CAPTIVA. [Paperback]

Randy Wayne. White (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S PRESS.; 1St Edition edition (1996)
• ASIN: B000NE81WW
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Randy Wayne White is the author of sixteen previous Doc Ford novels and four collections of nonfiction. He lives in an old house built on an Indian mound in Pineland, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars worthy successor to Travis McGee, October 13, 2000

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Captiva (Hardcover)

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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the best yet, August 16, 2004

By 

Simon Crowe (Greenville, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Captiva (Doc Ford) (Paperback)

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

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great escapist fiction - lots of cool scenery, February 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Captiva (Doc Ford) (Paperback)

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.