Dead Weight [Kindle Edition]

Diane Sherlock (Author)

Book Description

Shedding the wreck of a bad marriage, Tommi Winters strikes out on her own. Her problem has never been trusting men, but finding one who is trustworthy. A marine biologist at La Jolla’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, she impulsively takes a scuba diving class on a colleague’s dare in reaction to the numbness that engulfs her at her husband’s sudden exit.
With her underwater class, she discovers a world of pleasure and adventure with its own strict rules for survival – why couldn’t it be this easy in life? She finds the sea a familiar companion and an easy place to shed all of her concerns.

Over a candlelit gathering, an intricate plan to retrieve sunken treasure is hatched by Jason, their scuba instructor and Rick, the divemaster. As they weave their tale of South Sea adventure, Tommi’s class is seduced by the lure of an underwater fortune. Enticed by the younger man who leads their dive trip to Fiji, Tommi discovers that misplacing her trust this time could end her life when greed surfaces along with the gold. Death and destruction swirl around her as she struggles for equilibrium and then survival, gaining hard-won wisdom and confidence in herself and her decisions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

When Tommi finally decides to leave alcoholic husband Doug and make some serious changes in her life, she takes up scuba diving. This becomes an outlet for her frustrations and an opportunity to meet new people. But it also leads to an unexpected opportunity. Scuba instructors Jason and Rick are interested in hunting sunken treasure and persuade their class to join them in an expedition to Fiji. The class finds the wreck--which contains enough treasure to make them all wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. But the treasure leads to greed and eventually death. Sherlock's novel begins as the story of a woman recovering from a divorce, but becomes a well-paced action thriller--and the change is one readers will enjoy. And while the characters could be better developed and the treasure hunt is a bit implausible, Tommi's transformation and adventures are compelling. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (Oct)


MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW



Diane Sherlock's Dead Weight is a gripping novel of greed, death, and willful destruction. Tommi Winters is a woman trying to recover after the end of a terrible marriage. She takes up scuba diving on a dare; she travels all the way to beautiful Fiji, but then she gets caught on the knife-thin edge of a deadly game for golden riches. Dead Weight is about coping, finding balance, and the desperate fight to survival, as well as the challenge to grow beyond bad memories. A highly entertaining and engaging read, Dead Weight is highly recommended for both personal summer reading lists and community library contemporary fiction collections.

About the Author

Diane Sherlock is the author of Write To Be Heard (Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas) as well as three other novels, Willful Ignorance, Growing Chocolate and the upcoming Wrestling Alligators. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, The Citron Review, scissors and spackle, Mo+th (Bombshelter), Present Tense, and Bird in the Hand: Risk & Flight (Outrider). She co-founded AnnotationNation.com and has a blog on writing. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles in 2009. She was a 2011 nominee for the Pushcart Prize and a finalist for the Artsmith Literary Prize. Her flash fiction piece, The Green Bench, has been used in workshops, including the 2012 Wesleyan Writers Conference.

She previously co-owned and managed a production services firm. In addition, she worked as a freelance writer for several production companies and served as producer and production manager for film and TV. Born in La Jolla, California, she currently lives in Los Angeles and is an honorary Masai after a 2011 trip to the Masai Mara.

Product Details

• File Size: 374 KB
• Print Length: 192 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005PZ7ANU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #950,019 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Diane Sherlock is the author of four novels: Dead Weight, Willful Ignorance, Growing Chocolate, and the upcoming Wrestling Alligators, the non-fiction Write To Be Heard (Lighthouse), as well as a number of screenplays. Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Citron Review, scissors and spackle, Mo+th (Bombshelter), Present Tense, and Bird in the Hand: Risk & Flight (Outrider). She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles in 2009. She co-founded AnnotationNation.com and has a blog on writing. She was a 2011 nominee for the Pushcart Prize and a finalist for the Artsmith Literary Prize. Her flash fiction piece, The Green Bench, has been taught in workshops, including the 2012 Wesleyan Writers Conference. She is on the advisory board for the Roar Shack reading series in Los Angeles.

She previously co-owned and managed a production services firm and is a current member of SAG-AFTRA. In addition, she worked as a freelance writer for several production companies and served as producer and production manager for film and television. Born in La Jolla, California, she currently lives in Los Angeles and is an honorary Masai after a 2011 trip to the Masai Mara.