Rating: 
Summary: Riviting
Review: This book holds the reader's attention with great excitement. The twists that the plot takes from chapter to chapter makes you feel like you are on a fast moving roller coaster and almost breathless with excitement. Right up to the very end you are present with the characters and feel their emotions as they build to the final climax!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting...but slow...
Review: This was not a bad book but I found myself putting it down quite often. The pace was a little slow but with an interesting story line. Worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Should have been better
Review: Ok, I admit it, I'm a sucker for cheap adventures. Can't help it, I just am.This book should have been great. Pirates, water, traps, treasure - all the right pieces, but it can be so difficult to properly balance these pieces. Preston and Child made it 3/4 through the book before their pieces toppled. The first three quarters are great. Exciting, entertaining, they'll keep you glued. The book falls in the end, though, as characters seem to change too drastically, and much of what has been set up topples in the wind. Would I recommend this? Absolutely. It will be a let down, and sometimes that's worse than a book that's terrible from the start, but the bulk of this book is the duo at the top of their game, and it's worth purchasing for that alone.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not their best work
Review: Attempts to retrieve the pirate treasure of "Red Ned" Ockham from the Water Pit on Ragged Island have lead to nothing but death and bankruptcy over the years. Malin Hatch who owns the island lost his brother to the booby-trapped Pit in a childhood adventure that went horribly wrong. He has avoided his home in Maine and the dreaded island just offshore for decades. When Captain Neidelman shows up with considerable financial backing and a potential key to the Pit's obstacles, Hatch reluctantly agrees to another attempt to recover the treasure - now worth 2 billion and rumored to include the relic St. Michael's Sword. But the high-tech equipped venture quickly runs into problems and it's not at all certain that they will be able to defeat the 17th century architect of the Pit.
With the exception of the main character, Malin Hatch, most of the characters are one-dimensional cliches and that makes it hard to care about them. Some of the characters turn villainous with no clear explanation of motives or reasons. The plot forges ahead quickly enough to gloss over the weaknesses in characterization. Unfortunately the plot also has several moments of feeling too forced.
The general theme seems to be summed up by the Bible quote: "For the love of money is the root of all evil." Riptide is entertaining enough if you're looking for a lightweight thriller to read at the beach, but this is not the authors' best work.
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