McKennas given up his house and business and sailed away with his wifebut their continuous fights have driven her away. He hires Tom Cain to sail back to Boston. When Cain is about to be caught smuggling diamonds by the Coast Guard, he convinces McKenna to lie to save him for a share. Then the people Cain cheated come after McKennaand his wife.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Rob McKenna and his wife, attempting to rebuild their marriage after the death of their daughter, seek solace in a new life aboard the boat they've bought and sailed to the Caribbean. But the effort fails, and Catherine leaves Rob midway on the voyage, forcing him to take on a crew member to help sail the boat back to Boston. Tom Cain turns out to be more than a capable sailor. He's also a thief and a con man, implicated (at least fictionally) in the biggest unsolved art theft in history--the disappearance of a $300-million-dollar trove of old masters from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
When McKenna realizes the truth about Cain, he's confronted with a Hobson's choice, and the decision he makes between two evils catapults him into a world of hurt, violence, deception, and murder. Can a moral man do an immoral thing and still consider himself a good human being? That's the philosophical question at the heart of this engrossing "what if." Unlike some speculative suspense thrillers based on actual events, this one stands on its own as a lively, well-told tale regardless of the historical circumstances that suggested it. Both Rob and Catherine are empathetic characters whose fate quickly grips the reader. The secondary figures, such as the incestuous brother-sister team who've been double-crossed by Tom Cain and the Vietnam vet who repays his debt to Rob by putting his own life on the line are equally well-drawn. The pacing is swift, careening to an explosive and satisfying conclusion--a page-turning read for armchair sailors with a penchant for true crime stories as well as made-up mysteries. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Rob McKennaAgood guy, good husband, good father and good friendAseeks to escape the guilt he feels over his daughter's death in this first-rate nautical mystery from Eidson (Adrenaline, etc.). After selling his business and house and buying a 38-foot sloop, The Wanderer, McKenna sets sail with his wife, Caroline, on a life-altering ocean voyage. When Caroline, unable to cope with their constant arguments, flies home from Tortolla in the Caribbean to Newburyport, Mass., young, blond, blue-eyed Tom Cain offers to be McKenna's mate. But Cain is not the experienced sailor or Harvard graduate he professes to be, and McKenna begins a journey home darker and more dangerous than the treacherous sea they endure en route. McKenna discovers that Cain possesses a fortune in diamonds, which they agree to split after McKenna protects Cain from the Coast Guard officials who search the boat. In a dense fog off the Rhode Island coast, McKenna faces a life-threatening situation leading to murder. Back on land in Newburyport, McKenna has to defend himself, Caroline and their friends from people whom Cain cheated and double-crossed. Criminal, amoral and sometimes psychotic characters immersed in duplicity contrast with McKenna as he deals with his own moral dilemmas. Like the speed of The Wanderer in a gale force wind, Eidson's tale moves to a satisfying conclusion. Sailing enthusiasts will particularly enjoy the authentic and detailed descriptions of McKenna's voyage from Tortolla to Newburyport. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There's not One Bad Thing to say about this gem. . . .,
By Biohazard (montecito, ca United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: One Bad Thing (Hardcover)
Ever picked up a book without knowing a thing about it? You just got this itch, probably somewhere deep inside the most primitive area of your brainstem, and it not only drew you to the book, but kept you super-glued to it all the way to page 348. And, like Super Glue(R), it wouldn't let you go. . . .ONE BAD THING by master storyteller Bill Eidson is that very book. And Bill's Super Glue is his unique ability to write just enough of a good thing, without detracting from his brilliantly told story. Simple and elegant. It was a Friday night a week or so ago, and I was sitting at the computer, breezing through Amazon.com's Mystery section. As I scrolled down, something caught my eye; I never even paid attention to it, because it was undefined. All I know is that ONE BAD THING arrived two days later, and I recall ripping off the packaging, clutching it under my arm, and running for the bedroom. After a few minutes of setting up my nest of 13 or so pillows, I dived right into Bill's gift. . . . Ten hours later, I found myself wishing the remaining 500 pages would soon show up at my doorstep. Bill dreamed up half a dozen true-to-life characters, esp. Rob McKenna, the protagonist who appears to fall into the old "Good Initiative, Bad Judgement" trap. McKenna's heart is fresh from the blender: his daughter Samantha is killed by . . . and his marriage to his soulmate Caroline is crashing into the surf with the incoming tide. On a sailing voyage from the British Virgin Islands, McKenna, sans Caroline who leaves him alone in Tortuga, takes on a young fast-talking (not to mention dangerous!) Tom Cain as his deckhand. The moment KcKenna disregards his own keen intuition, which raises more than one red flag over Cain, he begins to take on water and start the slow, downward death spiral. On the way down, he runs the gauntlet of near-death encounters with notorious organized-crime figures, and continually faces his own reflection. As in the beginning, McKenna ignores his intuition, throws caution to the wind, and gets inexorably tangled in a sticky web of intrigue, drama, murder, and money. Bill turns on the afterburners at Chapter 23, after a nice trot that keeps you on your toes without letting up. If you're not in great cardiovascular shape, then I advise renting a "crash cart" with a defibrillator that's had a recent servicing. A tank of 100% oxygen might be in order, too. I'm in super shape, with a resting heart rate of 50 beats/min. When I met Tom Cain, and tried to warn Rob McKenna about him, my heart rate jumped to 75 and stayed there 'til Chapter 23 rolled around, then accelerated into the red zone for the remainder of the story. ONE BAD THING brings to mind a great movie years ago, with Jeff Goldblum, who plays an insomniac that goes for a leisurely walk late one night, and ends up caught in Michelle Pfeiffer's nightmare. I don't recall the name, but the premise and message are similar: Good Initiative, Bad Judgement. Even though the long summer reading season is now over, it wouldn't be overindulgent to pick up ONE BAD THING . . . Go ahead, treat yourself. Just remember the "crash cart" and oxygen. Dean Garner, Santa Barbara, CA P.S. Hey, Bill, what about those extra 500 pages!?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There's not One Bad Thing to say about this gem. . . .,
By Biohazard (montecito, ca United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: One Bad Thing (Hardcover)
Ever picked up a book without knowing a thing about it? You just got this itch, probably somewhere deep inside the most primitive area of your brainstem, and it not only drew you to the book, but kept you super-glued to it all the way to page 348. And, like Super Glue(R), it wouldn't let you go. . . . ONE BAD THING by master storyteller Bill Eidson is that very book. And Bill's Super Glue is his unique ability to write just enough of a good thing, without detracting from his brilliantly told story. Simple and elegant. It was a Friday night a week or so ago, and I was sitting at the computer, breezing through Amazon.com's Mystery section. As I scrolled down, something caught my eye; I never even paid attention to it, because it was undefined. All I know is that ONE BAD THING arrived two days later, and I recall ripping off the packaging, clutching it under my arm, and running for the bedroom. After a few minutes of setting up my nest of 13 or so pillows, I dived right into Bill's gift. . . . Ten hours later, I found myself wishing the remaining 500 pages would soon show up at my doorstep. Bill dreamed up half a dozen true-to-life characters, esp. Rob McKenna, the protagonist who appears to fall into the old "Good Initiative, Bad Judgement" trap. McKenna's heart is fresh from the blender: his daughter Samantha is killed by . . . and his marriage to his soulmate Caroline is crashing into the surf with the incoming tide. On a sailing voyage from the British Virgin Islands, McKenna, sans Caroline who leaves him alone in Tortuga, takes on a young fast-talking (not to mention dangerous!) Tom Cain as his deckhand. The moment McKenna disregards his own keen intuition, which raises more than one red flag over Cain, he begins to take on water and start the slow, downward death spiral. On the way down, he runs the gauntlet of near-death encounters with notorious organized-crime figures, and continually faces his own reflection. As in the beginning, McKenna ignores his intuition, throws caution to the wind, and gets inexorably tangled in a sticky web of intrigue, drama, murder, and money. Bill turns on the afterburners at Chapter 23, after a nice trot that keeps you on your toes without letting up. If you're not in great cardiovascular shape, then I advise renting a "crash cart" with a defibrillator that's had a recent servicing. A tank of 100% oxygen might be in order, too. I'm in super shape, with a resting heart rate of 50 beats/min. When I met Tom Cain, and tried to warn Rob McKenna about him, my heart rate jumped to 75 and stayed there 'til Chapter 23 rolled around, then accelerated into the red zone for the remainder of the story. ONE BAD THING brings to mind a great movie years ago, Into The Night, with Jeff Goldblum, who plays an insomniac that goes for a leisurely walk late one night, and ends up caught in Michelle Pfeiffer's nightmare. The premise and message are similar: Good Initiative, Bad Judgement. Even though the long summer reading season is now over, it wouldn't be overindulgent to pick up ONE BAD THING . . . Go ahead, treat yourself. Just remember the "crash cart" and oxygen. Dean Garner, Santa Barbara, CA P.S. Hey, Bill, what about those extra 500 pages!?
5.0 out of 5 stars
ONE GREAT BOOK,
By A Customer
This review is from: One Bad Thing (Hardcover)
I had the good fortune to discover Bill Eidson when I picked up his THE GUARDIAN, a knockout thriller which led me to his ADRENALINE then to FRAMES PER SECOND. One after the other, Eidson's books are page-turning thrillers written with grit, wit, and sensibility. And now ONE BAD THING has confirmed my belief that this guy is a first-rate story teller and deserves the mantle of the late great John D. Macdonald as one reviewer has proclaimed. This is a gem of a book that keeps the pages turning while exploring important moral issues that speak to us all.
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