There is something about atmospheric mysteries set in the Pacific Northwest that just draws me in. I’ve always wanted to live in this area so maybe this is just me living out that dream.
Middletide, Sarah Crouch’s debut, follows the investigation into the death of the towns local doctor. All signs point to suicide, that is until Sheriff Jim Godbout digs deeper and finds circumstances that point towards murder. A murder that mirrors those in the pages of Middletide, a book written over a decade again by recluse Elijah. As the primary suspect Elijah must figure out a way to prove his innocence and catch a killer.
Once again, my biggest pet peeve, not all mysteries are Thrillers. I loathe when a mystery is automatically classified as a thriller, and Middletide is not a edge of your seat thriller. If you go in with that expectation, you will be disappointed. It is very much a literary mystery with a romance subplot. In the vein of William Kent Kruger and Joanne Tompkins, Middletide is a slow burn, character driven (with plenty of plot), beautifully written mystery.
With multiple timelines and narrators, the story does jump around quite a bit from person to person and timeframe to time frame. However, the majority of the story is told from the late 80’s through 1994 and from Elijah’s perspective. Elijah is by far the main character, though we do get plenty of investigating from Dt. Godbout. Somethings this jumping around confuses me or makes me lose momentum in a story, but Crouch has used it to enhance the overall experience of the story and to fully flush out our characters. Every single character is flawed, realistic, and multi-faceted. I felt as if I had lived in the town.
While not an edge of your seat page turner, I flew through this beautiful story. Everything just worked, and I cannot believe this is a debut novel. I highly recommend this mystery and it’s most likely going to be in my top 10 this year.
Middletide comes out June 11, 2024. Thank you to Atria for my advanced copies in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.
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