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Bitter End: A Novel of Suspense
 
 
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Bitter End: A Novel of Suspense [Hardcover]

Christine Kling (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)


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Book Description

September 27, 2005
In her acclaimed novels of suspense, Christine Kling gives readers good reason to believe that if Travis McGee and Kinsey Millhone had ever hooked up, their child would have grown up to be Seychelle Sullivan: a beautiful, savvy heroine with a knack for steering her salvage tugboat into South Florida’s most troubled waters. In Seychelle’s new caper, she may just be in over her head when murder and corruption come bobbing to the surface.

Since kindergarten, Seychelle and her best friend, Molly, had been as close as sisters. Molly even dated Seychelle’s brother. But it all ended suddenly when Nick Pontus, a slick, older, up-and-coming entrepreneur, came along. A smitten Molly quit school, married her new beau, and never spoke to Seychelle again. After thirteen years, it still stings.

Seychelle didn’t see the sniper who picked Nick off at the helm of his yacht, but she knows that there are plenty of people in South Florida who wanted to see the gambling-boat tycoon dead: the Russian mobsters looking for a piece of his casino action, the Indian gamers who resent his competition, and the ecological activists fighting his plans to develop Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront. But it’s Molly whom the cops zero in on. And despite her bitter feelings and against her better judgment, when her back-from-the-blue friend asks for help, Seychelle can’t just weigh anchor and cruise. She’s got to dive in.

What she finds is a money-skimming scam aboard Nick’s flagship gambling boat, Nick’s new trophy wife turned merry rich widow, and Nick and Molly’s teenage son, a scared kid with a big secret . . . and a killer on his
trail. Protecting the boy, proving Molly’s innocence, and navigating between squalls of gunfire add up to a tall order as salvage jobs go. But like any good captain, Seychelle will never abandon ship. Even if it means risking her life.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Advance praise for Bitter End

“Bitter End is a terrific novel. Christine Kling is quickly becoming the female John McDonald.”
–James Swain, author of Mr. Lucky

“Christine Kling’s novels just keep getting better and better–no mean feat, considering how impossibly high she set the bar with her first. Christine’s familiarity with the Florida she writes about is apparent from the very first page, and she takes her readers on fast-paced tours of areas into which few writers have ventured.”
–Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, author of Luck of the Draw

Praise for Christine Kling

Cross Current
“Kling’s prose is strong and authoritative. . . . Cross Current is a taut, fast-paced thriller.”
–The Miami Herald


“Exciting . . . Kling is an author who bears watching. She clearly knows how to add texture and color to her narrative. . . . Cross Current is a keeper.”
–The Tampa Tribune

“We’ll go on a boat ride with Seychelle anytime.”
–South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Surface Tension
“An exceptionally rare first novel . . . moving and full of suspense.”
–James W. Hall, author of Off the Chart

“Seychelle Sullivan fights off a very real array of land-based predators with a grit and determination that John D. himself would have cheered.”
–Les Standiford, author of Bone Key

About the Author

Christine Kling is the author of Surface Tension and Cross Current. She spent more than twenty years on and around boats and has cruised the waters of the North and South Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. She received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Florida International University in Miami. She lives in South Florida with her teenage son.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1St Edition edition (September 27, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345479033
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345479037
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,405,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have spent more than thirty years living on and around boats and cruising the waters of the North and South Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. I've written articles and stories for many boating publications including Sailing, Cruising World, Motor Boating & Sailing, and The Tiller and the Pen. When I was married, I helped my husband build a 55-foot custom sailing yacht. After launching her, we sailed through the Panama Canal to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands where we chartered for over two years. While in the islands, I received my 100-ton Auxiliary Sail Captains license.

It was that sailing experience that led me to set my first nautical suspense novel, SURFACE TENSION (2002), on the waterfront in Fort Lauderdale. Featuring Florida female tug and salvage captain, Seychelle Sullivan, the first book was followed by CROSS CURRENT (2004) and BITTER END (2005). The fourth book in the series, WRECKERS' KEY was released in February 2007. I'm now retired from my day job as an English professor at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, and I am living the dream of full-time cruising on board my 33-foot Caliber sailboat Talespinner. I'm hard at work preparing my new stand-alone sailing thriller set in the Caribbean, CIRCLE OF BONES, for release in late summer of 2011.

 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars John MacDonald's true heir, October 8, 2005
This review is from: Bitter End: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)
Like Surface Tension and Cross Current before it, Bitter End is a truly marvelous book about Florida, about life, with plenty of mystery, action, and tension. And, oh, how she nails Florida. Christine Kling is the true heir to John MacDonald. You want to read this one!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well done...., April 11, 2007
Christine Kling is getting progressively better with each novel. This is her best, so far. Seychelle is maturing as a tugboat captain and a leading character. Ms. Kling is surely maturing as a writer. I read this novel straight through to the end without stopping, then re-read it again a few days later. Her latest contribution, "Wrecker's Key" has just arrived. So here goes another long night, but I expect it will be worth the effort.

Congratulations, Ms Kling. Keep 'em coming - please!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars great series, March 26, 2007
I've just discovered Christine Kling's marine suspense series, set in Ft. Lauderdale...reminiscient of John MacDonald only from a contemporary (and autonomous) woman's perspective...just finishing her most recent Wrecker's Key now/reading leisurely because I know its the last for now...and I know I will be waiting for the next tale in Seychelle's (her central character) narrative. Very well done.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
leon quinn, casino gambling boats, salvage claim
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Gramma Josie, Fort Lauderdale, Nick Pontus, New River, Detective Amoretti, Detective Mabry, Big Cypress, Molly Pontus, Richard Hunter, Pontus Enterprises, Port Everglades, Ari Kagan, Janet Pontus, Snake Road, Dry Tortugas, Elliot Key, Ada Mae, Intracoastal Waterway, Hollywood Beach, South Florida, Seychelle Sullivan, Uncle Leo, Rio Vista, Seventeenth Street Bridge, Gulf Stream
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