Black Tide is the second of Peter Temples Jack Irish thrillers. It was first published in 1999. Jack Irish has no shortage of friends. Jockeys and journos, lawyers and standover men, people in nameless occupations who arent in the phone book. These days, though, the only family he sees are Irish men in faded football team photographs on the pub wall. So when Des Connors, the last link to Jacks late father, calls to ask for help in the matter of a missing son, Jack is happy to lend a hand. But sometimes prodigal sons go missing for a reason. As Jack begins to dig, he discovers that Gary Connors was a man with something to hide. And his friends are people with darker and more deadly secrets.