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Title: Captiva by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0-425-15854-3 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: May, 1997 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: So Long Columnist, Hello Novelist!!
Comment: Longtime readers of Outside Magazine were familiar with Randy Wayne White's eccentric travels and more eccentric character. And although Sanibel Flats read as though it had been written on long airport layovers as a time killer,with Captiva, White moved into the big leagues of compelling storytellers.This is a great yarn of trouble encountered simply by being involved in a community, where the bad guy gets a very just comeupance, the hero struggles with his humanity, and the rest of the characters ring so true to life that you believe you may have met them. Although Mr. White no longer writes his column, and is missed by me every month, he has truly become an author of compelling novels. I eagerly await the next.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Heart of Florida is in this Book
Comment: The thing that Randy Wayne White does best is to convey all the sights, sounds, smells and feelings of Florida. His stories are all about Marion "Doc" Ford, an ex-NSA agent currently living on Florida's Gulf Coast and trying to live a quiet life as a marine biologist. Even though he's trying to live the quiet life, it's just not in the cards. Every book finds him in the middle of a new mystery that he solves with class and wit.
However, anyone who thinks that these books are about Doc Ford and his adventures is wrong. Doc is a great central character, and his adventures are great reads. But Mr. White is ultimately not writing about Doc or his adventures. His central character is Florida itself, and the stories he writes provide vehicles for him to explore this magical place in greater and greater depth.
As a fishing guide himself, Mr. White knows Florida and it's evident in the care he takes to put the reader inside the skin of his characters. There's just no way to read a Doc Ford novel without feeling the oppressive heat or swarms of mosquitos, or getting a sense that you could actually dip your fingers into the waters of Dinkins Bay if you wanted. And this is the thing I love most about Mr. White's novels. You get to pretend, just for a little while, that you're actually living in Florida, running a skiff over the flats or casting a fly rod under the mango trees.
The plot of this particular story? It's about a brewing war between net fishermen and other groups who have voted to restrict net fishing in Florida. Acts of sabotage are happening up and down the coast, and the story opens with a bomb being set off at Dinkins Bay itself. Doc and his buddy Tomlinson do a bit of investigating and both become entangled with a lady who lives in a net fishing community and is one of the focal points of the conflict. In the course of this story, Doc falls deeply for this lady and we also see some very bad things happen to Tomlinson. Tomlinson's plight brings out the old NSA version of Doc, and we get a window into the life he used to lead when he worked for the government.
This book has one of the most clever and satisfying 'revenge moments' I've read when Doc finally confronts the main villain and we see him get what's coming to him. I laughed out loud when I figured out how Doc had gotten even with this person. Probably the best Doc Ford moment I've read so far.
This book rates 5 stars, both because I love Doc Ford and because I love Florida. As long as Randy Wayne White is writing, I don't much care what the plot is because I know it's going to take me where I want to be...the languid waters of Florida where the days are for fishing and the nights are for relaxing on the shore with a beer and a few good friends.
I can hear the Jimmy Buffett music playing in the background right now....
Rating: 3
Summary: Poor Follow-up to White's First Three Doc Ford Adventures
Comment: I have to agree with another reviewer that Captiva is also my least favorite Doc Ford novel in the series so far. The plot is interesting and the mood is still compelling, but switching to the "first person voice" just ruins it for me. I suppose the reason for doing so might have been to soften Doc Ford's character, but this method comes off clumsy at times and makes Doc seem phony. Doc didn't need any fluffing up anyway. This is a complete and terrible switch from the masterful "third-person" storytelling in the previous book, "The Man Who Invented Florida". I hope Randy returns to his earlier writing style in the next Doc Ford novel.
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Title: Sanibel Flats by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0312926022 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Man Who Invented Florida by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0312953984 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Mangrove Coast by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0425171949 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Ten Thousand Islands by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0425180433 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: 12 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Shark River by Randy Wayne White ISBN: 0425185214 Publisher: Prime Crime Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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