Rating: 
Summary: Doc Ford rocks on The River
Review: Randy Wade White knows his stuff....about the ecology of Florida, the workings of the CIA...the swamp that Columbia has become and the life of those who live on or near the water in "God's Little Waiting Room." We learn a lot more about Doc's background in the CIA in this book as a well connected Washington insider, whose daughter he has saved from a hostage taking, uses Doc as bait to rid them both of a ruthless Columbian drug dealer whose brother has been turned into a paraplegic by Doc. We learn more about Tomlinson also, the self absorbed mystic who spends most of the book trying to put lead in his pencil in several humorous situations. I used to think that Carl Hiaasen was the king of this type of Florida novel. I now suspect we may have a new claimant to the throne. This book has action, intrigue, sex, information about the ecology of Florida and numerous other entertaining aspects that will make you glad you picked up this book. If this is your first experience with RWW and Doc Ford, I predict it will not be your last.
Rating:
Summary: Doc Ford rocks on The River
Review: Randy Wade White knows his stuff....about the ecology of Florida, the workings of the CIA...the swamp that Columbia has become and the life of those who live on or near the water in "God's Little Waiting Room." We learn a lot more about Doc's background in the CIA in this book as a well connected Washington insider, whose daughter he has saved from a hostage taking, uses Doc as bait to rid them both of a ruthless Columbian drug dealer whose brother has been turned into a paraplegic by Doc. We learn more about Tomlinson also, the self absorbed mystic who spends most of the book trying to put lead in his pencil in several humorous situations. I used to think that Carl Hiaasen was the king of this type of Florida novel. I now suspect we may have a new claimant to the throne. This book has action, intrigue, sex, information about the ecology of Florida and numerous other entertaining aspects that will make you glad you picked up this book. If this is your first experience with RWW and Doc Ford, I predict it will not be your last.
Rating: 
Summary: Still Not Ready For Prime Time
Review: Randy Wayne White has been waiting for a "break out" book in his Doc Ford series -- -- one that will move him to best-seller status, and affirm the promise of "the next Travis McGee" label he has been carrying. Unfortunately, SHARK RIVER isn't it.Doc Ford, the ex-super-secret-agent turned marine biologist, and his drug-enthusiast buddy Tomlinson run into some nutzoid Columbian drug-runners, some Rastafarians who really are "on a mission from God", Doc's Bahamanian sister/cousin, the ghost of his awful uncle, super-ninja government killers, like Doc used to be, not to mention plenty of marine biology observations, and it doesn't add up to anything resembling a plot. Plenty of coincidences. Any plot holes are resolved with some piece of information from Doc's incredible past. We get 1960's politics, 1970's sex, 1980's ecology, 1990's money, and still nothing resembling a plot. What is there is padded, and as thrillers go, this one is no rollercoaster -- more like "a Ford Bronco going 40 miles per hour". Predictable, competently written, fine for the beach.
Rating:
Summary: Still Not Ready For Prime Time
Review: Randy Wayne White has been waiting for a "break out" book in his Doc Ford series -- -- one that will move him to best-seller status, and affirm the promise of "the next Travis McGee" label he has been carrying. Unfortunately, SHARK RIVER isn't it. Doc Ford, the ex-super-secret-agent turned marine biologist, and his drug-enthusiast buddy Tomlinson run into some nutzoid Columbian drug-runners, some Rastafarians who really are "on a mission from God", Doc's Bahamanian sister/cousin, the ghost of his awful uncle, super-ninja government killers, like Doc used to be, not to mention plenty of marine biology observations, and it doesn't add up to anything resembling a plot. Plenty of coincidences. Any plot holes are resolved with some piece of information from Doc's incredible past. We get 1960's politics, 1970's sex, 1980's ecology, 1990's money, and still nothing resembling a plot. What is there is padded, and as thrillers go, this one is no rollercoaster -- more like "a Ford Bronco going 40 miles per hour". Predictable, competently written, fine for the beach.
Rating:
Summary: Still Not Ready For Prime Time
Review: Randy Wayne White has been waiting for a "break out" book in his Doc Ford series -- one that will move him to best-seller status, and affirm the promise of "the next Travis McGee" label Doc has been carrying. Unfortunately, SHARK RIVER isn't it. Doc Ford, the ex-super-secret-agent turned marine biologist, and his drug-enthusiast buddy Tomlinson run into some nutzoid Columbian drug-runners, some Rastafarians who really are "on a mission from God", Doc's Bahamanian sister/cousin, the ghost of his awful uncle, super-ninja government killers (like Doc used to be), not to mention plenty of marine biology observations, and it doesn't add up to anything resembling a plot. Plenty of coincidences. Any plot holes are resolved with some piece of information from Doc's incredible past. We get 1960's politics, 1970's sex, 1980's ecology, 1990's money, and still nothing resembling a plot. What is there is padded, and as thrillers go, this one is "a Ford Bronco going 40 miles per hour". Predictable, competently written, fine for the beach.
Rating: 
Summary: Skeletons in Doc Ford's Closet
Review: Randy Wayne White has been writing for years, establishing himself as the heir apparent to the Travis McGee chair of detective fiction: the laid back guy who lives on the water in Florida and somehow becomes involved in assorted mayhem and hijinks, mostly against his will. While McGee was hired to look into things, Ford (the Doc comes from a Phd. in marine biology) tends to stumble into things and wind up trying to save his own bacon, or someone else's. Until now, we've never really known that much about Ford's past. He worked for some super-secret government organization, but at various points in the series he's said various things to various people, and it hasn't always jibed completely with itself. He was being evasive, that much is obvious now, after this book, in which we learn a great deal about him and the organization, and incidentally about his best buddy, Tomlinson. The plot only tangentally involves these things, however. Ford's in the Bahamas, and intervenes to thwart a kidnapping. The criminals are after a powerful man's daughter, and when they don't get her, they decide to see if they can get revenge. Meanwhile Ford gets entangled with a Bahamian woman who's the daughter of Ford's ne'erdowell uncle, Tucker Gatrell, and that gets complicated, because Tucker left behind a typically complicated legacy, and she's obsessed with finding it, if only Ford will help her. The book sags in the middle somewhat, and the plot sort of wanders off for a while. It's all entertaining, but it's not very tightly constructed, and frankly it got a bit boring for me. The inside information as to what Ford was doing for the super-secret government organization, however, is more a part of the series than a part of the book, and in that sense it was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it, especially to fans of Travis McGee. Perhaps, though, you should read some of the other books in the series first, if you're just starting out.
Rating:
Summary: Crackling with Suspense
Review: Rich atmosphere, populated with engaging characters, the latest Doc Ford novel is well-written, complex and an entertaining thriller. Shark River introduces an attractive mulatto woman who claims to be Ford's sister, in search of a legacy left to her by her (their?) ne'er-do-well father.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars Aren't Enough!
Review: The growing legion of Doc Ford fans eagerly awaiting the eighth book in this popular adventure series are richly rewarded with the release of Shark River. Fast-paced action, vividly drawn characters and a plot laced with intrigue and suspense leave no doubt that Randy Wayne White is at the top of his game. Doc Ford's marine studies on the idyllic island of Guava Key are abruptly interrupted when he inadvertently finds himself in the middle of a deadly kidnapping plot involving Colombian drug traffickers and the daughter of a powerful international diplomat. Heavy fire power, bone-cracking combat, and careening high powered test boats leave the reader breathless...and this is just in the opening chapters. The ensuing action threatens to reveal details of Doc's shadowy paramilitary past that he has taken great care to bury. Add the complications of a beautiful Bahamian woman claiming to be Doc's sister, a nasty pair of Rastafarian thugs, a trail of hidden treasure and a menacing atmosphere of life-threatening danger, and you have the ingredients for a gripping story that the reader will be hard pressed to put down. Once again the author creates a vivid sense of place in his descriptions of southwestern Florida, and his trademark of brilliantly researched detail and a surprise twist ending place Shark River at the top of the must read pile.
Rating:
Summary: Smooth Sailing
Review: The writing in this series is becoming leaner and more enjoyable. The plot this time is almost too lean. The promise of competent bad guys never is fufilled and the challenges easily overcome. But this is a trip still worth taking and echoes of Travis McGee are plentiful.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been a five star rating...but
Review: This book started out wonderfully. Doc Ford travels to the luxurious Guava Key with his good friend Tomlinson. While there, Doc finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when the attempted kidnapping of the daughter of a Washington bigwig takes place during one of his jogs. His service training comes back and, acting instinctively, Doc reacts heroically and saves the girl and her female bodyguard while being shot at and chased himself. Not wanting anyone to dig into his secret past, Doc claims that, being frightened by the events, he simply fell into the women, knocking them all into the water and out of danger. But no one will let this go - not the FBI, local Police, the girl, her powerful father, the kidnappers, or even his friend, Tomlinson.
HERE is where I have a problem with the book. So far, we have a great basis for an exciting story, but White takes this opportunity to digress into a completely different story about his uncle who has passed away and the cousin he never knew about who has found him to seek his uncle's hidden treasure. I kept waiting and waiting for the two stories to somehow fit together but they never do.
I DID give this a four star rating because I did like it. I like White's style and he does give you well developed and likeable characters with interesting tidbits into their pasts. I just wish the story had flowed better and that he had stuck to one storyline.
This was my first book by White and I will read Ten Thousand Islands which seemed to fair a little better with the critics.
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