High Tide- Blog Tour

 

Author: Livia Franchini 

Publisher:  DoubleDay Books 

Publishing Date: 5th November 2026 

Many thanks to Random Things Tours and the publishing team for my physical copy of the book and  a spot on the blog tour 

Blurb 

Summer, 1992. Peter, a promising young artist, vanishes off the coast of Tuscany. Ten days later, his body washes ashore, bloated and unrecognisable. For one sweltering summer, his death grips the public imagination, before fading into the haze of nineties lore.

Thirty years on, Peter’s widow, Marie, has become infamous in her own right. A cult but reclusive horror writer, her novels are celebrated for their dark brilliance – but no one knows the woman behind the pen name, or the memories she’s spent a lifetime suppressing.

When a retrospective of Peter’s work is announced at a prestigious London gallery, an old friend resurfaces who seems determined to drag Marie from the shadows and unmask her. Drawn back to Italy, she feels the past begin to stir: the heat, the secrets, the girl she once was. What does she owe the dead – and how far will she go to protect the living?

My Thoughts 

There is something particularly compelling about stories that revisit a defining moment from the characters' younger years and explore how its consequences continue to shape their lives long into adulthood. This book does exactly that, combining an intriguing mystery with an exploration of complicated relationships and buried secrets.

At its heart, this is a story about the lasting effects of grief, betrayal, unhealthy attachments and the things people go to great lengths to keep hidden. The narrative shifts between different periods of time, gradually revealing more about what happened and how it continues to affect everyone involved. Although the mystery provides the driving force, it is the characters and their tangled relationships that really give the story its depth.

None of the characters are particularly easy to warm to. They are deeply flawed, often selfish and make decisions that I couldn't always understand. Yet there was something fascinating about watching their relationships unfold and seeing how their past experiences had shaped the people they had become.

I especially enjoyed the way the author brings the past and present together. The memories of that pivotal summer are slowly pieced together, with old tensions, unresolved feelings and long-held secrets resurfacing as Marie returns to a place so closely connected to her past. There is a real sense of nostalgia and unease running throughout, as though something has remained unfinished all these years.

Atmospheric, emotionally layered and full of intrigue, this was a story that kept me invested in uncovering the truth. A really enjoyable slow-burn mystery that I would happily recommend!