The Blood Dimmed Tide
In his mystery The Blood Dimmed Tide, Anthony Quinn weaves Ouija boards, ghosts, séances and mysterious bodies discovered floating in the ocean into a shroud of intrigue. Add to that the political unrest in Ireland at the start of WWI and the famous Irish poet W. B. Yeats, and you’ll find much to admire in the work. The atmosphere, period details, and literary references are all spot-on. The reader can see, taste, hear, smell and feel the Irish coast, the small towns, the citizenry.
The story involves the ghost of a murdered girl who chooses W. B. Yeats to haunt. In order to rid himself of this specter, Yeats enlists the help of his protégé, Charles Adams, a young man who is skeptical of Yeats’ delving into the supernatural, but nevertheless intrigued by the great poet’s strange interest in the occult. Adams watches as Yeats and his young wife, Georgie, have session after session of automatic writing, where the “spirit” advises Yeats to keep doing his husbandly duty. The “spirit” designates how, when and where such coupling is to occur. This doesn’t help Adams become a true believer.
Though well-researched, the story becomes bogged down toward the middle, when Adams begins to unravel the true nature of the girl’s death. Maud Gonne plays a central role in the mystery, but with her appearance, the plot points become confusing. Part-mystery, part-history, part-ghost story, part-literary: perhaps this novel suffers from an identity crisis.
