HOLD BACK THE TIDE BY MELINDA SALISBURY: BOOK REVIEW

Monsters lurk in the deep in excellent YA historical drama by fantasy
author making an impressive debut splash into the horror genre

When authors jump genres, I’m always interested in what they come up with when they pitch their tent in the horror world. Melinda Salisbury, who has written some excellent YA fantasy novels, seamlessly moves genres, blending historical fiction, drama and ultimately monsters. This was an outstanding horror novel which has a killer opening three-page chapter, here’s a slightly abbreviated taster:

“Here are the rules of living with a murderer.
One: Do not draw attention to yourself […]
Two: If you can’t be invisible, be useful […]
On to rule three: If you can’t beat them, join them […]
Four: Don’t make them angry.
In my experience, a murderer is more likely to kill you if you make them angry.
Right now, my father is furious with me.”

The story is narrated in the first person by sixteen-year-old Alva, who believes her father murdered her mother seven years earlier. Set in a remote part of north Scotland (way north of Inverness), in the intervening years Alva has been ostracised by her former friends, as many of the other locals also believe her father was responsible for the mysterious disappearance in which a body was never found. Over the subsequent years Alva has been expecting her father to turn his wrath on her, hence her edginess in the opening chapter.
 
In Hold Back the Tide the setting is crucial and plays a key part in a story which deliciously holds back the horror element for the second half of the story. Alva’s father is the ‘Naomhfhuil’ and is responsible for monitoring the surrounding mountain lake (loch in Scottish) which feeds essential water into the local mill in the nearby village. One of main jobs is to check loch water levels, which are dangerously low, and Alva helps her father maintain. The drop in water levels reveals previously underwater entrances to caves which become visible and were presumed to be have been formed when there was a large earthquake many years earlier. There is added spice to the story as Alva’s father has been at loggerheads for many years with the owner of the mill, the reason is revealed as the plot develops into a convincing drama. Alva’s cottage is at least an hour walk, further up the mountain, from the village, and is very remote. The sense of isolation, and fear of her father and his unpredictable moods, is an important element in setting the scene for the developing the story.
 
Alva was a wonderful lead character, but at certain points I did wonder whether she was slightly too ‘modern’ for the story, however, that was probably a deliberate tactic. Early on we find out she had been secretly saving cash, and has a job waiting, in a town further south and is planning to run away. For a teenager, who has been tarred with the same brush as her father, she was spiky, very likable and a believable heroine which readers of today could easily empathise with. Although it never exactly says when the story takes place, there is evidence of photography and I would guess the late 1800s. She also has a very cute friendship with a boy, Ren, whom is also an outsider for other reasons. They often meet secretly, or unchaperoned, and I did wonder how common this would be in the late 1800s, however, this may well be another example of Alva breaking the mould of what was expected of a teenage girl in that period.
 
Often YA novels are let down by either cop-out endings or are frustratingly left open for an unnecessary sequel. Be rest assured Hold Back the Tide has a tremendous and very moving ending which I hope teen readers will find very satisfying and might even lead to a tear or two being shed. But before you get to the ending there is also a knockout twist about seventy pages from the end, one I really did not see coming.
 
What of the horror you might ask? The first half of the novel sets the scene perfectly, with believable dynamics involving the mill owner, her father and the fact that the individual with most money holds court and is effectively the law in a village that was so small a priest only visited twice a year. Once the horror is fully introduced, and there is no surprise it is connected to the lake, the pace really picks up and some readers might be surprised in the direction the story heads, effortlessly abandoning drama for horror. I really enjoyed the mythology behind the loch and what lurks there and with that the conflicts, and sense of duty, Alva faces.
 
Considering this story is set a couple of hundred years ago adult readers may question the number of dangerous scenes where adults are entirely absent, but teenage readers are unlikely to notice or care. Overall the blend of historical setting and engaging teenage heroine who dreams of escaping the destiny which has been mapped out for her was a captivating read and if you take on this book relatively blind you may not realise it’s a horror novel for a quite a while, which is very cool. I haven’t mentioned the creatures much, but if you think of the film Bone Tomahawk you’re vaguely in the right area. Only a Scottish version!
 
4.5/5
 
Tony Jones

HOLD BACK THE TIDE BY MELINDA SALISBURY

Everyone knows what happened to Alva's mother, all those years ago. But when dark forces begin to stir in Ormscaula, Alva has to face a very different future - and question everything she thought she knew about her past...Unsettling, sharply beautiful and thought-provoking, HOLD BACK THE TIDE is the new novel from Melinda Salisbury, bestselling author of The Sin Eater's Daughter trilogy.

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