Customer Reviews

Dead of Night (Doc Ford Series)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After eleven previous Doc Ford novels, Randy Wayne White is only now being widely recognized as the talented craftsman that his long time fans have always known and appreciated.

To the newcomers, Doc Ford is the brainy marine biologist and owner of Sanibel Biological Supply, which he runs out of this "house on stilts" overlooking Dinkins Bay on Sanibel Island, Florida. On occasion however, he is also a pest exterminator in a highly secretive and covert intelligence organization of the United States Government. In this instance "pests" are of the human kind.

Trust me when I tell you to stick with this book. Dead of Night starts out a little slow and may leave you wonder what all the fuss is about. In fact the book didn't actually grab me until I was nearly 70 pages deep (67 to be exact). Groundwork having been laid, the book turns to sticky paper as the action really heats up! On the other hand there are places in this book where the urge to put it down is strong but NOT for the reasons you might think. Truth is, the storytelling in this book gets so good at times that you can't help thinking "this is fabulous, but White can't possible keep the story going at this pace so I better set it down at a good point." Don't do it! White just adds layer upon layer of interest and intrigue to his story and the deeper you go the better it gets. This time White has Doc Ford trying to out think the mastermind behind an insideous plot to devalue real estate in Florida by way of ecological disaster on a grand scale. Not only must Ford discover who is behind this new deadly form of terrorism but he must also find a way to contain the disaster before it spreads out of control.

Dead of Night is a thoroughly enjoyable read and I highly recommend it!

Eco-Terrorism seems to the current fad amongst thriller writers, and no one has done it better that Randy White. "Can't put it down" is probably one of the most over used - and subject to exaggeration - lines in a review, but this is one of just two books I read in the past few years that I finished in one day (I am a slow reader). I recall reading an early review of this book, and the writer wondered why such a skilled and articulate writer as Randy White did not have a greater following than he does - and I agree. This is the first of the Doc Ford books I have read - and believe me, the first of what will be many.

I found the plot similar to other eco-terrorism books, but the pacing of the book almost never let up. This is a fast paced ... and fast paced book. Only rarely does White slow down and let you catch your breath, and that is generally to introduce and draw out a new character. Having never read a Randy White book before, the central character - Marion Ford - was new to me. I was fascinated at how this character was introduced and how he changed as the book progressed. At first, Ford is a middle aged Marine Biologist with tendencies that many of us can relate to - rather be at home more and more as he grew older; misses his routine; and has unusual and largely unsuccessful amorous relationships. By the end of the book, this is a well trained, physically fit, government operative that can easily take of terrorists, KGB and the likes (all of which he will by books end). Great character development - and slight of hand.

No matter how good a plot or well drawn the characters may be, outstanding books are also ones that pay attention to detail. And often, are informative and educational. The expertise that White shows in his study of exotic insects and their habits is quite amazing. The amount of research that went into this book is prodigious. While I am sure that White imbues each book with a wealth of marine biological lore, this book has even more to teach about primates, insects, and ecological balance. There is simply an amazing amount of information in this book - not mention the great read.

No point in giving away the plot - suffice it to say the venue is Florida and the Bahamas; all the characters are well drawn and well developed; and the action never stops. You will walk away from this book wondering why you haven't discovered Randy White earlier.

A couple installments ago Doc Ford seemed to be drifting. I was worried. Would I lose my favorite west coast of Florida , marina, fishcamp, biologist hero? Well here's the answer. The Doc is really back and in his role as a biologist is central to the plot. A reader never gets the feeling that something is being dragged in, that events are being delayed. We all know that temptation to skip to the end. Well-- it's not here in this novel. What a great collection of baddies: Human and biological. I'll leave the humans for later, but the biologicals are nasty memories from my undergraduate days in invertebrate zoology lab. "For heaven's sake, don't cut yourself on a broken slide!" The central beastie being "Dracunculus medenensis" :a nasty nematode aka - the fiery serpent. And a few actual serpents, cobras, mambas, etc., are thrown in as well. Then there are the ex-KGBers, replete with needles and needle shooting shotguns, and other events to build a romp: a great shark rescue, an aquatic version of a car chase, and for Tomlinson a catfish attack that makes moste males wish for an electric catfish instead.

The simplicity of the land development scheme- infest Florida, drive down the land prices and then cure the infestation and surf off to wealth on the tidal wave of profit, is the sort of device which allows the other events to happen. It even motivates them. Which is more than anyone has yet figured out about pirhanas, walking catfish and hissing roaches turned loose in the wilds of this country which probably prompts the scheme. If you like the Doc, read this one.

It's been two decades since John D. MacDonald passed away. A gifted storyteller who had published several dozen books from the 1950s until his death, MacDonald was particularly noted for his series of novels featuring Travis McGee. Over the years, there has been many attempts to create a worthy follow-up to McGee. Randy Wayne White, with his Doc Ford novels, is the writer who has succeeded.

Of course, there are distinct differences between McGee and Ford. McGee was more-or-less a beach bum who took his retirement in pieces, amassing funds on occasion doing dangerous "salvage" work. Ford is a retired government assassin who now works as a marine biologist and only reluctantly gets involved in adventures. The similarities, however, are also significant: both live in Florida by the ocean and are members of a close-knit beach community. They both take on particularly nasty characters and have near-genius sidekicks. Most importantly, both characters are also the narrators of their stories and lace their tales with plenty of cynical observations of the Florida life.

In Dead of Night, the twelfth Doc Ford novel, the hero is recruited by an old friend Frieda to check on her brother Jobe, a brilliant but extremely withdrawn scientist. Her brother has never been very communicative, but when Frieda realizes Ford will be roughly in Jobe's neighbor, she asks him for the favor. When Ford arrives at Jobe's home, he discovers the scientist between tortured by a man and woman. Ford chases the two off, but when he returns, he finds Jobe dead by hanging. That's bad enough, but when worms start crawling out of the corpse, Ford knows something really creepy is going on.

The worms turn out to be parasites native to Africa and there is apparently a conspiracy to infest the local waters with them, where the damage would be considerable. Ford's training is enough to clue him into the real dangers; he is further drawn in when his old boss, Hal Harrington, recruits him to find and "eternalize" the bioterrorist.

If Dead of Night suffers from anything, it's that the villains aren't quite as interesting as in other Ford books. The main villain, an evil-but-beautiful Russian woman named Dasha has her moments - and the other bad guys also have their quirks - but they just aren't that compelling. Maybe it's just because they pale in comparison to the creatures they threaten to unleash, of which the worms are only one species. Some of these animals will really make the reader squirm.

Of the recurring characters, we get some nice new developments. Ford, in particular, must deal with his erstwhile girlfriend Dewey, who has moved to Iowa carrying their child. He also starts coming more to terms with his dark past and the fact that he can never completely retire from it. Meanwhile, best friend Tomlinson must cope with unexpected wealth; anti-materialistic by philosophy, he must cope with also enjoying money and what it can buy.

Randy Wayne White fans should be happy with this latest book, which like his others, does not disappoint. If you have never read White, this may not be the best place to start, but it also stands alone well.

I, too, try and read all of Randy Wayne White's books. This one, however, was lacking in character development -- especially that of the quirky players of Dinkins' Bay marina. Also, the plot was a bit gruesome. It wasn't enough to turn me off of future RWW books, but I'm hoping his next one has more heart to it.

We've been following Doc Ford, Randy Wayne White's spy-turned-marine-biologist, for some years now. White started out the series with the main character mainly having a persona as a scientist, and slowly allowed him to morph into this really tough guy who wears thick glasses, but can really fight and is pretty cold-blooded too.

The current entry has one of Ford's friends asking him to look in on her brother. The brother lives in an isolated cabin and hasn't answered the phone in several days. When Ford gets there, he discovers the brother tied to a chair, being tortured by a couple of people. Ford intervenes, of course, and that starts off the festivities.

It turns out that someone's introducing predatory, particularly deadly, tropical species into Southern Florida from other parts of the world. If this became public, the land values in the area would plummet. Ford must weave his way through a series of bad characters (including a homicidal ex-Russian spy who's also a pretty predatory female) and figure out a way to stop things before they get way out of hand.

Tomlinson's involved again, also, along with Ford's son, his half-sister, and other familiar characters. The book's in keeping with the rest of the series, and fun.

I've been an avid follower of the Doc Ford series, have enjoyed all the previous installments, and have enjoyed the way he has developed his characters and his "voice". This one just put me off. There has always been a dark side to these books -- understandable when your hero is an ex government assassin. This one seems not only darker, but seems unrelieved by the conviviality and "humanity" that marks the rest of the series. The action, which has in the past been mostly believable and realistic, in this book seems to lean more toward teen-age fantasy. Disappointing and puzzling.

A much better plot than the last two entries in the series, and it is fun. White has created a couple of memorable, monstrous villains in the last couple of books and left them alive. Will we see them again?
Doc Ford's domestic situations continue to be a puzzle for such an intelligent hero and the weakest part of the stories.

Randy Wayne White hits another home run in this latest Doc Ford thriller. I read through this novel fairly quick and enjoyed the whole thing. It's cast of notable characters (especially Tomlinson) and it's eco-thriller subject matter made this one a joy to read.

From inside: "In any conflict, the boundaries of behavior are defined by those who value morality least..."

Recommended.

I bought this book because of the ratings and because it was an author I had never read. Well, I won't be buying another one of Mr. White's books after reading this one.

The story line included a bunch of sub stories that really didn't have anything to do with the main storyline. (Spoilers ahead!!) A son who had ordered his own paternity test. An ex lesbian lover pregnant with Doc's child who turns out not to be an ex lesbian. A neurotic best friend that has a promonition that Doc is dying while in the middle of surgery and puts himself in a drug crazed coma to reach out to him. And on and on and on. The book starts out with a bang and then loses it entirely and never picks up speed again. I would say 50% of the book's writing does not belong in the book and doesn't add to the storyline. I only finished it because I hate not finishing a book, but this was ridiculous.

I won't bother recommending this book to anyone. Sorry.