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    Tideline
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    Tideline
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    Tideline
    Audiobook11 hours

    Tideline

    Written by Penny Hancock

    Narrated by Juanita McMahon and Charlotte Strevens

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    One winter's afternoon, Sonia, 43, married and respectable, answers the door to fifteen-year-old Jez. He's come to borrow some music. Sonia invites him in and soon decides that she isn't going to let him leave. As Sonia's desire to keep Jez hidden and protected from the outside world becomes all the more overpowering, she is haunted by memories of an intense teenage relationship, which gradually reveal a terrifying truth.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Ltd Audio
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781407497426
    Unavailable
    Tideline

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    Reviews for Tideline

    3/5

    93 ratings25 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      Ein Psychodrama, das man schnell durchgelesen hat.
    • 4/5
      This book is going to be one of those that you read all the way through because you enjoy it so much or one that you drop quickly because it isn't comparable with your sense of what is right with the world. A woman in her 40's keeps a teenager locked up in her house and tries to get away with it. It is supposed to be a little creepy and strange, so don't be surprised when you pick it up.I enjoyed listening to the audiobook but found that other than the basic plot, I didn't have a lot of things stand out at me in the end. Maybe I found the subject matter just a little too far from my comfort zone to retain it all, but I still don't regret picking this one up. It made me think about emotions and human interactions, even if only for a moment or two.
    • 5/5
      This was a great piece of suspense fiction. In it, a middle-aged woman keeps a teenage boy locked up in her house against his will. Comparing and contrasting with John Fowles' "The Collector" in which a creepy guy perpetrates a similar crime on a young woman, this author demonstrates that the middle aged woman - younger guy dynamic has a special type of creepy all of its own.Descriptions of the book's setting - a house right next to the Thames - are top notch, and the atmosphere and suspense are delivered with tremendous skill. It doesn't feel like a first novel, it is written with such confidence. At times I found myself thinking the unfortunate Jez needed to grow a pair and stop being so trusting, but then he is only a teenager, I reminded myself. Most of the action is narrated by the central character Sonia, but occasional chapters focus on Jez's aunt, Helen - a hopeless alcoholic though she doesn't admit it to herself. These chapters were great, and provided welcome respite from the close, tense atmosphere of the Sonia chapters. All in all, a great read.
    • 5/5
      Kept In The Dark is a dark tale of obsession. Sonia is 43 years old and has a compulsive need to love and be loved. She is an attractive wife and mother but that does not seem to be enough. When her neighbor's 15 year old nephew goes missing, Sonia is the last person anyone would suspect. But when Jez shows up on her doorstep, she has a compelling need to take him captive and she is prepared to sacrifice everything to keep him.

      I read this book in one sitting and it kept my attention all the way to the unpredictable ending!
    • 3/5
      Sonia has lived on the Thames all her life. Her husband tries to convince her to sell and her grown-up daughter and mother agree. But Sonia has memories from living here that continue to haunt her. Memories of a young boy she loved, even though he sometimes treated her cruelly, and lost. She sees that boy in Jez, her friend's nephew, who has been in town for a few days. When Jez stops by to borrow an album from Sonia, she decides to keep him in the house. Just for a little while. Maybe a few days. Alternating between the present and Sonia's memories of the past, Penny Hancock builds an increasingly sick and twisted tale of obsession and psychological suspense. The setting is described accurately in both glory and decay. Atmospheric and creepy.
    • 2/5
      This book was way too creepy and disturbing for me. A middle-aged neighbor kidnaps a 15 year old boy and holds him against his will for no apparent reason whatsoever. Super disturbing storyline as the woman sexually obsesses over the boy like her teen lover from many years ago. I was so disgusted I couldn't pick it up anymore after about 100 pages. Uggh.
    • 2/5
      The bio intrigued me but the book failed to hold my interest. The characters seemed a little flat-or at least not interesting enough to hold my attention. The fact that it is a UK book and written in a different voice than I am used to may have been a contributing factor. My natural curiosity kept me reading for a while, but I was finally forced to give up.
    • 5/5
      Wow. This novel was a tour de force. It hooks you in right from the beginning and never lets up. And the ending! You won't believe it. I never suspected that k.o. punch. I don't want to give away the story, but this one is a topsy turvy roller coaster ride.Thanks again Librarything for another great read!
    • 2/5
      I have tried to read this book several times and have not gotten very far. It sounded interesting when I requested it, but it failed to engage me. I was intrigued by the description I read, but couldn't stick with it. The characters were just not that interesting.
    • 1/5
      Gosh,I have tried to read this book,twice.While it has the stuff to make an interesting read,it just did not come together for me.I usually finish a book,even if it doesn't grab me,but I simply had better books begging for my attention.I just may read the last few chapters,something I never do,to possibly give me some sort of clue what happened. Thank you LT,as this was a freebie,and I am always excited to read something new.
    • 3/5
      An intriguing and interesting concept but sadly the book was just not that interesting. It's beautifully written and I'd even read another book by Ms. Hancock but for as well as it was written I could not keep myself interested in the story or characters.
    • 3/5
      "Kept in the Dark" is a story of a very disturbed woman named Sonia who kidnaps a young boy (Jez) and keeps him captive. The book alternates between her past with a boyfriend called Seb and present day. She seems to mix the two boys up at times. It was never clear to me if Sonia had a sexual interest in the boy or what her reasons were for keeping him. The book was not all that interesting and didn't seem to come together very well.
    • 3/5
      An intriguing premise but unfortunately the book is somewhat unevenly written. Rarely do we see this type of story told from the perspective of the captor, so I was interested to read a story inside a deranged mind. Yet little of this actually seems to occur. Main character Sonia mostly just seems bewildered by her actions in kidnapping Jez and keeping him captive; she acts but doesn't know why, and the oddly-paced flashbacks to her childhood really don't illuminate this. I found the chapters featuring Helen more compelling, although seeing that perspective really raised more questions than it answered. Toward the end, we do get one revelation about why Sonia is so abnormal (though good at disguising this), but it wasn't complete or satisfying for me. For a mystery or thriller, the payoff is the most important thing for me. Unfortunately this book fell short in that department.
    • 4/5
      A perfect book to read for the month of October!As I began this story I was not sure I wanted to read it. I have read The Lovely Bones and other dark books before but I was not sure where Penny was going to take me with this story line. Penny does a wonderful job connecting Sonya’s past and present, slowly revealing the possible reasons for her need to keep this young boy. I found myself needing to know what was driving Sonya and wanting to hate her and just throw the book at the wall but Penny just keeps giving you enough information to keep you needing to read on. She kept me glued to the story chapter after chapter. I usually take my time with books because I like to enjoy them but this book was hard to put down. I read it in 3 sittings and only because I had to go to bed each night. If you do not like unsettling real life type stories then this is not a book you should read, but if getting into the mind of people who do very bazaar things is, then I recommend this book for you. Another good book I have received through the Library Things Early Reviewers program.
    • 1/5
      Way too creepy for me. I read 1/3 of the book and just could not read the rest. For some reason, Sonia decides to kidnap 15 year old Jez when he comes to her house to pick up some old music albums that she has. While she flashes back to her relationship with Seb during her teens, she keeps telling Jez that she will let him go, then doesn't. Perhaps I will read the last chapter to see exactly what she does with him, but right now I have no desire to read anymore of it.
    • 1/5
      Way too creepy for me. I read 1/3 of the book and just could not read the rest. For some reason, Sonia decides to kidnap 15 year old Jez when he comes to her house to pick up some old music albums that she has. While she flashes back to her relationship with Seb during her teens, she keeps telling Jez that she will let him go, then doesn't. Perhaps I will read the last chapter to see exactly what she does with him, but right now I have no desire to read anymore of it.
    • 4/5
      *This is an advanced readers copy* librarything giveaway4 StarsWhen fifteen year old Jez goes missing family relationships that were already crumbling reach their limits obscuring realities about the disappearance. The family’s neighbor and friend Sonia, who can’t let go of her past lost love, is looking to fill an emptiness that has deepened since her daughter has gone off to college. Jez could be the answer to Sonia’s problem and her way to never have to let go of all that she has lost and all that is trying to be taken from her.First of all, I almost didn’t enter this giveaway because of the description but I am glad that I did. Are parts of this hard to read? Absolutely! There were times when I didn’t think I could possibly go on and would take a step back for a couple of days. If you can get around some of the actions of Sonia (it is hard to do) the plot is actually multifaceted and riveting. That said, there is only one likeable character and that is Jez, but unfortunately the only perspective given of him is through the other characters so that is why this didn’t get five stars from me. Reality slaps the face with this sort of book. Even though it is a work of fiction stuff like this is happening in our real world and I always appreciate that. This author is very brave in putting these words on the page. I have seen some of the negative reaction but I applaud her because something like this happened somewhere yesterday, is happening right now, and will happen tomorrow. Yes, I recommend this one wholeheartedly!
    • 4/5
      This is a beautifully-written but very strange little book. It's utterly absorbing but in the end rather unsatisfying, prevented by the unreliability of its own narrator from ever making it clear to the reader what exactly happened. Although the flaws, such as a major plot point hastily revealed late in the story and never fully addressed, aren't fatal, they are distracting. But Hancock does an excellent job of pulling you in on the narrator's side against the other people in her life before she she reveals the narrator's madness, as it were, and it's that well-done bit that keeps the reader hoping that things won't end badly for her. Not perfect, but well worth a read, just to see how that's done.
    • 1/5
      This is very possibly the dumbest book I ever attempted to read. It is a poorly written book about the kidnapping of a fifteen year old boy and the dysfunctional family and crazy friends involved. I am pleased to review books for LibraryThing, but this book is definitely not worth the time it takes to read it.
    • 3/5
      Fifteen year old Jez goes missing and nobody suspects that his aunt’s friend Sonia is the kidnapper. What transpires is a creepy and horrific tale of one’s woman’s sacrifice to keep her secrets. Beautifully written, and an interesting if not disturbing plot, the character of Sonia’s motive is revealed as the story advances. But Sonia is not a character I felt sorry for or cared about.
    • 1/5
      I'm sorry that I can't give this book more than 1 star. I wish that I could like it more. In fact, the whole thing was just too, too creepy for me! It is the story of a child abduction, from the point of view of the abductor. I actually only read about the first 1/3 of the book. I skimmed the remainder because I wanted to see what happened. Did Jez survive? Was Sonia caught? What really happened to Seb? Who owns the house, and can they really make Sonia sell it?Anyway, my questions were answered, and I can't wait to get this creepfest out of my house!
    • 4/5
      Kept in the Dark is British author Penny Hancock's debut novel. Forty something Sonia lives in a beautiful home on the Thames River in England. She is being pressured by her family to sell the house now that her children are grown, but she is quite resistant to this idea. Their constant pressure seems to have widened a crack in Sonia's psyche. Fifteen year old Jez comes to the door of River House to take up an offer from Sonia's husband to borrow some music. He's not home, but Sonia invites him in anyway......and decides that he won't be leaving. He is a beautiful boy and she decides she will be the one to protect him and keep him safe. So she drugs him and locks him in the music room..... All of this happens within the first few chapters of the book. So, we know the crime early on. The question is will Jez escape? And why is Sonia doing this? We get little glimpses into her past as the book progresses, revealing more and more of a relationship that was distinctly unhealthy. What drove this book for me was Sonia's rationalizations and thought processes. Hancock has written wonderful dialogue for Sonia. She is able to completely twist the situation around in her mind - she is truly only doing her best to help this poor boy - completely obliterating the fact that she is the one putting him in danger. She can't understand why Jez is not more grateful. The crime Sonia has committed is horrifying, but is Sonia herself who is gave me that creepy, unsettled feeling in my stomach as I read. There is a twist at the end, that I did suspect was coming a few chapters before. Hancock employs a first person narration style for Kept in the Dark. It's unusual as the entire book is told from the criminal's point of view and we never really get to know the victim at all. We know Jez wants to escape, but only from what Sonia tells us. Readers looking for an action packed book won't find it here. Instead the book moves at a slower pace as Hancock deliberately and deliciously builds the story bit by bit. Hancock has penned an interesting debut. I would pick up another book by this author - her next is scheduled for the first half of 2013.
    • 5/5
      This book was great! Very suspenseful and hard to put down. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did!
    • 3/5
      I think what I enjoyed most about this book is how the lead character's thoughts show that she believes that what she is doing is perfectly innocent and that she bears no malice towards her victim despite the ordeal that she puts him through. The explanation for her behaviour is shocking and sobering.
    • 4/5
      I purchased this novel just going by the strength on some of its earlier reviews and I have to say that I'm very glad I did. I'm on a bit of a psychological thriller kick at the moment and this was an excellent piece of fiction that I became absorbed in, very quickly. For me, a good thriller has to be intense and really hold the readers attention and I found this utterly compelling, able to visualise everything that was going on, from the characters to the settings.The novel follows forty-something Sonia, who one day opens the door to find fifteen-year-old Jez on her doorstep, there to borrow an album, promised to him by Sonia's husband. Chillingly, Sonia then decides that she is not going to let Jez leave and imprisons him in her home, hiding him from the world. At the same time, the book alludes to traumatic events that happened to Sonia years previously, something to do with the haunting river on which she still lives...This was a book of great depths, encompassing a lot of issues including family rivalries, breaking marriages and childhood traumas, though it never felt clunky or overdone, with convincing dialogue and just the right pace to keep the reader interested with a few little twists and turns.I personally felt that this novel worked so well because of how everything was unravelled so slowly with only vague hints to Sonia's past as well as how she tries to keep such a sense of normality about things in the present, despite knowing what she had done/was doing. It adds a sense of eerie believability to things as well as a heightened sense of anticipation from the reader. Also, as the reader sees a lot of the story in Sonia's own narrative, they obviously understand that she is a very unhinged individual, making her all the more frightening because you cannot perceive how she is going to act next. She clearly knows that what she is doing is wrong, but tries to justify her actions on a very disturbed level. I have to say that despite her wrongs, I did feel for her- she is clearly mentally ill and I think the author also manages to illicit some degree of sympathy for what she has been through, which is no mean feat. She is a very complex character and therefore a really memorable protagonist- because she comes across as an ordinary, every day lady, especially in how she appears to the outside world (think Kathy Bates in `Misery').I have deducted a star, merely because I found the way Aunt Helen's character was represented to be a bit irritating and she grated on me a bit. She was completely self-absorbed and I did not like her at all. Overall though, this was a very well written psychological thriller made all the more exciting by the fact that this is only a debut novel. I genuinely can't wait to see what Hancock comes up with next and I really appreciated how unlike a lot of thrillers, she did look at the psychological motivation as to why her characters did the things they did.Highly recommended- make sure you don't miss this. *This review also appears on Amazon.co.uk*