Review of Bret Lott’s "Dead Low Tide"

Bret Lott, a Creative Writing professor at the College of Charleston, read from his latest novel, Dead Low Tide, on February 16 at the college’s Alumni Hall. This novel marks Lott’s thirteenth since his first came out in 1987 and, according to him, is the sequel to his 1999 novel, The Hunt Club. Of course, this information isn’t anything one couldn’t find on the internet nowadays. What you can’t find online is the rich story beneath the powerful words that make up Dead Low Tide. In this novel, the reader once again meets Huger, a 27-year-old living at home with his father, nicknamed Unc. The first two chapters introduce the two characters to the reader, informing us that this story takes place in our very own South Carolina. In the opening scenes, Huger and Unc have snuck out of the house at two in the morning to play golf. According to Huger, the narrator, Unc uses only one club despite owning a three-thousand dollar set. To aid them in the dark, they use special night-vision goggles to see the course, referring to them and the other equipment as “paraphernalia,” a nice detail since no one is permitted to play golf in the middle of the night. After hitting the ball a few times, they are found by the local security guard, Jesse, who used to go to school with Huger. Since Huger and Unc typically play golf at such deserted hours, Jesse had expected them; yet, Unc still bolts for the boat: their means of escape. Through their difficulties to undock the boat and make their way back to their house, they discover something is preventing them from rowing out. Digging around the boat with their ores, they uncover a woman’s body at which point Chapter Two comes to an end. So there it is, the novel that took Lott two and half years to write with an intriguing and suspenseful beginning sure to grip readers and pull them along for the ride the rest of this novel is sure to offer.