I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of Blood Tide, the fifth novel to feature forensic psychologist and missing persons expert, Dr Paula Maguire.

Paula's personal life is in turmoil. Her fiancé, Aidan, is on remand for murder and refusing to let her visit and she has recently found a letter from her mother written on the day she disappeared in 1993. Refusing to give up on either she has employed a private detective to try and find proof of Aidan's innocence and her mother's fate. In the midst of this she is asked to travel to the remote Bone Island in the Republic to help the Gardai hunt for a missing couple who have mysteriously vanished from the lighthouse they are living in.

Well, what a read! I was glued to the pages from start to finish and read it in one sitting. Ms McGowan is fairly even handed, running the professional and personal stories side by side with both having plenty of developments. Obviously the events on Bone Island, being current, have more action but there are a few interesting twists on the personal side as well.

The hunt for the couple, Matt Andrew and Dr Fiona Watts, takes place on the insular Bone Island during a very bad storm so it assumed some kind of accident took place but Paula isn't so sure. She senses something off about the island and when she gets trapped there it becomes dangerous. Told from Paula's point of view, supplemented by Fiona's take on past events, it is an exciting read with lots of twists and turns and a great, surprise ending. The plot may seem a bit fantastical but, unfortunately, the cause and effect are all too plausible.

Paula may have employed a private detective to help her and Aidan but it is an old colleague of her father, ex-sergeant Bob Hamilton, pulling the strings. This works well as we see the impact of the discoveries on Paula but we get the history from Bob's point of view and there was much more going on than 13 year old Paula could know or imagine. I am totally hooked on this plotline and am desperate to know how it will pan out.

Blood Tide is a masterfully plotted and executed novel. The pace never lets up with new developments in every chapter. The events on Bone Island are initially puzzling then tense as the full story starts to emerge so I have no hesitation in recommending it as an excellent read.