Dark Tide

Haynes follows her well-received debut, Into the Darkest Corner (2011), with an intense psychological thriller. Genevieve Shipley made good money at her software sales job in London, but dancing at an exclusive gentleman’s club was more lucrative. She succeeded in earning enough money to quit both jobs and now lives on a houseboat in a Kent marina. Her first party on the boat ends abruptly with her finding the body of lap dancer Caddy Smith, the only friend Genevieve had at the Barclay Club, floating in the water nearby. Genevieve believes she was the real target, and that the Barclay owners are after the package she agreed to hold for the club’s bouncer with whom she had a brief relationship and who’s now unreachable. A convincing portrayal of a woman who’s both naïve and self-confident elevates the solid plot, which alternates between the present and the past when Genevieve chose to ignore the illegal goings-on at the club. Agent: Adrian Weston, Adrian Weston Literary Agency. (Mar.)