Customer Reviews

Hunters of the Dark Sea

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I read this book after seeing the Booklist review and I have to admit, they're right on target! Hunters of the Dark Sea is a page-by-page epic of the adventures of Ethan Swain, a young man stuck between his bloody past and a dark (if not hopeless) present-day situation serving as first officer of the Reliant, a whaling ship set out in 1813.

Mutiny, revenge and a mysterious creature from the deep are all heaped upon our hero and his crew as they also fight against all the harsh elements that the heavens, ocean and a sea-fearing job can bring. The author's well-woven tale brings you aboard as if you're serving next to Ethan, with a cast of rich and unforgettable characters that you will love, despise, cheer for and fear.

You'll also meet Professor Bullock and his young daughter Katherine, who have been sent by the President to find out more of the creature called "Death-in-the-Water." The only two to survive an attack by looters, they meet up with Ethan and together must wage war against the British, pirates from Ethan's past and the creature that hunts them all.

The Booklist review says "recommended for all collections," but I'd augment that suggestion, because this book should be immediately purchased and put on the top of your reading list so that you can say you were the first to serve with Ethan Swain, a name that's permanently bound with adventure!

Hunters of the Dark Sea is an alternate world novel set in the early nineteenth century. The United States has gone to war against the mother country once again due to the British practice of stopping American ships on the high seas and impressing sailors from their crews. After the war began, the British started taking ships as well as crews. Moreover, the British have issued Letters of Marque, commissioning privateers to take American ships.

In this novel, the whaler Reliant has been away from Nantucket for two years and the crew is about ready to mutiny against their arrogant Captain and his vicious Second Mate. Ethan Swain, the First Mate, is caught between the crew and the Captain, too aware of his checkered past to risk any charge of mutiny. However, a planted weapon and a crooked judgment against one of his own boat crew triggers a confrontation that leads the accused thief being shot and falling overboard. Ethan dives into the water after the man, despite the numerous sharks attracted by the blood and offal from the ongoing whale butchery. Although the sharks get the accused thief, Ethan exposes the rigged search and gets the Captain to brig the treacherous Second Mate.

At about the same time, the science ship Brown-Eyed Sue is anchored off Easter Island when a dying man washes ashore. From the condition of his body, the man apparently has been injected with a necrotic venom and is literally falling apart as they try to save his life. Professor Bullock and his daughter Katherine are on the ship to perform an update of his previous sperm whale survey conducted 16 years past, but Professor Bullock is also charged with investigating tales and incidences regarding a deadly monster in the sea. From the natives on Easter Island, the Professor learns that the thing they call Death-In-the-Water first appeared in the area about the time that a falling star splashed into the ocean nearby.

Jonah McAfee is a pirate who has unfinished business with Ethan Swain. He experiences an attack by a rogue sperm whale and recovers an eviscerated sailor who was taken from the Brown-Eyed Sue by the monster. McAfee sees the monster as an opportunity for wealth beyond his wildest dreams and sails after the Brown-Eyed Sue.

In this story, something has come from outer space, is living in the sea, and has acquired an appetite for men. Sounds like a combination of Campbell's Who Goes There? and Well's War of the Worlds, with maybe a touch of Anthony's Spider Legs. This story also has a enraged captain swearing to hunt down a rogue sperm whale, much like Melville's Moby Dick. However, this story has some anachronistic aspects.

The story takes place about a decade prior to Charles Darwin sailing to the same area in the HMS Beagle. Darwinian theories produced the notion of extraterrestrial evolution as a corollary to terrestrial evolution; previously, only God and the angels occupied heaven. Three decades after the concept of evolution appeared, the popular imagination was ripe for Verne's Extraordinary Voyages and three decades after that, the public accepted Well's story of Martians invading the Earth. However, even a Professor of Biology from Princeton was unlikely to calmly accept such an idea as an exterterrestrial alien in 1813.

Another anachronism is the use of the word "germ" and the notion of infection. The use of alcohol to reduce the chances of flesh rot was historically accurate, but the mechanism of antisepsis was not known at that time. Prior to 1847, only ignorant and superstitious people believed that diseases could be transmitted by some sort of agents. Not until 1863 did Pasteur discover disease germs and it took over a decade before he proved that diseases were caused by germs (specifically anthrax bacilli).

With these exceptions, the historical background seems to be fairly solid. The author has obviously researched the whale hunters of that time and the privateers and pirates that preyed on them. The United States may have won that war militarily, but it was definitely an economic disaster, especially in the whaling industry.

Recommended for Odom fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of the past together with horrible monsters from outer space roaming under the seas.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Hunters of the Dark Sea is not an easy book to categorize. It is a historical novel set during the War of 1812. It is billed on the cover as "A Whaling Novel of Suspense." That is both an oversimplification and innacurate. This novel is historical adventure, horror and sci-fi rolled into one.




Aboard the whaling ship Reliant, Ethan Swain must overcome his haunted past and a cruel captain. During his tenure as first mate, he must follow his own code of honor while saving the crew from the perils of the sea.




Those perils include an uncaring and avaricious captain, an evil and viciously vindictive pirate, a British Man-of-War captained by England's worst and a horror never before seen on the high seas. Ethan must walk a tightrope of danger and mistrust while saving his men and himself from the worst that the dark seas can throw at him.




I was surprised by how much I liked it. Once I started erading it, I could not put it down. The setting was superbly done. Mel crafted an incredible story of sailing ships and the untamed sea with characters that are beatifully done. The story is a compelling read with plenty of action and high adventure. He captures the history and hardships of the whaling ships in great detail, it gives you the feel of being there. His telling of naval combat is equal to Master and Commander by Aubrey Maturin.




This book is one of the absolute best that I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone.

a tiny review...GO READ THIS BOOK! i dont care what kind of books you like, this is one of them!!!

"Hunters of the Dark Sea" (2003) is a fantastic action-thriller. The War of 1812 rages on land and sea. The dark seas of the world are full of hunters of every sort. Some of them hunt whales, some of them hunt merchant ships, some of them hunt scientific truth, but one of them, a great infected whale, hunts human flesh. First Mate Ethan Swain's hunt becomes a quest that leads the whaling ship Reliant halfway around the world to a forsaken point in the deep Pacific Ocean. There he discovers that the difference between the hunter and the hunted is razor thin.

This story isn't "Moby Dick". Here the seas are real and the seamanship authentic. Rather than a chapter on the symbolic nature of the color white, "Hunters of the Dark Sea" has pitching wooden decks, the smoke of broadside cannons fired in volleys, white capped waves and wind-filled canvas sails. Metaphor, madness and allegory are traded for a fast read of action, adventure and discovery. "Hunters of the Dark Sea" is more akin to the 1924 Newbery Medal winner "The Dark Frigate" by Charles Boardman Hawes. "Hunters of the Dark Sea" might have been a competitor for that very award if not for the graphic depiction of naval combat, medical gore, and the seventy nine years separating them.

The only shortcoming of this fine story is that it has no mythic theme, no symbolic restatement of a fundamental truth - might does not make right. The point it does make is powerful, but stated so subtly that it almost passes without notice. That is, might makes monstrous rather than right. The scale up of violence from simple fishing to whale killing, to killing a person, to killing a ship full of people is so natural that its logical progression merely depends upon the order of arrival of the hunters of the dark seas. Maybe that's too similar to a story being told in the evening news to be commercial. Then again, maybe not.

The greatest strength of this story is in its telling. It's a very good read, fantastically entertaining, and so filled with wet salt air that you'll need a towel before the final page. Plot a course with "Hunters of the Dark Sea" and log the journey. Find the (hidden secret?) latitude and longitude waypoints along the way. You'll be glad you did.

As a fan of Mel Odom's more recently published Christian action and crime novels, I was a bit reluctant in reading the Hunters of the Dark Sea. I can't express how surprised and pleased I was to be immediately drawn into a historically accurate and suspense-filled tale of piracy, whaling, and extraterrestrial drama. I knew that Mel had his roots in science fiction writing, and now I can genuinely appreciate the talent that he can weave into all genre of literature. The character development, the story line, and the detailed (if somewhat gory) action scenes kept me glued to the pages from start to finish. I read the entire book in two sittings, and found myself entwined in the fate and struggles of Ethan Swain. I recommend this book in the highest terms to any fans of Odom, seafaring literature, or science fiction. My highest praise to the author.

This is a sea story of high action and ever-compounding suspense. The year is 1813. Our hero, young Ethan Swain, is signed on as first mate of the whaling ship Reliant. Once a pirate, now he is attempting to live a different life and to become a sea-worthy sailing captain with legitimate business and good behavior. Only one more whale is needed to complete the fill of the hull for the men and finish the journey. But there are adversaries. The captain of the Reliant is himself both cruel and incompetent. There is a ruthless crew of pirates following the ship, and a British sea captain who also wants them. Then there is one more problem: a monster that is not even human but relentless, seemingly informed by knowledge from another world, strangely cunning.

At the same time that the highest amount of wit and practical skills are required, the boundaries around Swain and the Reliant are a mix of reality and unreality: it is as if too much time at sea has altered perceptions of reality.

The combination of sea-faring danger, science fiction, and combat with antagonists who outnumber Ethan Swain sets the stage for a spellbinding adventure story. It is a hybrid of sea, suspense, and horror. It is pulled together in a well managed yarn by skilled storyteller Mel Odom. If I found myself too squeamish for the many vivid and graphic descriptions of fighting, killing, disease and various afflictions, I admit that the story's target audience is both male and young. They - and others - will find Hunters of the Dark Sea an excellent adventure story.

Hunters of the Dark Sea is a gory tale of piracy, whaling and the rough life of a sailor in the early 19th century...with the addition of a sea monster! Ethan Swain, first mate aboard the Reliant, a whaling ship, is caught in mutinies, a no-good captain and what seems to be an evil whale that is terrorizing the seas near Easter Island in the South Pacific.

Professor Thaddeus Bullock is a scientist on a mission from President James Madison to research the monster reported in the off the coast of Chile. With his highly intelligent and discerning daughter, Katharine, the professor is also caught up in the dangers of the high seas, encountering pirates and the wake of the monster that is leaving its victims with deadly venom that can almost spread like an infection.

For Ethan and Prof. Bullock, the situations, chasing the whale/monster and fleeing pirates and the British Navy, continue to get grimmer until all come together to fight each other and the monster.

Hunters of the Dark Sea is not for the faint of stomach. The reader will experience lots of bloody swordplay, gun fights, rotten flesh and even an amputation. There's nonstop adventure, chases and pirate-speak. The author brings a wealth of maritime history to the pages of his book. The South Pacific comes to life with sails and mizzenmasts and rigging as these pieces of a ship encounter storms and battles.

I'm not much for writing long reviews but I'll put in my two cents. This book was written very well. It kept me interested the whole time. It closely portrayed a whaling ship tale, despite being fictional. I never heard of Mel Odom before reading this book. Afterwards, however, I'm glad I do now. I doubt even the true story of the whaleship Essex can compare to this fictional tale of peril.

This book started well but soon spiraled into an action adventure before I cared about anybody in the story. To be sure, Odom can write very well. He casts a spell with his gloomy setting and evocative descriptions. Cinematic action. But this matters little when the reader has no one to identify with. And there is little if any humor throughout. Very serious dark creature story.