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Doc Ford #5
North of Havana
Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford novels have been praised as "witty" (San Diego Union-Tribune), "must-reads" (Chicago Tribune) and "superb." (Denver Post) Now, White's newest thriller takes Doc Ford to Havana, where his friend is being held by the Cuban government. Still haunted by his suspected involvement in a plot against Castro, Ford ventures to Cuba--where he finds himself entangled in a web of murder, revenge, and assassination.From the author of the critically acclaimed novel Captiva (Prime Crime, 5/97)
Another mystery featuring Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford is on the way
Will appeal to fans of Carl Hiaasen and John D. Macdonald
"We’ll drop anything we're doing to read a new Randy White novel and be glad we did." --Denver Post
Another mystery featuring Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford is on the way
Will appeal to fans of Carl Hiaasen and John D. Macdonald
"We’ll drop anything we're doing to read a new Randy White novel and be glad we did." --Denver Post
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
394 people are currently reading
903 people want to read
About the author
Randy Wayne White
77 books1,595 followersaka Carl Ramm, Randy Striker
Randy Wayne White (born 1950) is an American writer of crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales. He has written best-selling novels and has received awards for his fiction and a television documentary. He is best known for his series of crime novels featuring the retired NSA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida. White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States. A resident of Southwest Florida since 1972, he currently lives on Pine Island, Florida, where he is active in South Florida civic affairs and with the restaurant Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill on nearby Sanibel Island.
Series:
* Doc Ford Mystery
Randy Wayne White (born 1950) is an American writer of crime fiction and non-fiction adventure tales. He has written best-selling novels and has received awards for his fiction and a television documentary. He is best known for his series of crime novels featuring the retired NSA agent Doc Ford, a marine biologist living on the Gulf Coast of southern Florida. White has contributed material on a variety of topics to numerous magazines and has lectured across the United States. A resident of Southwest Florida since 1972, he currently lives on Pine Island, Florida, where he is active in South Florida civic affairs and with the restaurant Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grill on nearby Sanibel Island.
Series:
* Doc Ford Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
August 25, 2025
Cuba is a crime-writer's dream, replete with mysticism, a fascinating history, and an exotic backdrop for any kind of story, especially one involving international espionage and murder.
Randy Wayne White's "North of Havana" reunites his hero, Doc Ford, with his Cold War-era past.
Ford, a marine biologist working in the Florida Everglades, was, unbeknownst to his friends and loved ones (a small group), once a top-secret government agent for the CIA. He doesn't talk about it, and he certainly doesn't like to remember much of it, but when his hippy-friend Tomlinson enters Cuban waters in his sail-boat and is taken into custody by Cuban soldiers, Ford is forced to confront his past and, worse, return to the country where he has a price on his head.
He arrives with a suitcase full of money (to pay off the police) and an ex-girlfriend who forced herself along for the ride. He expects a quick in-and-out, but when Tomlinson isn't where he's supposed to be, Ford ends up getting involved in an underground anti-Castro movement.
With the aid of an ex-Soviet agent still living in Havana, Ford goes on a search through the back-alleys and jungles of Cuba to find and rescue his friends. Along the way, he may actually finish the mission he started years ago but never completed: to kill Castro (who was, at the time this novel was set, in his 80s).
White is working in Robert Ludlum territory here (with a little John D. McDonald, for good measure), and for the most part, he does a good job of it. "North of Havana" is fast-paced, action-packed, suspenseful, and, more importantly, fun. Fans of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen will enjoy White.
Randy Wayne White's "North of Havana" reunites his hero, Doc Ford, with his Cold War-era past.
Ford, a marine biologist working in the Florida Everglades, was, unbeknownst to his friends and loved ones (a small group), once a top-secret government agent for the CIA. He doesn't talk about it, and he certainly doesn't like to remember much of it, but when his hippy-friend Tomlinson enters Cuban waters in his sail-boat and is taken into custody by Cuban soldiers, Ford is forced to confront his past and, worse, return to the country where he has a price on his head.
He arrives with a suitcase full of money (to pay off the police) and an ex-girlfriend who forced herself along for the ride. He expects a quick in-and-out, but when Tomlinson isn't where he's supposed to be, Ford ends up getting involved in an underground anti-Castro movement.
With the aid of an ex-Soviet agent still living in Havana, Ford goes on a search through the back-alleys and jungles of Cuba to find and rescue his friends. Along the way, he may actually finish the mission he started years ago but never completed: to kill Castro (who was, at the time this novel was set, in his 80s).
White is working in Robert Ludlum territory here (with a little John D. McDonald, for good measure), and for the most part, he does a good job of it. "North of Havana" is fast-paced, action-packed, suspenseful, and, more importantly, fun. Fans of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen will enjoy White.
Read
March 9, 2018Tomlinson, the hippie friend of Doc Ford's is being held in Cuba. Strangely enough, the hippie thinks Cuba is repressive, and wants to leave.
Doc, having operated in Cuba before, wants no part of this, but has to rescue Tomlinson. Dewey, Doc's on-again off-again paramour goes with him.
They get involved in a huge plot, voodoo, and meet Fidel.
Very good entry in the series.
Doc, having operated in Cuba before, wants no part of this, but has to rescue Tomlinson. Dewey, Doc's on-again off-again paramour goes with him.
They get involved in a huge plot, voodoo, and meet Fidel.
Very good entry in the series.
May 31, 2018
PLEASE NOTE: I "read" an audiobook but there was no audiobook edition.
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
NORTH OF HAVANA: Doc Ford in Cuba
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
A refresher course in Cuban-American relations with thrills and suspense to make it interesting.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this audiobook provided by the publisher. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions presented herein are my own except as noted.
George Guidall is the perfect narrator for this series: capable of great range, he is emotive but “manly.” If that sounds sexist, well maybe it is, but there’s no “sensitive new-age guy” in Doc Ford from whose point of view we hear this tale of intrigue and action, so a “manly voice,” is de rigueur.
My husband has always been the big Randy Wayne White fan in the house. I tend to read romance, historical, cozy mystery, and erotica, where he tends more to thriller, suspense and science/economic non-fiction.
I do fancy myself a lover of history, but my love ends around the time Queen Victoria passed on. He’s more into the history of the century of our births, that 100 year stint called the Twentieth Century. It’s hard to think of stuff that happened when you were alive, but, most of what’s happening now, and what was happening in the 1990s seems to have its basis But one thing this book taught me is that my knowledge and understanding of this complex country and its relationships with the USA, where I live, is extremely lacking.
The book seems to have been published in print in 1998. Since then attitudes about sexual orientation have changed. Here Dewey, a female tennis champ and now, a professional golfer, has to try to explain her bi-sexuality. But today, it would either be considered unnecessary or offensive.
This story is complex, and I felt it depended a lot on backstory about some of the characters. One character, Tomlinson, has a medical condition and possible magical abilities. At first I thought the condition was entirely medical, but then maybe it seemed drug-based. I ended up believing it was both.Doc Ford has, apparently, a PhD in Marine Biology, and a past in the CIA. But, I guess I would have understood the history between the characters if I had read the first three books.
The plot is not a straight line, But a twisty one. With the naiveté of every Non-Cuban character BUT Doc Ford, I think the assorted problems they experience in the novel are problems they bring on themselves. The remarkable thing is that Doc Ford, who could happily have been home for Christmas who but goes off to save a friend, and whose friend Dewey insists on accompanying him,
takes the blame for much of it. The character has, I think, a hero complex rooted in compassion and love for his friends. He values loyalty to friends, the downtrodden, and children. He’s an atypical nice guy: decent to everyone, unless you’re not a nice guy in which case you should watch out. His decency is important, especially as White uses Doc to explore the issues faced by a Cuba without the Soviet Union and with a continuing embargo by the US. He describes the hunger of at least one child, and the medical issues of another. Are those features necessary to the plot? probably not, but they help establish Doc Ford as the guy you want on your side.
While there are probably as many women as men who enjoy the Doc Ford series, I think of this as a series more enjoyed by guys. It’s a great idea for Father’s Day. And, then, when the guy in your life reads/listens to it, anyone who likes this kind of series can also pick it up.
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
NORTH OF HAVANA: Doc Ford in Cuba
http://fangswandsandfairydust.com/201...
A refresher course in Cuban-American relations with thrills and suspense to make it interesting.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this audiobook provided by the publisher. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions presented herein are my own except as noted.
George Guidall is the perfect narrator for this series: capable of great range, he is emotive but “manly.” If that sounds sexist, well maybe it is, but there’s no “sensitive new-age guy” in Doc Ford from whose point of view we hear this tale of intrigue and action, so a “manly voice,” is de rigueur.
My husband has always been the big Randy Wayne White fan in the house. I tend to read romance, historical, cozy mystery, and erotica, where he tends more to thriller, suspense and science/economic non-fiction.
I do fancy myself a lover of history, but my love ends around the time Queen Victoria passed on. He’s more into the history of the century of our births, that 100 year stint called the Twentieth Century. It’s hard to think of stuff that happened when you were alive, but, most of what’s happening now, and what was happening in the 1990s seems to have its basis But one thing this book taught me is that my knowledge and understanding of this complex country and its relationships with the USA, where I live, is extremely lacking.
The book seems to have been published in print in 1998. Since then attitudes about sexual orientation have changed. Here Dewey, a female tennis champ and now, a professional golfer, has to try to explain her bi-sexuality. But today, it would either be considered unnecessary or offensive.
This story is complex, and I felt it depended a lot on backstory about some of the characters. One character, Tomlinson, has a medical condition and possible magical abilities. At first I thought the condition was entirely medical, but then maybe it seemed drug-based. I ended up believing it was both.Doc Ford has, apparently, a PhD in Marine Biology, and a past in the CIA. But, I guess I would have understood the history between the characters if I had read the first three books.
The plot is not a straight line, But a twisty one. With the naiveté of every Non-Cuban character BUT Doc Ford, I think the assorted problems they experience in the novel are problems they bring on themselves. The remarkable thing is that Doc Ford, who could happily have been home for Christmas who but goes off to save a friend, and whose friend Dewey insists on accompanying him,
takes the blame for much of it. The character has, I think, a hero complex rooted in compassion and love for his friends. He values loyalty to friends, the downtrodden, and children. He’s an atypical nice guy: decent to everyone, unless you’re not a nice guy in which case you should watch out. His decency is important, especially as White uses Doc to explore the issues faced by a Cuba without the Soviet Union and with a continuing embargo by the US. He describes the hunger of at least one child, and the medical issues of another. Are those features necessary to the plot? probably not, but they help establish Doc Ford as the guy you want on your side.
While there are probably as many women as men who enjoy the Doc Ford series, I think of this as a series more enjoyed by guys. It’s a great idea for Father’s Day. And, then, when the guy in your life reads/listens to it, anyone who likes this kind of series can also pick it up.
February 20, 2018
A fairly unlikely scenario in NORTH OF HAVANA has the ever-logical “Doc” Ford illogically believing he can safely re-insert himself and an eye-catching sports-celebrity girlfriend into Castro’s Cuba despite his spook-work there many years before and his role in an exhibition baseball game that earned him the Maximum Leader’s personal animosity. Continuing as first-person narrator in No#5 of this series, Ford – who, when stalked through a ravine by someone he suspects is an elite Russian commando, goes off on a mental soliloquy about man-as-predator and muses that “It is the predicament of our nature that is the imperative, not the nature of our predicament” (p169)– an aside that kind of set me to cheering-on the other guy to shoot Doc and stop his pop-stand philosophizing.
February 25, 2019
The fifth Doc Ford novel. Doc returns to Cuba to help Tomlinson and ends up involved with a group of revolutionaries just as morally stunted as Castro and Guevara. Tomlinson's reaction to the reality of communism makes for some comic moments.
December 28, 2019
I read this on Sanibel during a rainstorm on Christmas weekend, which is the exact setting of the book. It definitely nailed the island feel. The spy stuff is ok, albeit convoluted.
The earnestly researched tutorial on lesbians at the start of the book is godawful and embarrassing, as is every use of 'panties', 'pendulous', and 'like a charnel house' in the entire series.
Doc should get laser eye surgery, since in every book he's undone at some point by losing his glasses.
The earnestly researched tutorial on lesbians at the start of the book is godawful and embarrassing, as is every use of 'panties', 'pendulous', and 'like a charnel house' in the entire series.
Doc should get laser eye surgery, since in every book he's undone at some point by losing his glasses.
October 24, 2011
I like these Doc Ford books because they provide little mental vacations to Florida's Gulf Coast. This one is mostly set in Cuba, so it wasn't quite as satisfying.
The characters and action are still appealing, and the dialogue still crackles, but I missed Florida.
The characters and action are still appealing, and the dialogue still crackles, but I missed Florida.
March 5, 2016
The fifth in the Doc Ford series. Doc travels to Cuba with Dewey to aid Tomlinson and finds himself in the middle of an anti-Castro dilemma.
October 18, 2020
“North Of Havana” is probably a good story for most people but it took place mostly in Cuba and I guess I’m not that interested in Cuba or its history.
May 2, 2020
Whew! The author bounces his boy Doc, and us, all over Cuba. It's a fun ride that will certainly lead to kidnapping and murder, but (since this is Doc's world and not ours) will it lead to the execution of Fidel Castro? I'll let you find out for yourself.
This one is early in the series, so folks who are expecting the Doc Ford of the most recent novels is going to be disappointed. This Doc is still very much fighting against his nature, not realizing that he has a place in the world that serves a purpose. One where he is badly needed as the same type of hero as Mack Bolan.
The mystery resolution runs right into the last chapter, with it being mostly satisfactory (IMHO), but hard-core fans of Doc Ford will love it. Especially the last page which even choked me up a little bit. Excellent ending personally for Doc Ford.
Find it! Buy it! Read it!
This one is early in the series, so folks who are expecting the Doc Ford of the most recent novels is going to be disappointed. This Doc is still very much fighting against his nature, not realizing that he has a place in the world that serves a purpose. One where he is badly needed as the same type of hero as Mack Bolan.
The mystery resolution runs right into the last chapter, with it being mostly satisfactory (IMHO), but hard-core fans of Doc Ford will love it. Especially the last page which even choked me up a little bit. Excellent ending personally for Doc Ford.
Find it! Buy it! Read it!
April 14, 2022
This was another old one in the doc Ford series, he gets a call from Tomlinson who is in quite a state, and wants him to come to Havana to get his boat back and get. him back home. It turns out to be quite an adventure.
July 13, 2015
I have always been fascinated with Cuba, so this was a very interesting read from that aspect, as well as a good mystery. In each book, Mr. White reveals a bit more of the history of Doc Ford, and Tomlinson. Plenty of plot twists and turns, and danger throughout. And a quote I particularly liked - "There was a time in my life I was suspicious by profession. Now I am suspicious by nature." -Doc Ford. What better quote for a mystery!
September 2, 2015
Liked the book. Love Dewey and love that her and Ford got together even if it was just for a minute. Sad about what happened to her and confused that she left with Rita...I was like HUH? Still confused by the ending. Not bad...got bored at the end. It was a nice twist...I just somehow missed it. If someone can explain where Dewey went and why that would be great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2012
You could tell from the beginning that this was another Doc Ford classic. Tomlinson's plea for help arrives and Doc is headed back to Cuba. I love the way that his back story is slowly delivered.
November 2, 2014
This one is still good, although far fetched.
Involves Castro and Santorini (voodoo) in Cuba.
Doc goes to Cuba with Dewey reluctantly to rescue Tomlinson whose boat was captured.
The last Russian in Cuba helps/hinders.
Fast read.
Involves Castro and Santorini (voodoo) in Cuba.
Doc goes to Cuba with Dewey reluctantly to rescue Tomlinson whose boat was captured.
The last Russian in Cuba helps/hinders.
Fast read.
August 9, 2011
Faster paced than some of White's earlier Ford novels. North of Havana also gives the reader much more insight into Doc Ford's mysterious past.
February 15, 2013
another great book by randy wayne white. im glad doc finally got to see pilar again but he has to leave. they cant be together. poor doc.
April 1, 2013
I like the characters and setting in all of Randy's books. I hate that I lost all of my autographed copies during Hurricane Katrina.
March 10, 2014
Another good read in the Doc Ford series. You don't have to read them in order for them to make sense, but there are some references to previous books that are better understood if you do.
August 3, 2016
#5 in the Doc Ford series.
Doc Ford novel - Ford travels to Cuba to bail out Tomlinson (and his impounded sailboat) and gets involved with pro- and anti-Castro factions.
Doc Ford novel - Ford travels to Cuba to bail out Tomlinson (and his impounded sailboat) and gets involved with pro- and anti-Castro factions.
September 29, 2016
I read this about eighteen years ago, and while I don't remember details, I noted that it was an "excellent Doc Ford story." I really like this series.
November 22, 2025
This is my second time reading this one and I still love it.
March 25, 2023
Doc Ford is looking forward to a quiet isolated Christmas on his boat, but alas, that’s not meant to be. He gets a call from his old hippie friend, Tomlinson, who is in Havana—no place to get tangled if you can help it. But earlier the same day, Ford had a surprise visitor to his boat. She is the bisexual tennis celebrity, Dewey, with whom he had enjoyed on-again, off-again flings in the past. The six-foot tall tennis star is upset over her breakup with a woman in Madrid. So, here she is on Ford’s boat hoping to get some therapy and who knows what else.
When Ford decides he must go to Havana, Dewey insists she’s coming. Against his better judgment, off they go to try to rescue the loveable but clueless Tomlinson. Ford worries about several things. He was a U.S. agent in Cuba in the ‘70s, and he bested Fidel Castro on the baseball diamond one day. That made him a bit of a marked man down there. He’s not anxious to go back for any reason. Furthermore, he doesn’t want to take the woman down there with him. She convinces him he’ll pass more appropriately for a tourist if he has the American girlfriend tagging along, and that’s the role she agrees to play.
The tension begins almost as soon as Ford steps off the plane. He knows someone is following him. The couple doesn’t appear to be professional spooks, and eventually they come clean and tell Ford why they’re following him. It’s a heart-tugging memorable part of the book.
Things get worse for Ford when his female friend gets kidnapped. Now he both must figure out how to get out of Cuba and recapture her.
He encounters Fidel Castro at one point, and for whatever reason, that just didn’t feel real to me. Still, this is a good series that I’ll continue to read.
When Ford decides he must go to Havana, Dewey insists she’s coming. Against his better judgment, off they go to try to rescue the loveable but clueless Tomlinson. Ford worries about several things. He was a U.S. agent in Cuba in the ‘70s, and he bested Fidel Castro on the baseball diamond one day. That made him a bit of a marked man down there. He’s not anxious to go back for any reason. Furthermore, he doesn’t want to take the woman down there with him. She convinces him he’ll pass more appropriately for a tourist if he has the American girlfriend tagging along, and that’s the role she agrees to play.
The tension begins almost as soon as Ford steps off the plane. He knows someone is following him. The couple doesn’t appear to be professional spooks, and eventually they come clean and tell Ford why they’re following him. It’s a heart-tugging memorable part of the book.
Things get worse for Ford when his female friend gets kidnapped. Now he both must figure out how to get out of Cuba and recapture her.
He encounters Fidel Castro at one point, and for whatever reason, that just didn’t feel real to me. Still, this is a good series that I’ll continue to read.
November 20, 2025
North of Havana. Randy Wayne White. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1997. 241 pages. Book 5 of 28 in Doc Ford series.
Marion "Doc" Ford, the former secret agent who retired to become a full time marine biologist on Sanibel Island, Florida, is just trying to live his life when he is dragged back into international intrigue. His buddy Tomlinson is in trouble. He's sailed his boat/home into Cuban territorial waters, and he finds himself and his companion under arrest and threatened with the permanent seizure of his boat, and possibly worse, unless Ford goes to Havana with cash to bribe officials and gain their release. That presents a couple of problems: 1) it's the 1990s, and American travel to Cuba, especially with American cash, is highly illegal and potentially dangerous, and 2) Ford has a history in Cuba as an agent that makes it extremely dangerous for him personally to ever return to the island. But, his friend is in trouble, and Doc accepts the mission, accompanied, against his preferences, by his female friend/lover(?)/fitness trainer, the pro tennis player and golfer Dewey. Once they locate Tomlinson, they find themselves enmeshed in both a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro and a search for a lost treasure, including the long-missing remains of Christopher Columbus. The result is a solid, short Doc Ford thriller that does have historic connections. The reader learns about Cuban revolutionary history and the situation in the 1990s, the attitudes of Cubans and Cuban refugees toward each other, and the speculation about what was going to happen once Castro lost power or died. (Of course, as we have seen, absolutely none of that speculation came to fruition.)
Marion "Doc" Ford, the former secret agent who retired to become a full time marine biologist on Sanibel Island, Florida, is just trying to live his life when he is dragged back into international intrigue. His buddy Tomlinson is in trouble. He's sailed his boat/home into Cuban territorial waters, and he finds himself and his companion under arrest and threatened with the permanent seizure of his boat, and possibly worse, unless Ford goes to Havana with cash to bribe officials and gain their release. That presents a couple of problems: 1) it's the 1990s, and American travel to Cuba, especially with American cash, is highly illegal and potentially dangerous, and 2) Ford has a history in Cuba as an agent that makes it extremely dangerous for him personally to ever return to the island. But, his friend is in trouble, and Doc accepts the mission, accompanied, against his preferences, by his female friend/lover(?)/fitness trainer, the pro tennis player and golfer Dewey. Once they locate Tomlinson, they find themselves enmeshed in both a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro and a search for a lost treasure, including the long-missing remains of Christopher Columbus. The result is a solid, short Doc Ford thriller that does have historic connections. The reader learns about Cuban revolutionary history and the situation in the 1990s, the attitudes of Cubans and Cuban refugees toward each other, and the speculation about what was going to happen once Castro lost power or died. (Of course, as we have seen, absolutely none of that speculation came to fruition.)
July 31, 2018
Just finished a nice journey “North of Havana;” well, at least through the pages of Randy Wayne White’s fifth installment of his Doc Ford Mystery series. White is a gifted storyteller who has created likeable and offbeat characters who live a bit wacky, lay back lifestyle. Our beloved protagonist is Doc Ford, a former government NSA agent and now a marine biologist, who lives in a house on stilts on Sanibel Island. In this book, Doc Ford's hippy friend, Tomlinson, sails to Cuba with a young lady and they sail too close and get captured. Tomlinson needs money to get “bailed out” and get his boat. Of course, there is much more to this situation than meets the eye.
“North of Havana” has a well-crafted plot, which also reveals that Doc had been there years ago and left under questionable circumstances. Although many of the Doc Ford books can be read as stand-alone books, this one does rely a bit on previous plots as several characters are introduced from prior novels. The usual menu includes revolutionaries, a great chase, and some wily characters with a brief appearance by Fidel Castro. Randy Wayne White has become one of my more enjoyable modern authors; thanks to Mike and Mary who started me reading this series by giving me the first four books! If you enjoy a well-crafted mystery with quirky characters, then the Doc Ford series could be for you! Give it a try!!
“North of Havana” has a well-crafted plot, which also reveals that Doc had been there years ago and left under questionable circumstances. Although many of the Doc Ford books can be read as stand-alone books, this one does rely a bit on previous plots as several characters are introduced from prior novels. The usual menu includes revolutionaries, a great chase, and some wily characters with a brief appearance by Fidel Castro. Randy Wayne White has become one of my more enjoyable modern authors; thanks to Mike and Mary who started me reading this series by giving me the first four books! If you enjoy a well-crafted mystery with quirky characters, then the Doc Ford series could be for you! Give it a try!!
June 14, 2021
Marine Biologist, Marian Ford known as Doc, is once again called upon by his good friend to come to Cuba. It seems his friend finds his live-on boat commandeered by the Cubans and himself held in captivity for ransom.
After listening to Tomlinson explanation, Ford us initially hesitate, As he’d been in Cuba before while working for the military. But, off goes Ford with another of his good friends Dewey to the rescue. We must remember this novel takes place in the late 1980s in the time of Castro’s dictatorship, so this along adds intrigue to the story line.
Not only do I enjoy the characters, but Randy Wayne White knows the geography and the topography of Sanibel Island, Dinkins Bay, and the many smaller island and reefs in the area.
Always a good story line, and always ends with a good bit of excitement.
After listening to Tomlinson explanation, Ford us initially hesitate, As he’d been in Cuba before while working for the military. But, off goes Ford with another of his good friends Dewey to the rescue. We must remember this novel takes place in the late 1980s in the time of Castro’s dictatorship, so this along adds intrigue to the story line.
Not only do I enjoy the characters, but Randy Wayne White knows the geography and the topography of Sanibel Island, Dinkins Bay, and the many smaller island and reefs in the area.
Always a good story line, and always ends with a good bit of excitement.
August 27, 2017
Just as Dewey Nye drops in unexpectedly on Doc at his Sanibel Island stilt house / lab, Doc a call from his weird friend Tomlinson. Tomlinson needs Doc to come and rescue him and his boat after an ill advised adventure ends him up in the hands of Cuban authorities. Doc has history in Cuba that makes him reluctant to undertake the journey.
Dewey is not one of my favorite RWW characters and we spend a bit too much time sorting through her emotional baggage before the action starts. Once Doc and Dewey are in Havana things get confusing and the confusion (for me at least) is never satisfactorily resolved.
An enjoyable enough light read, but not a grabber.
This was book #42 on our 2017 Read-alouds List.
Dewey is not one of my favorite RWW characters and we spend a bit too much time sorting through her emotional baggage before the action starts. Once Doc and Dewey are in Havana things get confusing and the confusion (for me at least) is never satisfactorily resolved.
An enjoyable enough light read, but not a grabber.
This was book #42 on our 2017 Read-alouds List.
July 19, 2022
I'm grading this a bit harshly. I liked it. But one of the allures of the series is the Florida setting--both the wonderful way RWW describes the geology and wildlife of southwest FL and the side jaunts Doc takes into the bizarre parts of Florida away from the tourist spots. Another is Doc's interactions with the goofy characters on Sanibel Island. But because this one is set almost entirely in Cuba and is mostly Doc's internal dialogue, those things are missing. Not a bad book or plot but a little too much of a departure from the spirit of the series, at least for me.
P.S. One wonders if RWW wrote this to dispel some of the silly American love for Cuba under Castro. If so, he certainly accomplished that.
P.S. One wonders if RWW wrote this to dispel some of the silly American love for Cuba under Castro. If so, he certainly accomplished that.
December 6, 2020
White's novels demonstrate an intimate grasp of Florida culture. This book extends that to Cuba. The modern day relationship between Cuba and Florida is intense and extends back to Batista and Castro. White manages to present quite a comprehensive survey of this history, and how and why Cuba and Florida (especially south Florida) are linked as ambivalent siblings. I really enjoyed reading this book, read it in 2 seatings, for that aspect. White is one hell of a Florida author. Definitely in a league with Hiaasen and McDonald.
June 28, 2021
Thomlinson is in trouble. He got too close to Cuba and has been arrested and his boat impounded. So he called Ford to come bail him out, the one place Ford does not want to go back to.
Just before he leaves for Cuba, Dewey comes for a visit with a special request of Ford. She’s had a break-up with her ‘friend’ Bets. And of course she decides to go with Ford on his mission not knowing what she’s getting in to.
Loved the ending.
Fave scenes: Ford’s conversation with General Rivera, Hemingway’s car, Ford’s high speed maneuver and Fords’ trick on the creek.
Just before he leaves for Cuba, Dewey comes for a visit with a special request of Ford. She’s had a break-up with her ‘friend’ Bets. And of course she decides to go with Ford on his mission not knowing what she’s getting in to.
Loved the ending.
Fave scenes: Ford’s conversation with General Rivera, Hemingway’s car, Ford’s high speed maneuver and Fords’ trick on the creek.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews