Product Description

Former government agent-turned-marine biologist Doc Ford finds himself unable to maintain his neutrality when a battle between Florida's sport and commercial fishermen escalates into arson and murder. Reprint."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33445 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
White, who has always had the talent, moves firmly into the major leagues with his latest Doc Ford story (after Sanibel Flats) and its lavish panorama of cross-cultural and environmental issues played out passionately in south Florida. The Florida Keys uneasily contain rich pleasure seekers and subsistence-level fisherman; someplace in the turbulent middle, Doc, a biologist, and his existentialist buddy Tomlinson hang out. As a ban on net fishing engenders increasing debate, a man is blown apart when an explosion demolishes a jetty. The sultry voodoo-practicing widow soon has Doc and Tomlinson hopelessly spellbound; her host of admirers includes others with drug and land-development interests. By this point, the sweep of White's prose and the earnest intensity he brings to the ecological debate will likely blind readers to a story line with holes large enough for marlin to swim through. Tomlinson is fascinated by the socioeconomics of a small, insular key with nothing but fishing to support it, while Doc is more intrigued by the herbs the widow places in the hot tea they sip prior to bouts of strenuous lovemaking. The conclusion embraces some sinister business with drug smuggling and a minor miracle of modern medicine. While it isn't quite clear how White gets to drug cartels from the charred remains of a lazy brain-fried doper who liked hitting attractive, oversexed women, the whole weird trip, fueled by the author's thoroughly convincing re-creation of his chosen and much-loved world, is a blast.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The victim of an explosion at Dinkin's Bay Marina on Sanibel Island, commercial fisherman Jimmy Darroux mumbles, "Take care of Hannah" before he dies. Aging hippie Tomlinson, to whom Jimmy's words were addressed, enlists the aid of his best pal, Doc Ford, a former government agent turned seaside biologist. Burdened by a disconcerting tendency to see both sides of an issue, Doc recognizes that Jimmy's death is somehow tied to the friction between commercial and sport fishermen. He agrees to help find the mysterious Hannah, but his real motive is to derail a confrontation that could see many of his friends hurt. And hurt they are when the violence escalates. White's fourth Doc Ford novel gathers momentum slowly--its pace is not unlike the hypnotic rhythm of the surf--until the last 100 pages or so, when all hell breaks loose. Characters we have grown fond of meet bad ends, a truly evil villain is exposed, and Ford drops his intellectual guise: he's a born predator, and he exacts a horrible but just revenge. This is a top-shelf thriller written with poetic style and vision. Don't miss it. Wes Lukowsky

From Kirkus Reviews
In the seconds between touching off a homemade bomb in Dinkin's Bay and giving up the ghost, Jimmy Darroux asks ``Doc'' Ford's buddy Tomlinson to ``take care of Hannah.'' But when Ford and Tomlinson make the trip to nearby Sulphur Wells to see Jimmy's salty widow, it turns out she hated him and his abuse and is delighted he's dead (and she's not the only one). So what did he mean, and how can they take care of her? At her invitation, spacey mystic Tomlinson settles in to help her work on a book about her family, while marine biologist Ford wonders why the invitation didn't go to him. He wonders too whether Jimmy was killed because he got in the middle of a battle over the banning of net fishing, or because he knew too much about a ring of boat thieves--or because of Hannah herself. As he treads a wary line between the equally untrusting camps of commercial fishers and sports fishers, Ford finds himself drawn more and more to Hannah Smith Darroux, and more and more threatened by the friends and admirers who've ringed themselves around her, till all three of them--Ford, Hannah, and Tomlinson--are in danger. Having established his Carl Hiaasen credentials with The Man Who Invented Florida (1993), White sounds a more ruminative note in this mixture of James W. Hall and John D. MacDonald. Ford takes every chance to stop and smell the hibiscus, and fans of tangled Florida intrigue will want to join him. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Great escapist fiction - lots of cool scenery
Quirky characters - not unlike the ones in a Hiassen novel. Great settings - describes the scenery in the manner of great travel writers.

One blemish - descriptions of Indonesia are a little off the mark. Unexpectedly funny passages (from a factual standpoint) spice up the ending for anyone who knows the region. For instance, the novel notes in passing that

- The eating of dogs is common in Indonesia. Wrong. Indonesians would not touch, let alone eat, a dog; Islamic doctrine preaches that dogs are "haram" or unclean, due to their historical role as mobile garbage disposal units.

- Chinese characters appear on a disreputable-looking marine vessel. Wrong. The Chinese language is banned in Indonesia - recent riots in Indonesia indicate this ban may soon extend to the Chinese race.

- The death penalty in Indonesia is carried out by firing squad. Wrong. Except for politically-motivated death squad killings of local opposition figures, executions are carried out by hanging. Hence the "Gantung (Hang) Suharto" chants in recent demonstrations.

- Foreigners are routinely detained and killed by local law enforcement officials. Wrong. The last time foreigners were killed by local powers-that-be was during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975. In the official version of events, several Australian and British journalists were "caught in a cross-fire". This was, however, in the middle of a war zone. The officials in charge were demoted. There have been no recurrences.

- Child prostitution of both sexes (!) is common in Indonesia. Wrong. The author is probably generalizing from Thailand's reputation, where this is, in fact, common. Indonesians, being Muslims, are extremely intolerant of practices like gambling and prostitution. Recent riots in Indonesia started because of resentment about the existence of brothels staffed by (legal age) prostitutes.

- Islamic law prevails in Indonesia - i.e. a convicted burglar would have his hand amputated. Wrong. Although majority Muslim, Indonesia is a secular state, and a legal system based in large part on Dutch law is enforced. Convicted burglars do not become amputees; they cool off their heels in prison like people in other countries.

the best yet
CAPTIVA is the 4th novel in the Doc Ford series and the first which is told in the first person. We're inside the orderly but active mind of the marine biologist-amateur sleuth as he gets caught up in a battle between sport fisherman and commercial fisherman over the use of nets.

The novel begins with a very frightening scene involving a bombing at the Marina where Ford lives. The man who gets killed is the husband of Hannah Smith, who will become Ford's lover and the most compelling female figure in the series to date. Hannah is slightly idealized but still great fun, and gives the novel a lot of spark, especially in the absence of Ford's sidekick Tomlinson.

I highly recommend CAPTIVA and this entire series, starting with SANIBEL FLATS. Doc Ford is the closest thing going to McDonald's Travis McGee

worthy successor to Travis McGee
Randy Wayne White played in the Senior Baseball League, writes a column for Outside magazine & some terrific fishing stories (Batfishing in the Rain Forest: Strange Tales of Travel & Fishing) and is the author of the outstanding Doc Ford novels. Not bad...

Doc Ford is a marine biologist who formerly held a somewhat shadowy position in US Intelligence. This installment of the series finds Doc & his burn-out hippie friend Tomlinson investigating the death of explosion victim Jimmy Darroux. This leads them to Jimmy's delectable widow Hannah and a feud between sport fisherman and net fishermen over a pending netting ban. As the violence escalates, noone is safe & Doc's moral compunctions are challenged and then shattered.

If you haven't discovered this great writer & wonderful series yet, I urge you to give them a read. The cover blurbs comparing him to John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiassen & Elmore Leonard are well deserved.

GRADE: A