
This book was number 5 in the FBI Thriller series. I'm a big fan of that series, but somehow i never totally got into this one as much. Savich & Sherlock come in a little on the sidelines, and you get to see a glimpse of how their little boy is doing, but they're not really featured at all. The main character, Becca, is being stalked, and flees to a small new england town, Riptide. She actually ends up leaving Riptide by halfway through the book. There are some twists, but they're pretty obvious, but there's also some action, which is good. Has anyone ever noticed how strangely people talk in this series? Especially Savich. People don't talk like that! It's always been a bit hard to picture these people (who are always well muscled, in shape, talented, with really great jobs) speaking as if they are toddlers. I love Catherine Coulter, but they really do. I used to work in a daycare. Anyway, I enjoyed it, but wasn't really sucked in as much as her other books. If you're reading the series, as i am, you'll want to read this one, but if you're just reading it as a stand alone book, I think you'd rather choose another of hers instead. It just lacked..something.
June 24, 2018
I can't believe how much I hated Becca. Every time to started to like or root for her she'd do something stupid and make me want to backslap her silly. She was annoying. The relationship development between her and Adam was very unromantic and so not plausible. The bad-guy was so over the top I kept rubbing my hands together chuckling 'Bha, ha, ha, ha...' Savage & Sherlock were the saving grace and wasted in this book. As far as I was concerned the torturously, convoluted story never got fun enough or the main characters like-able enough to just go with the flow and press my brain-off button.
The twist at the end was so kooky it made me eye-roll so hard I almost fell off the chair.
The twist at the end was so kooky it made me eye-roll so hard I almost fell off the chair.
October 15, 2011
Becca Matlock is a senior speechwriter for New York's govenor. She receives the
first in a series of deadly phone calls. These calls threaten her life and the
life of the govenor. The police refuse to believe that Becca's being stalked even
when the stalker kills to prove a point.Becca flees to a friends home in Riptide
Maine and it seems a sanctuary at first but soon Becca gets herself in a lot
more trouble. One of Catherine Coulters earlier books in the FBI series. A page
turner with a good story.
first in a series of deadly phone calls. These calls threaten her life and the
life of the govenor. The police refuse to believe that Becca's being stalked even
when the stalker kills to prove a point.Becca flees to a friends home in Riptide
Maine and it seems a sanctuary at first but soon Becca gets herself in a lot
more trouble. One of Catherine Coulters earlier books in the FBI series. A page
turner with a good story.
January 20, 2019
I loved it
January 31, 2020
3.5 Stars
rounded up to 4 Stars.
December 24, 2009
This book is not one of her best, but I still liked it. It drew me in rather quickly and kept my interest. It's probably more like 3 1/2 stars, but hey, it's Catherine Coulter, one of my favorite authors -- I had to go in the positive direction.
She does have a lot of books that are better, and a few that are worse. But overall, if you haven't read her, I would definitely recommend it. I just wouldn't start with this one.
In fairness to those dissenters out there, I partially agree with some of the negative comments. The dialogue is not up to her expected standards, but it's not that bad; it didn't make much of an impact on my enjoyment of the story.
The Cons:
--The story was choppy in places.
--Some of the characters and subplots were not deep enough for me; it's like she just stuck some things in to prolong the story or add some spice.
--In parts, it pushed the reality meter to the limit. I give a lot of license for realism. However, the idea that the bad guy is really clever didn't go over very well. This is because, he/she got away with a lot just because the good guys being really stupid -- Kevlar vests, anyone? There's some really shoddy police work going on and even Savich and Sherlock are in on one of the "good guys are stupid scenes".I found it hard to get on board with that one. This is standard police work, people! Maybe because it's an older book, they didn't do it the way I expected them to, but I got over it.
Overall, I found it fun and engaging. Not one that I couldn't put down, but enjoyable.
She does have a lot of books that are better, and a few that are worse. But overall, if you haven't read her, I would definitely recommend it. I just wouldn't start with this one.
In fairness to those dissenters out there, I partially agree with some of the negative comments. The dialogue is not up to her expected standards, but it's not that bad; it didn't make much of an impact on my enjoyment of the story.
The Cons:
--The story was choppy in places.
--Some of the characters and subplots were not deep enough for me; it's like she just stuck some things in to prolong the story or add some spice.
--In parts, it pushed the reality meter to the limit. I give a lot of license for realism. However, the idea that the bad guy is really clever didn't go over very well. This is because, he/she got away with a lot just because the good guys being really stupid -- Kevlar vests, anyone? There's some really shoddy police work going on and even Savich and Sherlock are in on one of the "good guys are stupid scenes".I found it hard to get on board with that one. This is standard police work, people! Maybe because it's an older book, they didn't do it the way I expected them to, but I got over it.
Overall, I found it fun and engaging. Not one that I couldn't put down, but enjoyable.
September 3, 2008
I didn't hate this book, but I didn't really enjoy reading it very much either. The dialogue seemed forced and unnatural, and it didn't flow either. Although Coulter really thought she had a good puzzler here, I was not surprised at any time while reading this book--it was that predictable.
July 1, 2011
This one is one of my favourites! Love Becca & Adam.
October 1, 2021
So why do I keep reading this FBI series in spite of the highly improbable plots and the crazy romances? Not sure. I've heard the later books in the series are quite good, so I keep trying. And meanwhile they are entertaining (-:
July 6, 2012
Can you tell I'm on a
Coulter kick? :)
Coulter kick? :)
October 5, 2020
Again, another revisit and this time in audio and this one had me on the edge of my seat. Becca Matlock is being stalked but the police to not believe her. She is a speech writer for the governor of New York and her stalker accuses her of sleeping with the governor. After a bombing and then the death of her mother she escapes to the town of Riptide. This is a small town where her friend from college lives with his son along with other characters who keep this story moving. There is where Adam finds Becca. Adam is sent to protect her by her father who she thinks died when she was very young. So many twists and turns and crazy psycho stalker it is not over until the very end.
August 31, 2026
Good story concept
The concept for this story was really good and what made me purchase the book. This was my first novel from her, and I know it was one of her early works. The book had some breaks in the flow, and some of the conversations were really awkward and a bit contrived. That said, I followed it through and the enjoyed much of the book. The ending was also too predictable and, again, a bit too contrived. I’ve bought two of her much later works, so I’m looking forward to seeing how her writing has progressed.
The concept for this story was really good and what made me purchase the book. This was my first novel from her, and I know it was one of her early works. The book had some breaks in the flow, and some of the conversations were really awkward and a bit contrived. That said, I followed it through and the enjoyed much of the book. The ending was also too predictable and, again, a bit too contrived. I’ve bought two of her much later works, so I’m looking forward to seeing how her writing has progressed.
September 26, 2023
Female lead too cutsie. So many men obscessed with her. Bodies falling out of basement walls.
June 10, 2023
Poorly written. Terrible plot and super repetitive.
August 17, 2024
It was very good. A twist I didn’t see coming.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2024
Not the best in this series.
May 25, 2013
As an avid mystery/thriller reader this book/storyline was so bad I find it offensive. I find it hard to believe that this author has dozens of books and apparently fans. It's almost like a trashy romance novelist decided to write a mystery and crapped this hodgepodge out, and for all I know about this terrible author that might indeed be the case. I bought several of her books at the goodwill for a buck/buck fifty apiece looking for a new author to read. 3 books in- what a waste of money!!! First off, it appears to me that this author has a tendency to include a strong-willed independent woman in every book, and then....all of the aforementioned strong willed women fall in love with the 'hero' man that comes to save the day and rescue them from their own stupidity. I mean seriously- get a new storyline. Every book? Particularly in this book it was just unnecessary and really came out of nowhere- not like a plot twist, more like a WTF did I miss something, are my pages stuck together? Secondly, the initial premise of the book is that she's receiving threatening phone calls and no one believes her- her phone line was supposedly tapped so even if they couldn't locate the caller there would at least be proof that an incoming call was received. Additionally, even allowing for the fact that this book was written 10+ years and eons of technology ago, cassette recorders and answering machines and the ability to record calls DID actually exist and the lack of use (or even mention!) of any one of these items to be used in establishing the validity and content of the calls was utterly obnoxious and really downright ridiculous. THEN after she flees, she STILL gets a new phone line installed?? With a telephone stalker out there? Seriously? This author needs to decide if her leading ladies are actually independent gun toting whoop ass broads or fickle idiotic simple minded damsels in distress waiting to be rescued and stick with it for the duration. Touches of vulnerability are one thing, schizophrenic characters are another. Basically this book pissed me off in the first 5 pages and did absolutely nothing to redeem itself; all it did was reinforce that this harlequin romance novelist turned mystery thriller writer is junk and I should stick with buying one book by the author and giving it a test run before I waste money on a handful of books that I will just turn around and donate back to the Goodwill. Actually, I'd rather throw them out than tempt anyone else to read this nonsense.
May 19, 2019
Becca Matlock has a stalker and law enforcement seems to think she's crazy. So she hies off to an isolated town called Riptide, in Maine, to hide from her stalker. She meets Tyler, the guy she knew in college who grew up in Riptide, which gave her the idea to hide out there, and his stepson Sam. She also meets Adam, claiming to be her guardian angel, who knows about her stalker and believes her. He won't tell her much else, but he's determined to protect her. His boss, Thomas (who has plenty of secrets of his own) enlist Savich and Sherlock to help out in tracking down her stalker.
This is what I consider a "beach read." It has a pretty simple, uncomplicated plot, the characters are likeable but also uncomplicated and it just provides a few hours of entertainment. This had a fairly decent suspense plot, with a crafty villain and an ensemble group of protagonists who work together well to try to solve the mystery. I tried not to think too deeply about their specialties and how they were getting the information and whether everything was realistic...I tried really hard not to. And because I could, the book was entertaining. On the downside, the romance is pretty clumsily put together. Adam shows up and insinuates himself into Becca's life and refuses to tell him anything (until all the secrets are revealed anyway) and she falls in love with him. Their romance was sort of out of the blue (though they did have a bit of chemistry) and decision to marry was even more so. This author also isn't the best with dialogue and especially using it for exposition. I mean, with the villain, Becca's explaining how they learned who he was, and he's all, "No, that can't be," and then launches into an explanation to confirm what Becca said they learned. It was kinda weird. A lot of the dialogue seemed unnatural actually. This was the first of this series that I read instead of listened to and I always just figured that the previous books sounded weird because of the way they were read...I'm thinking now it's the way it was written. Doesn't get in the way of entertainment value, but it did make me pause every now and again. Overall this was just okay.
This is what I consider a "beach read." It has a pretty simple, uncomplicated plot, the characters are likeable but also uncomplicated and it just provides a few hours of entertainment. This had a fairly decent suspense plot, with a crafty villain and an ensemble group of protagonists who work together well to try to solve the mystery. I tried not to think too deeply about their specialties and how they were getting the information and whether everything was realistic...I tried really hard not to. And because I could, the book was entertaining. On the downside, the romance is pretty clumsily put together. Adam shows up and insinuates himself into Becca's life and refuses to tell him anything (until all the secrets are revealed anyway) and she falls in love with him. Their romance was sort of out of the blue (though they did have a bit of chemistry) and decision to marry was even more so. This author also isn't the best with dialogue and especially using it for exposition. I mean, with the villain, Becca's explaining how they learned who he was, and he's all, "No, that can't be," and then launches into an explanation to confirm what Becca said they learned. It was kinda weird. A lot of the dialogue seemed unnatural actually. This was the first of this series that I read instead of listened to and I always just figured that the previous books sounded weird because of the way they were read...I'm thinking now it's the way it was written. Doesn't get in the way of entertainment value, but it did make me pause every now and again. Overall this was just okay.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2011
This is Catherine Coulter’s seventeenth novel. Take one stalker, one frightened speech writer, a vengeful spy, slipshod logic, lots of emotion including multiple murder and obsession and you get Riptide. Rebecca Matlock is being stalked by a male who seems invincible. Matlock can’t persuade the police, first in Albany then in New York City that she’s being victimized. On the contrary, police in neither city believe her. Nowhere in this setup is there any thought of tapping her telephone or even using an answering machine.
Thus, after her mother dies, Rebecca Matlock flees to an isolated Maine town to avoid her stalker after he wounds the Governor of New York, her former employer. Safe? Don’t you believe it. First her creepy ex-college classmate shows up. Then a creepy bodyguard shows up, a bodyguard given to violent rages. Somebody behind the scenes is pulling some powerful strings, because the next thing you know, the FBI shows up.
None of these professionals matter of course, because the bad guy is better than all of them. Well, it all gets sorted out in the end, of course and Dear Readers get a bonus, a direct challenge by the author on the back cover to figure out the mystery. Don’t bother.
The writing is generally clean and competent, although the dialogue tends to the unrealistic. I’ve never seen so many tough professionals saying damnation all the time. It’s an interesting story idea, but it can’t sustain the story line.
January 18, 2011
This was one of the worst books I have ever read. The story line is okay but the personal, cheesy dialog is intolerable. I recently read Tailspin by Ms Coulter and found it moderately enjoyable. Tailspin is one of Coulter's more recent books in the FBI series. Since I liked the characterization of Savich and Sherlock, I decided to go back and read another of her books with these characters. She has either matured in her writing since Riptide, or simply just matured. Maybe she now knows that no one talks like her characters. But Riptide is a book that COULD have been a good read. It Could have been interesting. But I spent so much time groaning over dialog that I couldnt get into the story. Some suggestions: cell phones had been invented and could have been very useful in the story. Also, if I was afraid of a stalker who I could not identify, I would scarcely let someone come and live in my home who was there to "protect" me---when he wouldnt explain how he found out about my situation. Maybe he could be the stalker. Just a really pitiful attempt.
November 18, 2010
This one started out really good, but then started to drag out in the middle. It also seemed to me that they dragged out every cliche possible and put them in the story. I had a hard time believing in the romance between Becca and Adam, they were so blah, didn't hard even kiss until the last quarter of the book. Becca also seemed a little too calm for what happened to her. If I was stalked, I am not sure that I would just go with the flow. And what is with her gun skills, most people can't randomly pick up a gun, learn how to shoot it, and then competently shoot it while bad people are coming after you. The last little mystery was so predictable that it was anti-climatic.
I am giving this series one last chance, if the book isn't good, I am done with it.
I am giving this series one last chance, if the book isn't good, I am done with it.
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