"...narrators John Pirhalla and Sophie Amoss skillfully let the protagonists' voices cycle through emotions like exhaustion, despair, and even hope." -Library Journal
A character-driven science fiction/horror blend, KC Jones's Black Tide is Stephen King's Cujo meets A Quiet Place.
It was just another day at the beach. And then the world ended.
Mike and Beth didn't know each other existed before the night of the meteor shower. A melancholy film producer and a house sitter barely scraping by—chance made them neighbors, a bottle of champagne brought them together, and a shared need for human connection sparked something more.
After a drunken and desperate one-night stand, the two strangers awake to discover a surprise astronomical event has left widespread destruction in its wake. But the cosmic lightshow was only part of something much bigger, and far more terrifying.
When a set of lost car keys leaves them stranded on an empty stretch of Oregon coast, when their emergency calls go unanswered and inhuman screams echo from the dunes, when the rising tide reaches for their car and unspeakable horrors close in around them, these two self-destructive souls must band together to survive a nightmare of apocalyptic scale.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
May 31, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250860422
- File size: 258730 KB
- Duration: 08:59:01
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 14, 2022
Jones debuts with an uneven, snark-filled romp through a postapocalyptic world. Financially unstable Beth makes another in a string of questionable decisions when she has a one-night stand with the neighbor at her current house sitting gig, washed-up film producer Mike, who’s still grieving the death of his wife. The world ends the night of their hookup, when an alien invasion disguised as a meteor shower leaves the planet devastated. Masses of people are missing and horrific creatures from an alternate dimension roam the earth. When Beth and Mike awaken to discover this new world order, they set out to survive together, but their escape from the extraterrestrial terrors stalls out on the Oregon coast. Between battling deadly aliens who seem to be just as confused as their prey and frantically searching for car keys, Beth and Mike learn to overcome enough of their insecurities to put up a fight. The pacing is slightly off, with a slow build-up and dragged-out suspense, but the unusual aliens and the climax’s edge-of-your-seat thrills make it worthwhile. The sarcastic, self-deprecating characters and quirky setup set this first contact tale apart, even if it’s something of a mixed bag. Agent: Amanda Jain, BookEnds Literary. -
August 1, 2022
Jones's debut begins with a one-night stand and ends with--the end. House sitter Beth and movie producer Mike seem very different, but both are carrying some serious emotional scars. Discovering that they are neighbors and Mike has alcohol, they share a night of passion as meteors fall around them. Arriving with the meteors, vicious (and creatively described) alien creatures quickly decimate the population. Soon, the couple is trapped by these monsters and must figure out a way to survive their sudden bump from the top of the food chain. While most apocalyptic tales are recounted through news reports and multiple eyewitness accounts, Jones wisely keeps the focus on Mike and Beth. The fact that they are far from the typical action movie tropes of capable heroes only adds to the tale's tension, and narrators John Pirhalla and Sophie Amoss skillfully let the protagonists' voices cycle through emotions like exhaustion, despair, and even hope. VERDICT Less a story about the apocalyptic end, this tale is character-driven survival horror that delves deep into the souls of some flawed heroes.--James Gardner
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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