ombraluce 's review for:

Deadly Tides: A Misty Pines Mystery by Mary Keliikoa, Mary Keliikoa

4.0

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Trying to come to terms with the loss of a loved one, especially if it is a young child and especially if the loss was caused by a disease such as cancer, can be devastating. Separating spouses, mental illness and all sorts of problems are not uncommon. This is what happens to Sheriff Jax Turner and his wife Abby, an FBI agent. With extreme difficulty they are trying to put the pieces of their marriage back together, although Abby's mother's early Alzehimer's, which requires a lot of treatment, complicates things a bit. It is Abby's mother, who has escaped from the nursing home, who finds a foot on the beach, clearly cut from a body, setting in motion the series of events that form the plot of the book. There is a lot in this novel: grieving; jealousy - personal and professional; juvenile delinquency; the plight of small, underfunded American communities; the difficulty of accepting a gay son. In short, there is a lot, and perhaps a little too much, because in many cases one would feel the need for an in-depth look. Still, it remains an excellent novel, even if who is the serial killer that the sheriff and his wife are trying to identify is clear practically from the start.