Customer Reviews

Man Overboard

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"MAN OVERBOARD" by Tim Binding is a rather interesting novel based on the 1956 mysterious disapearance of Britain's Naval Commander,Lionel Crabb, aka: "Buster Crabb." Several months after the Commander's disapearance, a "headless" and "handless" body was found in a frogman's wet suit floating just off the English channel...like a dead frog in the pond.
It was assumed that the body was that of Commander Crabb however, to my knowledge, that could never be proven. Updated DNA testing of those body remains (if they still exist), would be worthy of a book in itself.

Author, Tim Binding weaves a tale worthy of any James Bond adventure!
It makes the reader wonder if, "the frog really did die in the pond."
I thought the story line,and caricature development were extremely well done, as was the author's descriptive writting technique.

For some reason, the more I read of Crabb's dialogue, the more familiar it sounded. Suddenly, I realized that "Crabb" sounded a great deal like the persona of "Charlie Allnut" played by the actor, Humphrey Bogart in the 1951(?) movie, "African Queen" also staring Katharine Hepburn.

The book is a good read and I salute the author for his on-going interest in such a mysterious topic that has always pulled at me as well.
The author is of course, "very British" and many of the terms used in the book are not as quickly understood at first glance (if your not from Britain that is).

Like many writers, Mr. Binding skips from one time sequence to another very quickly. The reader gets used to this style but, had the author added "time-line" notes at the start of each change, it would have made the read smoother for the average reader.

All in all...a good book, a good read, and a great subject from which to spin a tale. Perhaps, Mr. Binding has more insight into that "frog in the pond" than we really know.