Cross Current (Seychelle Sullivan #2) [Kindle Edition]

Christine Kling (Author)

Book Description

From Publishers Weekly

Salvage boat captain and sometime sleuth Seychelle Sullivan returns in Kling's follow-up to her well-received debut, Surface Tension, this time to aid a frightened Haitian waif named Solange. Seychelle—who's plying the South Florida waters on her tugboat, the Gorda, with her mechanic cum lover, B.J.—discovers the girl on a swamped boat and makes saving her, both from danger and from immigration officials, a personal crusade. The recent murder of some Haitian refugees and a creepy visitor to Solange's hospital room convince Seychelle that the frightened girl is in peril. More challenges come from tough guys with various agendas. Detective Victor Collazo, with whom Seychelle has a combative history, seems determined to thwart her effort and return the child. Border Patrol Agent Russ Elliott presses a similar agenda, though Seychelle's lawyer and best friend Jeannie does her best to parry his thrusts. Retired DEA agent Joe D'Angelo conveniently arrives to perk up Seychelle's libido (B.J. notwithstanding) and address some unanswered questions about her dead father, with whom he worked, and a surprise visit by Seychelle's black-sheep brother, Pit, threatens even more disruption. Savvy readers will be two steps ahead of the plot, which features several genre set pieces, but Kling writes with crisp assurance, especially about life in coastal South Florida, and her supporting cast, if crowded, is colorful.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

– Kling adds swift plotting, convincing nautical detail, voodoo lore, and tropical scenery, all of which adds up to a satisfying if unsurprising series that is Florida's answer to Grafton and Barr. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Cross Current

For Seychelle Sullivan, life is all about making a living, making love, and keeping her eye on the beauty that still remains in her beloved Florida. Then her life takes a turn when her tug intercepts with a swamped fishing boat in the Gulf Stream. Inside the boat are a murdered woman and a little girl in a white dress.

Seychelle returns to shore with a traumatized Haitian girl named Solange in her cabin. Determined to protect Solange, and somehow keep her from being sent back to Haiti, Seychelle becomes obsessed with the forces that nearly killed the girl–and left her speechless with terror.

Exploring the hidden world of Florida’s Haitian community, Seychelle realizes that Solange is still in great danger–and that one killer has claimed dozens of lives. With a murderer stalking the child, Seychelle is racing to unravel dangerous truths. But to get the answers she needs, she must return to where it all started: in the waters of the Gulf Stream, where people died for their dreams of freedom– and a man with a machete did the work of the devil himself.

About the Author

Christine Kling is the author of five nautical thrillers and one anthology of short stories. She lives aboard her 33-foot sailboat Talespinner and travels wherever the wind and free wifi may take her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Salvage boat captain and sometime sleuth Seychelle Sullivan returns in Kling's follow-up to her well-received debut, Surface Tension, this time to aid a frightened Haitian waif named Solange. Seychelle—who's plying the South Florida waters on her tugboat, the Gorda, with her mechanic cum lover, B.J.—discovers the girl on a swamped boat and makes saving her, both from danger and from immigration officials, a personal crusade. The recent murder of some Haitian refugees and a creepy visitor to Solange's hospital room convince Seychelle that the frightened girl is in peril. More challenges come from tough guys with various agendas. Detective Victor Collazo, with whom Seychelle has a combative history, seems determined to thwart her effort and return the child. Border Patrol Agent Russ Elliott presses a similar agenda, though Seychelle's lawyer and best friend Jeannie does her best to parry his thrusts. Retired DEA agent Joe D'Angelo conveniently arrives to perk up Seychelle's libido (B.J. notwithstanding) and address some unanswered questions about her dead father, with whom he worked, and a surprise visit by Seychelle's black-sheep brother, Pit, threatens even more disruption. Savvy readers will be two steps ahead of the plot, which features several genre set pieces, but Kling writes with crisp assurance, especially about life in coastal South Florida, and her supporting cast, if crowded, is colorful.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

As in her debut (Surface Tension, 2002), Ft. Lauderdale tugboat skipper Seychelles Sullivan happens upon a dead woman adrift on the Gulf Stream, but this time there's salvage aboard: a girl named Solange, half-dead from exposure, who stirs our heroine's maternal instincts and sets her on a mission to find the girl's American father before she can be deported back to Haiti and a life of servitude. As the only witness to the latest in a string of brutal refugee murders that may have occult significance, Solange is also of great interest to powerful men on both sides of the law. Seychelles draws upon a large, supportive cast, including a few ogle-worthy guys, and deepens ties to a love interest and to her deceased father, whose honor is called into question when some old drug-running pals resurface. To these convoluted matters of the heart, Kling adds swift plotting, convincing nautical detail, voodoo lore, and tropical scenery, all of which adds up to a satisfying if unsurprising series that is Florida's answer to Grafton and Barr. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 664 KB
• Print Length: 320 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Tell-Tale Press (April 16, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007V66CZS
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,686 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #92 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Sea Adventures

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Socially-conscious mystery December 3, 2004

By Skinny Dipper

Format:Hardcover

This is an exciting and moving story, well written, with a social conscious. Christine Kling knows her Florida, knows her boats, and knows how to build a story to a satisfying climax. Her research and knowledge of the plight of Haitian immigrants tells a horror story of the shameful way this country treats desperate children and it should be required reading for members of Congress. But don't let the social message fool you--this is one great read and one great thriller/mystery. You do not have to be a fan of Florida thrillers to enjoy this book-and to appreciate the message in the mystery. Her descriptive passages are excellent-so much it makes me want to explore the east coast of Florida with a new eye-and a good boat captain. Maybe her BJ is available?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Worth the Price of Admission June 4, 2012

By FancyPants

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The danger of jumping into the middle of a series is that you might not be 'in' on every joke or nuance. Ideally, you should be able to get the gist of the backstory quickly and cleanly, and in Cross Current, Christine Kling does an admirable job (I assume, since I have yet to read the first in the series) of filling in readers on who Seychelle is and how the 'regulars' relate to her.

The story, as amply detailed in the book's listing and in other reviews, is a gripper. As a sailor, I have a natural affinity for 'sea stories', and Kling's fascinating look at a small sliver of the Haitian culture really got my blood boiling and heart racing. She perfectly blended fact - the practice of selling young girls into a form of slavery - into a riveting, if slightly predictable, tale of murder, voodoo and betrayal. Her ability to keep the pace moving while accurately detailing the finer points of boats and boating is outstanding, which should come as a relief to readers who know a thing or two about the sport. Her characters are diverse, yet believable (for the most part -- I still have a hard time buying the relationship between Seychelle and her deckhand), and her writing is as crisp as barbecued tarpon.

A note on the Kindle edition: This is one of the cleaner Kindle books I've read. Very few, if any, typos, and no weird line breaks.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific suspense thriller September 29, 2004

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

While waiting to tug a boat filled with Haitian refugees, Seychelle notices another vessel out in the gulf and takes her ship the Garda there. She finds a young dehydrated girl named Solange with a dead woman. She rescues the girl and tugs the boat containing the deceased to the dock. Seychelle immediately forms a bond with the Haitian refugee, who says that her father lives in the United States. Seychelle intends to find him so that Solange will not be deported.

There has been a recent increase in the smuggling of Haitians into America. Seychelle believes that Solange and the dead woman were on a boat that capsized with fifty Haitians aboard. Solange is not safe as thugs try to kidnap her although neither Seychelle nor she can determine why. Those Haitians that survive have been sold into slavery making it even more difficult for Seychelle to gain their trust so that she can locate Solange's father. Kidnappers abduct Seychelle and Solange taking them to Bimini where they meet the smugglers' mastermind. The criminal tosses Seychelle overboard expecting her to die while he carries out his plansfor Solange.

Christine King is a very visual writer who makes the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast come alive to readers. The heroine breaks laws to keep Solange safe from a monster, who sees the child as merchandise. There is a lot of action in CROSS CURRENT, but it is the characters who turn this novel into a superb thriller as Solange is at the mercy of adults with only Seychelle apparently caring what happens to her. Ms. King is a rising queen in the suspense genre.

Harriet Klausner

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.

It was that sailing experience that led me to set my first nautical suspense novels on the waterfront in Fort Lauderdale. Featuring Florida female tug and salvage captain, Seychelle Sullivan, there are four books in the series, SURFACE TENSION, CROSS CURRENT, BITTER END, and WRECKERS' KEY. I'm now retired from my day job as an English professor at Broward College, and I am living the dream of full-time cruising on board my 33-foot Caliber sailboat Talespinner. My latest book set in the Leeward Islands is titled CIRCLE OF BONES: a Caribbean thriller, and features a female solo sailor, Maggie Riley, and a maritime archeologist (and conspiracy nut) Cole Thatcher, who are racing against an elite inner circle of Skull and Bones to recover the secrets found in the wreck of a World War II submarine.