My Cultural Diet

I do enjoy a good story in which some bizarre otherworldly event irrevocably changes life here on Earth, usually in the form of humanity being overcome by, and learning to fight back against, terrifying phenomena from beyond. On paper, that’s precisely what Black Tide promises, as two strangers awaken from a one-night stand to a bizarre and horrifying new reality. Their situation grows only more dire when they become trapped in a car on a beach, surrounded by alien creatures on one side and the slowly encroaching waves on the other. I discovered Black Tide via one of those Facebook reels of someone listing their favorite horror novels, and based on their description, I went in expecting a harrowing journey. Unfortunately, Black Tide falls less in the “otherworldly horror” genre, and more in the “annoying characters doing stupid things and getting mad at each other for it” genre. I don’t think I experienced a single moment of suspense, never mind horror, on any of the story’s 242 pages. I did, however, become increasingly bored by the characters’ frequent bickering, as well as the author’s attempts to make their neuroses, dysfunctions, and personal traumas more dramatic than they warranted.

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