Product Description

Marine biologist Doc Ford cannot resist a plea for help from an old war buddy's beautiful daughter--her mother has disappeared in South America, and she wants Doc to track her down. Reprint. LJ.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74360 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780425171943
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
Randy White's mysteries are tailor-made for fans who've exhausted the novels of the late John D. MacDonald. White's series hero, Doc Ford, a marine biologist whose résumé includes a Vietnam-era stint with the Special Forces, is a somewhat cynical philosopher whose toughness masks a tender heart; he's a worthy successor to Travis McGee. In this fast-paced, well-written thriller, a nearly forgotten promise to a long-dead comrade gets Doc involved in a daughter's search for her mother. Gail Richardson's house is empty, and so are her bank accounts. Her daughter Amanda is sure that Gail's being held against her will by her would-be protector, Jackie Merlot, a mysterious man whose connections reach deep into Central and South America. The trail leads from Florida to Colombia and then to Panama, site of a private, heavily guarded retreat catering to the perverse tastes of the wealthy and powerful. Getting in takes all Doc's skill and cunning. Getting out is another matter entirely, as he learns with the help of a few of Bobby Richardson's old Vietnam buddies who turn up in the proverbial nick of time. The denouement is full of surprises, including one that even the most discerning reader won't see coming. The writing is swift, deft, and full of the crunchy nuggets of world-weary wisdom that admirers of the MacDonald genre loved and that White's growing number of devoted readers have come to expect. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
An awkward plot mars the latest entry (after North of Havana, 1997) in White's widely appealing Gulf coast of Florida series starring Doc Ford, marine biologist, former spook and reluctant detective. In the first chapter, Ford finds the body of Frank Calloway on the kitchen floor of the real estate baron's beach house. Eleven chapters later, readers return to Calloway's house to follow Ford, who decides that he'll look for the folder he'd come to see before he calls the police. The intervening chapters explain that Calloway had married?and later divorced?Gail Richardson, the widow of Ford's best friend, Bobby, who had been killed in Cambodia doing top-secret dirty work 20 years earlier. Gail and Bobby's daughter Amanda has asked Ford to find Gail, who is somewhere in South America with a man named Jackie Merlot. Ford learns that Merlot, a gross and depraved villain, has conned Gail into joining him in a rank business venture in the Canal Zone. Merlot is an arresting figure, but most of the action involving him happens so far offstage that his menace is largely wasted. And White's extended flashbacks are filled with pretentious ponderings about the human condition. From a writer whose work is usually marked by tight construction and wry dialogue, this fizzy tale is a misfire. Editor, Neil Nyren; agent Renee Wayne Golden.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Doc Ford, marine biologist and former government intelligence agent, temporarily abandons his research to rescue the wife of a former colleague in this, White's (North of Havana, LJ 4/15/97) sixth novel featuring the unpretentious scholar and environmentalist. When Gail Richardson-Calloway disappears after meeting someone through an Internet chat room, her daughters enlists Doc Ford's help. Tracking the pair to Colombia and then Panama, he discovers that Gail is being held a virtual prisoner by a psychotic predator who has stalked her and her daughter for years. In a bold rescue attempt, Ford relies on former contacts and long unused skills against all but impossible odds. Master of the thrilling climax and surprise ending, White leaves the reader breathless and satisfied. A good read, although it starts slowly and the plot is not as tightly knit as White's earlier tales.?Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Sucker for a Damsel in Distress
Doc Ford is Marion Ford, Ph.D., a Harrison Ford type marine biologist who lives alone in a stilt cabin on Sanibel Island. Ford is footloose and fancy free until - in each book - his peace and tranquillity is disturbed by a very attractive damsel in distress.

On and off again Ford has been haunted by the death of spook pal Bobby Richardson, who died in an explosion in Cambodia during the post-Vietnam War days. It was a meaningless tragedy, the result of a land mine that destroyed a good friend and left a beautiful wife and a child to fend for themselves back home.

When the grown-up daughter, twenty-five-year-old Amanda, contacts Ford, quoting a letter from her father in which he said Ford would always be there in an emergency, Ford can hardly turn her away. He couldn't anyway, she's a damsel in distress, after all.

Amada's mother, Gail Richardson Calloway, has been deserted by her second husband and gone off to Colombia, apparently but unbelievably of her own free will, with a very unsavory character, Then second husband, Frank Calloway, is found dead soon after her disappearance and now Gail's bank accounts are being methodically depleted. Amanda wants Ford to help search for her mother and to bring her back home.

Ford flies off to Colombia to find Bobby's widow, then tracks and follows her to Panama. Along the way he manages to get into fights to the death with some pretty tough dudes in this action-packed thriller that I simply couldn't get enough off. At times the story seemed a bit of a clichè, but you what, it's been over a week since I finished the book and I'm still thinking about it. That really says something about a story.

Far from White's Best!
Randy Wayne White is a polished author and I have enjoyed his series with Doc Ford very much, however, The Mangrove Coast misses the mark by a long shot. I agree with the other reviewers that this is easily the slowest start to a mystery novel I have read in a long time. As a matter of fact it took all my power to keep reading past the first few chapters. Finally on page 181(of 290) a dead body turns up. The plot revolves around a women seduced by a man through a internet romance. The story trudges on finally bringing Doc Ford to Panama, which must be the site of White's latest vacation. The story reads as if White created as he went and finally decided 2/3 of the way through that he better put some action in the book. The final chapter reminded me of the Bobby Ewing shower scene in Dallas. Was it a dream? What the final scene reveals could be described as " idiotic, cliched, or just plain cheating by the writer". The "clues" do not lead up to the ending and any reader will feel cheated, not amazed. The supporting characters do not help matters. Tomlinson appears breifly in a couple of scenes, mainly to assert his compter knowledge-hard to believe as a marine biologist Ford has little knowledge of the internet or computers. Tomlinson is no where near his loveable self and disappears quickly in the novel. Tucker Gatrell has seen better days too, but thankfully he is killed off in the end. I was very disappointed with this outing-I look forward to Doc Ford taking some time off to get his thoughts together and return in full force.

Major Disappointment
The first two RWW books were pretty good. This one is awful.

Take out the parts where RWW burdens us with his personal opinions on politics, the environment and gays, (who cares?) and all that's left is a weak plot and some dismal characters.

Gave it one star because I finished it. I shouldn't have wasted the time. What drivel.