Dark Light

February 6, 2006
The 13th installment of bestseller White's aging but still solid series featuring Doc Ford (after 2005's Dead of Night
) finds the retired CIA operative picking up in the aftermath of a hurricane that's ravaged the Florida coast. Hired to sift through the old wreck of a pleasure craft, the Dark Light
, that's been spotted after the huge storm, Ford and his salvage team discover items inside the boat that stir deadly vengeance—Nazi artifacts. Ford runs into trouble immediately from Bern Heller, a nearby marina owner who claims his company has rights to the wreck site and doesn't hesitate employing violence to get his way. At issue, Ford soon discovers, is more than just old Lugers, war medals and a few gold bars. The real prize lies in the ownership of thousands of acres of Florida beachfront property. While the novel peaks in a typical burst of satisfying action, the plot takes too long to get underway and lacks the overall crispness of the author's best work. 80,000 first printing; author tour.

Doc Ford fans are likely to be disappointed by the audio version of White's latest marine adventure. Both the plot and reading are as mediocre and ambiguous as the book's title, which is the name of the sunken ship that this adventure is built around. After a Category Four hurricane hits the Florida coast, Ford and his crew are talked into hunting for that ship, lost in a storm in 1944. The woman who persuades them claims that her lover disappeared at the same time as the ship. Henry Strozier, has an interesting voice but one better suited to nonfiction. His voice tends makes his characters sound older (and more feeble) than perhaps intended. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine