Customer Reviews

Hunter's Moon (Center Point Platinum Mystery (Large Print))

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is my first experience with Randy Wayne White and his Doc Ford character. White is distinguishable from most mystery and thriller writers by his absolute mastery of the English language. It's rare to be able to describe a thriller as lyrical, but "Hunter's Moon" is. Even the slightest passage has a distinctive style to it and the best of the passages are truly memorable. His descriptions of guiding a canoe through Florida's fog are stunning; droplets of fog literally drip from your cheeks.

Doc Ford has appeared in twelve prior novels, but this is my first contact with him. Interestingly, for a series, White mercifully doesn't engage in flashbacks to prior novels and doesn't require his readers to have a knowledge of earlier works. Bless you, Randy Wayne White, for this small mercy.

Ford, ostensibly a self-employed marine biologist, has a past. It is because of this past that a former US President, Kal Wilson, who is dying, asks his help. There is no need to guess at the possibility of fatal violence in the near future.

Wilson has also enlisted the aid of Ford's eccentric neighbor and friend, Tomlinson, who also has a shadowy past.

Former President Wilson doesn't merely want to get even, he wants revenge.

It's quite an adventure. By sailboat, amphibious airplane, canoe and forms of locomotion, the treo, occasionally assisted by assorted oddballs, make their way across the Carribean into Central America.

The plotting is flawless, though you have to forgive a few episodes that are strained a bit to make the story work. White also plays fast and loose with technology, something that irritates me because my business is technology, but they're not the kinds of things most people will notice.

Ford is the best developed character. The other characters aren't insubstantial, but they aren't fully developed either.

The story itself, propelled by White's exquisite prose, never pauses for breath or falters. The story takes off on page 1 and doesn't finish until page 317 - at which point you wish there were more.

Interestingly enough, there is surprisingly little violent action in the novel. Much of the suspense comes from Ford, Wilson and Tomlinson being both prey and predator through the adventure.

The ending is unexpected and great, though readers who see the United States as the source of all bad things in this world will undobtedly be angered. Fair warning.

Overall, White is worth reading just to see a master of the language at work. For thriller, suspense and mystery fans, there are some great characters and an excellent story.

Jerry

I have read 12 of the 14 books in the series. Obviously, I love Doc Ford. But his character in this book is different. He leaves Dinkins Bay and his lab with not a look back. He does not long for the solitude of his work. He doesn't express any angst about killing.

If you are new to the Doc Ford series, do not make this your first book to read. Try Shark River or Tampa Burn first.

I have read every one of RWW's novels, and much of his non-fiction. At a booksigning once, someone asked him how he writes so much, and he countered (to that literary audience) with, "how COULDN'T you write if you have it in you?"

He is a certified character with a fascinatiing background. He is among the few writers I watch for new novels from and then read with gusto. He isn't far behind JK Rowling in my need to keep the story going.

I guess it's clear that I am a fan. THIS novel is the best he's produced in a long time, if not ever. He has wonderful character development, and has managed to keep his protagonists fresh. I loved Hunter's Moon.

I would recommend it highly.

This book, although very interesting with a quirky twist to the story line, was a low key thriller. I felt it lacked the excitement of his prior books.

I must admit that I have been reading the Doc Ford series since they began-what 12-13 years ago. Somehow Hunter's Moon was a disappointment to me. After the initial fifty pages or so, the story bogged down and did not pick up until the last fifty pages or so. There were at least 200 pages of Doc moving around the Caribbean either by boat, plane or copter looking for what...a former adversary-helping a former president to discover the cause of his wife's death. The filler is descriptive images of the Gulf and islands. Usually past Doc Ford novels move fast and furious and can't be put down until the final exciting pages are read.

It took me well over a week to read Huner's Moon. There just wasn't enough interesting things happening that kept me reading on. I think it's time for Randy to stop going commercial with his Doc Ford Bars and gift shops and get back to the basics of bringing the "old" Marion Ford back. I think I'll wait for the next Doc Ford to come out as a paperback and save myself a few bucks. Get with it, Randy! Me thinks old Doc needs a quick transfusion of Dusky MacMorgan's hot blood.

Randy Wayne Wright can turn a phrase as nimbly as his hero, Doc Ford, can steer a canoe, and, in this latest intallment, the partnership loads up the reader and takes him on a breathless ride. The suspense begins at once, and it's impossible to say much of anything about the plot without giving something away. A VIP contacts Ford and asks for his help in running below the radar of even his own bodyguards, doling out the details of his mission in little bits to both Ford and the reader as they go. But, rest assured, it is classic Ford action and a very tough book to put down! If there is any criticism at all to be had, it is only that it doesn't deal as much with Ford's marine science, which is always so darned interesting!

It's so hard not to compare or contrast Doc Ford to Travis McGee, and if they weren't both introspective loners living on the seaside in Florida, perhaps we would be more likely to consider Jack Reacher or even Lucas Davenport. But I do like to think that, had they inhabited Florida at the same time, Travis and Marion would have respected one another, perhaps even had a few beers sometime.

I happened to pick up this book ahead of Tim Dorsey's newest, Hurricane Punch, and can only hope that Randy White and/or Doc Ford will make another thinly-disguised appearance within! And let's all pray for a quiet hurrican season, so as not to delay the writing of the next Doc Ford novel.

I've read most of White's Doc Ford books and enjoyed them immensely. But lately, his books are lousy. This is no exception. The Doc Ford books used to give us a nice mixture of adventure amid the wonderful world of Marina Florida. I enjoyed the tales of the eccentric inhabitants of Captiva and Sanibel islands and the Everglades. Doc Ford was a renaissance man with a hint of a violent past. But in this crummy book, there is little of the marina culture and Doc's violent past erupts full-bloom. In this book the renaissance man becomes Rambo -- and a lousy Rambo at that. Why on earth White would take such a wonderful character as Doc Ford and turn him into a caricature is a mystery. Why White would remove him from his storied Southwest Florida and plunk him down in Panama for much of the book is beyond me. Sadly -- very sadly -- I think I have read my last Randy Wayne White book. Pity.

I've read all of RWW's books and have greatly enjoyed with the exception of his last two books. I'm half way through Hunter's Moon and find myself skipping ahead. It seems as though Doc is meekly going along with Kal Wilson and the reason given just doesn't ring true. Also, Tomlinson is wearing very thin. If I had to spend more than five minutes listening to his Zen babbling, I'd have to throw him overboard. The whole plot is just meandering along.

Great characters. Great story line.Should have been on the bestsellers list for more than one week in my opinion. Not enough people know about this author.

Mr. White continues to write intriguing, quality fiction, certainly worthy of the term 'literature'. In this book his hero, Doc Ford, continues his adventures, more toned down, more thoughtful, with less spectacular James-Bond-like destruction. Fans will be more than satisfied with this Doc Ford novel. I was.