Dead Reckoning: A Chase Gordon Tropical Thriller Short Story

Chase Gordon Tropical Thrillers

by Douglas Pratt

38 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2026

About the author

Douglas Pratt was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. He has been writing since the third grade. During high school, Douglas dabbled in short stories and poems.

Douglas graduated from the University of Memphis with a degree in Journalism. He lives in Mason, Tennessee, and spends his spare time on his sailboat.

Reviews

[Ricki]

I'm giving a synopsis of this super short novella so others don't waste time. It brings nothing to the Chase Gordon or Jay Delp series and can be skipped!

Not at all sure what the purpose of this 38 page novella was. Chase & friend Jay Delp are on a cruise around Florida before Jay moves to Mississippi . The Jay Delp books were spun off in Jan 2025 and this novella should have been released before that series started as it refences a "last cruise together" before Jay moves!

So, it's out of order in the series of books. Then they come upon a listing anchored boat. Chase boards to investigate, it sinks and he escapes. Near the sunken boat, Chase comes upon another sunken boat and while investigating, he's attacked underwater while Jay is attacked on the boat. Chase loses the underwater camera, has no pics of the second boat and then it's blown up.

They reboard, leave the area and chalk it up to an adventure. What was the point of this?

[James V Cole]

It's short but an ok read.

I love both of these characters but this short story was simply too short. I found d some of the sentence construction sloppy and the description of the position where this story takes place is a bit confused.
I was hoping for more.

[Wilbur Hundley]

Great story

Dead Reckoning is a great Chase Gordon short story. It includes some interesting dive sequences and some action with Chase and Jay. A fun read.

[Cindy Gilleland]

Descent little short story. Introduced me to a couple of seagoing characters ala Clive Cussler, Dirk Pitt, Al Giodino. I would be interested to see what Mr. Pratt does with a full-length novel.

[Andrea A.]

fun fast read

Loved the camaraderie between Jay and Chase before Jay goes to Mississippi… fun little story ! Thanks Douglas Pratt !

[Don Blank]

Great Short story

I’m hoping this is a teaser for a longer story.
It was a great beginning. Now we need the rest of the story.

[Julian Hamilton]

38 pages!

This is without doubt the worst Douglas Pratt novel I have ever read 38 pages & it finishes with no answers very disappointing