• The King Tides

  • Lancaster & Daniels, Book 1
  • By: James Swain
  • Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
  • Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (497 ratings)

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The King Tides  By  cover art

The King Tides

By: James Swain
Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
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Publisher's summary

Reality and illusion blur for an ex-Navy SEAL investigating a deadly case of stalking in this addictive thriller that Michael Connelly calls “a hundred percent adrenaline rush disguised as a detective novel.”

Nicki Pearl is the perfect daughter - every parent’s dream. And that of strangers, too. Wherever she goes, she’s being watched. Each stalker is different from the last, except for one thing - their alarming obsession with Nicki.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Nicki’s father is turning to someone who can protect her: retired private detective and ex-Navy SEAL Jon Lancaster. Teaming up with FBI agent and former abduction victim Beth Daniels, Lancaster can help - his way. He’s spent most of his career dispatching creeps who get off on terrorizing the vulnerable. Unlicensed, and unrestricted, he plays dirty.... But this case is unusual. Why so many men? Why this one girl? Does Nicki have something to hide? Or do her parents?

Trawling the darkest depths of southern Florida, Lancaster faces a growing tide of secrets and deception. And the deeper he digs, the more he realizes that finding the truth won’t be easy. Because there’s more to this case than meets the eye.

©2018 James Swain (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about The King Tides

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Could turn into a very good series...

I really like the author James Swain and I absolutely love his Billy Cunningham series. If you have never read/listened to anything by this author I would like to suggest starting with that series first.
I think is a very good plot driven book. That being of an ex navy seal turned unlicensed PI and an FBI agent teaming up together to catch pedophiles and serial killers. The FBI agent is also a former victim who got away. I found this book (unlike his others) to be little bit predictable. It had some nice twists and a few red herrings to keep it interesting.
If this were Swains first work I probably would have given it a five star review. However, based on the complexity of his previous books (especially SUPER CON) I am giving this a four star review. I think the protagonists in this book have tons of potential and I look forward to the next in the series being released in August 2019.
If you have kindle unlimited this book is only $1.99 to purchase.
Patrick Lawler does an excellent job narrating.
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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another excellent series from James Swain!

THE KING TIDES, set in Ft. Lauderdale, is the first novel in the new Lancaster and Daniels detective series by James Swain. Jon Lancaster is an ex Navy SEAL and cop who does not look the part and is now a private investigator. Beth Daniels is an FBI agent who was on her way to being a physician until she was the victim of a kidnapping crime while in college; her kidnappers are now serial killers. Daniels takes very unusual and unlikely steps to catch her kidnappers and in doing exposes her 15 year old niece to many stalkers who are perverts.

James Swain novels tend to be offbeat. His earlier private investigator novels include his Tony Valentine series and his Jack Carpenter series. My personal favorite is Swain's about con man Billy Cunningham; the series is light and fun, and at times silly.

I like Swain's novels so much that I may tend to overrate them. He is a very clever author who is a expert at making the unlikely seem credible. I really enjoyed THE KING TIDES! Patrick Lawlor narration is excellent.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Not fantastic

The plot is a little far fetched. Writing is not outstanding. Not crazy about the narrator. His style is choppy and amateurish.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The main character is completely unlikable, story

Like others have said, narration is awful. I could get past this but the story is just as bad. The main character is so unbelievable and just comes across as a character made for chubby, know-it-all men to identify with. Really, your belly is all muscle? mmmmmkay.

While the main character is so brilliant and amazing at everything the rest of the characters in the book are complete idiots and the main character is always surprised when they portray the tiniest bit of common sense. A 15 year old girl's dialogue reads like a 10 year old's. An FBI agent is hot headed, stupid, and somehow misses the most obvious clues in a case she's been working for 5+ years when somehow the main character catches them after looking over the details for a couple hours. k.

I'll be skipping the rest of the series.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Awful

Decided to try this because it was an Edgar nominee. The plot never hooked and the writing was filled with lame clichés. So lame!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

If you can get past the narration....

The narration is horrible -jerky, doesn’t flow like real conversation, sounds like someone just learning to read and call words with no foresight as to how to inflect voice or show expression at appropriate points. Ugh!! If you can get past that, which I forced myself to do, then the story is just okay, not good. I liked the main character and see potential for him with a different story line , but I was uncomfortable with the dark context of abuse of children. My fault for not reading reviews before listening. Overall, the only way I would ever listen to another story by this author is with another narrator and by checking reviews more thoroughly first.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wasn't sure I liked the narrator at first...

His voice soundec like a tough guy,
but after a short while it was clear the voice suited the character perfectly. It didn't take long for me to wish this ex Seal, people savvy hero was a friend of mine.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Novice Writing - Odd Voice Narration

Struggled to get through this book. A lot of, "He said. She said" writing and narration. story line was ridiculously drawn out and failed miserably at keeping the story relatable. The unnecessary chapters within this book substantiates that the writer must have had a book/story length clause in their contract. Just odd and poor quality all around.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting concept, writing and narration could be better

I found the writing style and narration performance distracting from the storyline. The book is filled with unnecessary details that don’t aid the story in any way. Character development is surface level which made ie easy to listen to as a background for other tasks but nothing I would want to go back to.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining P.I. story, good performance

This book has enjoyable characters and a good mystery. Lancaster is a former SEAL and former cop turned P.I. I like his personality and the way he keeps digging until he solves the crime. Very entertaining and pretty good performance. The voice took some getting used to.

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