Rating: 
Summary: What a marvelous book.
Review: A good story, well told, with thoroughly fleshed out characters and an optimistic sense of impending triumph that runs from the first to the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Is there a Doc Ford fan club?
Review: After reading Captiva, I had to go out and buy the Doc Ford trilogy: Sanibel Flats, The Heat Islands and The Man Who Invented Florida. Within a week I absorbed the books. Is there a Doc Ford fan club
Rating:
Summary: First among the best
Review: Assuming others will give you an overview of the story, let me simply state that this is the first of the series, and among the best. (And I've read every one). An excellent place to start, rather than the latest book, Everglades.So if you've never read any of the Doc Ford series, or you're already a fan of author Randy Wayne White, by all means buy this book! My favorites in the Doc Ford series, are, (drum roll, please): (5 stars)
Captiva
Twelve Mile Limit
Shark River
The Heat Islands
Ten Thousand Islands
Sanibal Flats (the first in the series) The following are the 4 stars in the series--great stories, but I wouldn't recommend them as a first read of the author: Everglades
The Man Who Invented Florida (a bit different from the rest of the series--Doc Ford isn't as prominent in the tale as his uncle, Tucker Gatrell, but this also is the funniest in the Doc Ford series)
North of Havana
The Mangrove Coast
Rating: 
Summary: a hybrid of so many other (and better) mystery novels..
Review: Being a resident Floridian I was hoping for some local Florida 'attitude' in this Randy Wayne White novel, much like what is delivered in the novels by Carl Hiaasen. But Randy Wayne White is no Carl Hiaasen in terms humor or delivering home a green-friendly message in an interesting piece of fiction. Nor does his oh-so-typically-cool investigator leading man, Doc Ford, add any credibility to the story. Unlike the other amazon.com reviewers before me I found 'Sanibel Flats' to be entirely derivative (un-original). As for the story, it starts of okay with the reader getting into Doc Ford's world of island living in southwest Florida. He has some rather idiosyncratic neighbors, and the author throws in some well-paced comic turns. But then the story turns on a dime and the plot shifts to Central America, revolutionaries, ancient Mayan mysteries, drug smuggling, etc, etc, before wrapping up back in Florida. So our huggable Floridian Doc Ford actually turns up to be Indiana Jones. Entertaining? Not really; the story never really ignites and is wrapped up in an extremely contrived fashion. But on the plus side the author does write reasonable well (decent prose), and I felt his depiction of Florida and Floridians was right on the mark. Bottom line: a bit of a mess really. Perhaps better suited for those looking for a jungle adventure story than a Florida-based mystery.
Rating:
Summary: a hybrid of so many other (and better) mystery novels..
Review: Being a resident Floridian I was hoping for some local Florida 'attitude' in this Randy Wayne White novel, much like what is delivered in the novels by Carl Hiaasen. But Randy Wayne White is no Carl Hiaasen in terms humor or delivering home a green-friendly message in an interesting piece of fiction. Nor does his oh-so-typically-cool investigator leading man, Doc Ford, add any credibility to the story. Unlike the other amazon.com reviewers before me I found 'Sanibel Flats' to be entirely derivative (un-original). As for the story, it starts of okay with the reader getting into Doc Ford's world of island living in southwest Florida. He has some rather idiosyncratic neighbors, and the author throws in some well-paced comic turns. But then the story turns on a dime and the plot shifts to Central America, revolutionaries, ancient Mayan mysteries, drug smuggling, etc, etc, before wrapping up back in Florida. So our huggable Floridian Doc Ford actually turns up to be Indiana Jones. Entertaining? Not really; the story never really ignites and is wrapped up in an extremely contrived fashion. But on the plus side the author does write reasonable well (decent prose), and I felt his depiction of Florida and Floridians was right on the mark. Bottom line: a bit of a mess really. Perhaps better suited for those looking for a jungle adventure story than a Florida-based mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Part Indiana Jones, part Sherlock Holmes!
Review: Doc Ford, the hero of Randy White's mystery series, is a
totally unique character in suspense fiction. At times
he's a nerdish scientist, but when it matters, he can buckle the swash with the best of them. The supporting
cast are all memorable and fully fleshed out. The fun
is sitting back and watching them work through their adventures. "Sanibel Flats" is the first in the series and is the most action-oriented.
- Steve Zeoli
Rating:
Summary: gone fishin
Review: I'm never sure whether I enjoy Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford mysteries because I love Captiva Island, or because they're as good as they seem. I've read all of them, and re-read this one recently. Reading it in a more urban environment than Sanibel or Captiva Island has convinced me it's the latter. His ex CIA agent turned marine biologist detective is a wonderful character, virile, but sweet,too. While world-weary Doc Ford is as laid-back as only too many hours spent looking for fish on Florida's Gulf coast can make one, he's ready for action whenever he's got to get that boat moving!
Rating: 
Summary: Randy White Gives Doc Ford A Great Start
Review: My sister got me hooked up on Randy White's Doc Ford novels this summer. I am from Sarasota so it was interesting to read about action and adventure occurring in an area that is close to home. This is the first Doc Ford novel and although I liked it it is not my favorite. Doc is an ex-NSA officer that has returned home to SW Florida to start a new life. He is a marine biologist (his front while being an NSA operative) who is the owner of the one man operation Sanibel Biological Supply. He lives in an old stilt house on fictional Dinkins Bay that also serves as his lab. Close by, at Dinkins Bay Marina, are his neighbors and friends. His best friend, Tomlinson, who reminds me physically of the character Jeff Bridges played in The Big Lebowski, lives on a sailboat at the marina. The two are opposites that author White has said in an interview represent his own coming to terms with his logical (Ford) and spirital (Tomlinson) sides. This novel has Ford rescuing a dead highschool friend's small boy from a group of radical terrorists in a Central American country. Ford's NSA past is revisited as he sets off to save the boy with the freespirit "hippy" Tomlinson by his side. This novel has a twist for an ending and like all White's Doc Ford novels gives you a history lesson to boot. White was a saltwater guide and does a wonderful job of explaining different mysteries the Gulf in that part of Florida holds. He also knows the ins and outs of a marina's micro-community and does an excellent job of describing how it feels to live with a group of boaters on the water. Also, White has done a great deal of research on the Calusa Indians of Florida as well as the ancient peoples of Central and South America. As I said, this is not my favorite Doc Ford Novel. My favorites were Captiva (dealing with the Net Ban issue) and Heat Islands.
But it doesn't matter which one you start off with, if you like one, you'll like them all.
Rating:
Summary: Great effort for a first novel
Review: One of my favorite authors has always been John MacDonald with his Travis Mcgee sreies. The only problem is because of MacDonald's death there isn't anything new. After reading a newspaper paper article I decided to try White and his series about Doc Ford. Doc lives in Florida in Dinkins Bay. White has given Doc a personally that is kind of laid back but he is always on the edge of something new, sometimes a new lady to consider. This guy addes a new demension to the term of getting lucky with ladies in Sanibel Flats. Randy has included a very funny section in the book about a baseball game in the middle of a jungle. All Doc wants is to have his life continue from one point to another without a lot of problems, fat chance! With his friend Thomlinson, one of the strangest but most interesting people that I have seen in a book. Doc uses all his talent and abilities to get in and out of problems throughout the book.
If you are a fan of John MacDonald or just enjoy a good adventure story with people who aren't superhumans you'll enjoy Randy Wayne White. He's the kind of guy who lives next door.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down.
Review: Talk about your coincidences! Doc Ford used to live in the fictional Latin American country of Masagua. One of his old drinking buddies has a son who has been kidnapped and he's being held in Masagua. A woman whom Ford has been intimate with is working with a man who has been helping to smuggle artifacts out of Masagua! The smugglers are the ones who kidnapped the boy! Doc Ford, ex-CIA, goes after the boy and all mayhem breaks loose. An enjoyable book and I'm looking forward to reading more by Randy Wayne White.
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