A Dark and Rising Tide — An entertaining creature feature by Debra Castaneda

Cover image courtesy of
Shadow Canyon Press

 A Dark and Rising Tide is a well written people vs nature story, with a monster akin to those horror movies of the late 70s through 80s to boot. I’m reminded of Tremors. I’m reminded of Jaws. I’m reminded of Aliens. I’m reminded of Chtuthlu, for obvious reasons, and I’m almost certain that I’ve spelled Cthulhu wrong. Again (one is correct, according to autocorrect, so I’ll trust it—just this once).

But I digress. Back on point, this is a fun, casual horror read about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Carla, a restaurant owner in a seaside tourist town, is just trying to make ends meet after the recent death of her son from a boating accident. She has regulars to her restaurant along the pier. She has a love interest in Peter, a retired lifeguard and park ranger. They make a nice couple, but Carla isn’t ready to commit due to the loss of her son.

Then a storm blows in, and the conspiracy theorist among regular patrons says there are monsters afoot. And he's right. Trapped by the storm, Carla and Peter, and a host of other small town characters are forced to deal with it. If you’re a fan of any of the classic movies that I’ve listed above, you just might like this read.

Check out this GoodReads link for where to find it, and for more reviews.