Customer Reviews

Dead Calm

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

 

 

I just finished reading the book and thought it was an excellent tale. I liked the author's style of character developement and explaination of past events that led to the present situation. However, I was very disappointed in the movie adaptation of the novel. True to Hollywood form, it did not even come close to the original storyline!

I saw the movie first, with Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane, and realized I had the book, so read it. Really good book, brought this landlubber reader right down to water level in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Memorable, well-drawn characters. Action cuts from one yacht, with a madman and the new bride, to the other yacht, which is slowly sinking, with the husband and two other people aboard. The husband and wife are frantically trying to reunite in the vast, empty sea. Tension abounds on both boats. The boats go further apart, then come closer, trying to find each other as the hours pass, the water rises in the sinking boat, and darkness falls. Climax? Wow!

I wasn't surprised to find the book was out of print, but it shouldn't be, it's that good. A classic. Written in 1963. Williams born when Joseph Conrad was alive. I bought it and many other Perennial Library paperback mysteries 15 years ago for $.99 each, and was amazed to find it made into a current movie with big stars.

Dead Calm was written by Charles Williams in 1963. The movie "Dead Calm" was based on this novel. The book was much better! The story will keep your interest from cover to cover. The ending is one you will never forget. Well worth the effort of trying to find a copy.

I first saw the movie, and wanted to read the book, which I got hold of via Amazon. I'm glad I did not approach the matter the other way around, as I would have been quite disappointed (I think). Actually, there is so little left from the book, I wonder why they chose to use the title. Charles F. Williams describes the characters very carefully, and the plot is very convincing. Not being a sailor myself, I cannot rate the precision of the nautical expressions, but that did not keep me from reading the book in one sweep.

Of all the books written by Charles Williams, Dead Calm is perhaps the best known because of the Nicole Kidman movie of the same name. As is often the case, there are major differences between book and film.

John and Rae Ingram are enjoying an idyllic honeymoon sailing the South Pacific hundreds of miles from land or any other human beings. Suddenly their perfect world is disrupted when a young man fleeing a sinking ship in a dinghy boards their boat.

The next 24 hours of their lives turn into a battle for survival as John and Rae become separated by miles of unforgiving ocean.

Fast paced and action packed, Dead Calm merits a 5 star rating for a number of reasons. First of all, the author's remarkably detailed description of things nautical gives the narrative a very authentic feel. Secondly, the actions of the characters are explained by virtue of psychological profiles that are skillfully presented as the story unfolds. Thirdly, Rae Ingram is more than just a damsel in distress. Her actions are smart, decisive and heroic. Moreover, the plot is constructed in a way that maximizes suspense.

All in all, Dead Calm is a great action-adventure novel. Highly recommended.

I just finished reading a hardcover version of DEAD CALM I bought from an Amazon vendor. It is a pitch perfect suspense novel with clearly drawn characters whose motivations are believable. There's hardly a missed note in this book.

John Ingram and his wife Rae are onboard a boat bound for the South Pacific on their honeymoon when they come across another vessel that is on the verge of sinking. Almost immediately, they notice a dinghy coming toward them from the boat, and the lone man on the dinghy soon tells them a wild story of how all the passengers on his boat died of botulism. Ingram is suspicious of the man's story and even more suspicious that the man refuses to let them return to the boat to gather his personal belongings before the ship sinks.

After the man settles into his cabin to sleep, Ingram decides to return to the sinking vessel. What he finds aboard the man's boat propels the remainder of this classic novel of suspense to its chilling conclusion. It's also at this point that the novel takes a very different course than the successful movie adaptation.

I'm not going to ruin it for anyone who hasn't read the book, but suffice it to say that the villain's actions are much more believably motivated in the book than in the film adaptation. Williams makes every effort to make the villain's motivations understandable and clear... even justified (at least from his perspective).

The very ending felt somewhat contrived and predictable, but not so much so that I wouldn't read the story again or recommend it. As a suspense writer who has started to have some success, I've read many of our living bestselling authors. This was my first Charles Williams novel, though.

This classic novel is far more compelling than many of our contemporary authors in this genre, and it makes no sense to me that it is out of print. By constructing a likable couple in Ingram and Rae whose love for another seems genuine and then separating them in a life-or-death situation with a believably motivated killer, Williams achieves a master's balance of complex characters, well-crafted plot, authentic setting, an unsentimental if macho style, and several clear story themes like love vs. madness, man vs. nature, and jealousy as a catalyst to insanity.

This is one novel that should be in print, and it is essential to understanding the course of later writers like John D. MacDonald, Stephen King, and Dean Koontz.

I have not yet read this book, because it is out of print. But I assume that it is based off the movie "Dead Calm", starring Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. The movie was about a yacht trip gone bad, after a couple's boat is boarded by a madman. If this sounds interesting, write to Amazon.com and tell them to find copies of this book! The movie is top notch suspense, but it was made in 1989 so the book is gone. Email them, people!

This movie, (I have not yet been able to get the book) is spellbinding, action oriented, and definitely believable. The cinematography was excellent and the actors delighful. If you enjoy stories with an ocean setting, beautiful scenery and mile a minute action, you will love this book. (movie)

Well, I haven't read the book and would very much like to know more about it. Seeing the movie, though I missed the first 30 minutes, was very good. I thought it had a very good plot, and the characters were what made it so good. In the movie, the way they did past and future in their lives was very understandable with an intense feeling of what will happen next. The book I'm very sure is good and I know by reading previous books (that have movies made for them), that the book will be better. The movie " Dead Calm" was excellent and I know that the book by Charles F. Williams will be even better.