Customer Reviews

Captiva

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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

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.

I loved Sanibel Flats, but found Heat Islands and Man who Invented Florida, so-so. I had purchased Captiva with the other three or probably wouldn't have read it. What a come back for Doc Ford. I think this is the best of the first four books. Great characters, familiar places, wild action and inventive ending. Now I've ordered the next three in the series.

I am struggling to stay interested in the fourth Doc Ford novel, Captiva. First, I am terribly disappointed in that the whole flavor of the book is somewhat different than the first three. It is almost as if someone else wrote it. The style is so different. Second, the first three books were written consistantly in the "third person" genre, while this one (out of the blue) is written in first person ! It is very distracting and disappointing, as I was hooked on Doc Ford after the third book. I was expecting a continuation of the same great style White portrayed in the first three books. I am not going to rush out and get number five.

Longtime readers of Outside Magazine were familiar with Randy Wayne White's eccentric travels and more eccentric character. And although Sanibel Flats read as though it had been written on long airport layovers as a time killer,with Captiva, White moved into the big leagues of compelling storytellers.This is a great yarn of trouble encountered simply by being involved in a community, where the bad guy gets a very just comeupance, the hero struggles with his humanity, and the rest of the characters ring so true to life that you believe you may have met them. Although Mr. White no longer writes his column, and is missed by me every month, he has truly become an author of compelling novels. I eagerly await the next.

This is the best from Randy Wayne White yet,he has brought Doc-Ford to life in this fast reading adventure,I really couldn't put it down. His first books cover stated that he was the heir to John D Mcdonalds,which is hard to beleive but I've read all of his works and after this one I'm a believer.

Mr. Whites characters are identifiable and are easily imaginable. With the easy bond the reader establishes and shares with the characters, it is a shock to the system when the heros and heroines suffer mightily at the hand of evil. In this book's instance, evil triumphs. Or does it?

The last part of the book details a revenge so dark, you will understand it would not be wise to have Mr. White mad at yourself. You will be thoroughly satisfied at the end of this adventure.

There's a war brewing in Central Florida between the Mullet Fishermen and the Deep Sea Sports Fishermen. The Mullet Fisherman are sore because of a new net ban and they're taking their frustrations out on the Sports Fishermen whom they think voted for the ban. Doc Ford tries to remain neutral, but when his friends are caught in the crossfire of an angler civil war, he takes the law into his own hands and goes out for revenge!

A very satisfying story with an unexpected ending.

The intrigue in this mystery is doubled by the introduction of so many quirky characters into the life of the protagonist, Doc Ford. The mystery series never gets stale in the hands of this gifted author. Each book is unique in its own right and it is difficult to judge which is my favorite. The novelity of the various character actors in this drama, however, would certainly make this book at the top of the list for favorite books. This is what you want to read when you really want to escape from your ordinary, routine life.