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Mike Scott Adventure #1
Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
The gruesome death of a girl, a protest of new development and the systematic destruction of coral reefs on Grand Cayman all alert photojournalist Mike Scott that criminal elements are at work on the idyllic island. When Mike’s buddy Kelly is kidnapped, it is a race against time for Mike to save his friend and bring down the greedy developer putting his own wealth before the beauty of the island and the welfare of the people.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 4, 2005
211 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Eric Douglas
70 books30 followersEric Douglas spent his childhood Sunday nights watching “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and dreamed of diving alongside the Captain. He became a diver, and then a dive instructor, meeting his goals and pursuing a life of adventure and travel.
Through his fictional works, Eric take readers on adventures of their own. His stories have everything thriller junkies crave; action, adventure and intrigue, set against a backdrop beautiful locations, the ocean and the environment, and scuba diving. The fast-paced stories are exciting, but Eric also hopes to inspire future generations of explorers and adventurers like Cousteau did for him.
After completing a program at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Eric jumped into documentary work, creating nonfiction works on lobster divers, war veterans, and cancer survivors.
Eric received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the W Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University. After working in local newspapers, honing his skills as a story teller, and following a stint as a freelance journalist in the former Soviet Union, he became a dive instructor while working as a technical writer for Diving Science and Technology (DSAT) and as the Associate Editor for The Undersea Journal. About the same time he developed an interest in diving medicine becoming a Diving Medical Technician (DMT).
For 11 years, Eric worked for Divers Alert Network (DAN) as the Director of Education, contributing numerous articles to Alert Diver magazine. In 2007, he co-authored the diving reference text Scuba Diving Safety with DAN President Dan Orr.
In 2008, Eric returned to Russia and photographed many of the people and places he knew from the 1990s. In 2010, he had solo photographic exhibitions of his work in Russia, France and the United States. He now serves on the Board of Directors for the Russia and West Virginia Foundation.
Combining his interest in storytelling and documentary photojournalism, Eric recently completed a photodocumentary project on Harvesting Divers; a project that earned him a Certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
Eric also writes the regular Lessons for Life column for Scuba Diving Magazine, analyzing the circumstances behind dive accidents and helping other divers learn from those mistakes.
Through his fictional works, Eric take readers on adventures of their own. His stories have everything thriller junkies crave; action, adventure and intrigue, set against a backdrop beautiful locations, the ocean and the environment, and scuba diving. The fast-paced stories are exciting, but Eric also hopes to inspire future generations of explorers and adventurers like Cousteau did for him.
After completing a program at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Eric jumped into documentary work, creating nonfiction works on lobster divers, war veterans, and cancer survivors.
Eric received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the W Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University. After working in local newspapers, honing his skills as a story teller, and following a stint as a freelance journalist in the former Soviet Union, he became a dive instructor while working as a technical writer for Diving Science and Technology (DSAT) and as the Associate Editor for The Undersea Journal. About the same time he developed an interest in diving medicine becoming a Diving Medical Technician (DMT).
For 11 years, Eric worked for Divers Alert Network (DAN) as the Director of Education, contributing numerous articles to Alert Diver magazine. In 2007, he co-authored the diving reference text Scuba Diving Safety with DAN President Dan Orr.
In 2008, Eric returned to Russia and photographed many of the people and places he knew from the 1990s. In 2010, he had solo photographic exhibitions of his work in Russia, France and the United States. He now serves on the Board of Directors for the Russia and West Virginia Foundation.
Combining his interest in storytelling and documentary photojournalism, Eric recently completed a photodocumentary project on Harvesting Divers; a project that earned him a Certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
Eric also writes the regular Lessons for Life column for Scuba Diving Magazine, analyzing the circumstances behind dive accidents and helping other divers learn from those mistakes.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 6, 2018
I wave back and forth between a two and three star rating. It took me 8 days to read this. I enjoyed most of the read, the dipping into corruption on the island and the relationship between Mike, Kelly and Tanya. The strength of the other relationships were not as in depth and thus lacked believability to me. My problem is that when I lay the book down, there was never a strong drive to pick it up again. Rather like a B rat d movie where the heroes come charging.
Sorry for the poor review, but not enough for me.
Sorry for the poor review, but not enough for me.
December 3, 2019
First of all there are great descriptions of diving, dive equipment, underwater photography, dealing with DCS (the bends). Very good descriptions of Grand Cayman but I could have used more—where locations were in relation to each other. A map would’ve been nice. I really enjoyed seeing Sunset House featured. (We’ve been there multiple times.)
The basic story itself is quite good, far better than most ‘scuba mysteries’ I’ve read, but the plot builds slowly and awkwardly, as though the author is afraid of revealing too much too soon. Villain scenes are very melodramatic and way over the top, full of cryptic references like ‘our mutual friend’ in an attempt to conceal things from the reader. The villains (Walker, Samson, Allan) are also incredibly stupid and arrogant—nothing subtle about them. Their scenes were like comic relief and detracted from the story. But I did think Samson’s internal monologue was effective. I felt more menace from him and found his background more credible than other characters in the book.
Omniscient point of view has been out of favor since the 1920’s, yet the POV here lapses into that at times. The story feels like it’s ABOUT the people and situation rather than FROM the people involved. Modern readers prefer to experience a story from the characters’ POVs. The old ‘Show, don’t tell’ adage applies here in spades. This book is sorely in need of SHOWING events rather than TELLING us about them. It feels like a news article with occasional dialogue rather than real fiction. Head-hopping occurs in many scenes—switching from one person’s thoughts to another within the same scene. This is accepted in some romance novels but frowned on in other forms of fiction.
Except for the villains, the basic characters are pretty solid, the kind of ensemble you’d expect in a scuba novel. I liked Mike, Kelly, Tanya, Antwon, Kurt, and Baily. The two guys on the yacht were a bit too stereotypical and convenient. I think they were needed, but as drawn they weren’t very convincing. March was good, but the other island government characters were shallow. Every new character came with a full description—height, build, age, hair and eye color, plus a backstory. It felt like reading off a driver’s license or a police description. There are more subtle ways to handle this.
Dialogue, while serviceable, is very stiff, formal, and on-the-nose (predictable). All the characters sound the same, very formal and proper. Contractions, which can make dialogue more conversational and natural, are few and far between. Far too many dialogue tags and unnecessary use of names. With only two characters in a scene, there is no point to addressing each other by name. It just calls attention to the writing and distracts from the story. One of my pet peeves about fiction is having characters talk to themselves out loud. I don’t do this or know anyone who does this IRL unless it’s to swear at an idiot driver or talk to the cats. Yet some characters here go on and on. Internal monologue, thoughts, is how most writers handle this.
As good and accurate as it is, much of the technical and background info is delivered in “as you know, Bob” dialogue and passages, long classroom-like ‘lectures’ on various topics. The information is very accurate (unlike so much of adventure fiction) but usually more than the average reader needs to know at that point in the story. And considering that much of the target audience consists of divers, we already know a lot of this.
The basic story itself is quite good, far better than most ‘scuba mysteries’ I’ve read, but the plot builds slowly and awkwardly, as though the author is afraid of revealing too much too soon. Villain scenes are very melodramatic and way over the top, full of cryptic references like ‘our mutual friend’ in an attempt to conceal things from the reader. The villains (Walker, Samson, Allan) are also incredibly stupid and arrogant—nothing subtle about them. Their scenes were like comic relief and detracted from the story. But I did think Samson’s internal monologue was effective. I felt more menace from him and found his background more credible than other characters in the book.
Omniscient point of view has been out of favor since the 1920’s, yet the POV here lapses into that at times. The story feels like it’s ABOUT the people and situation rather than FROM the people involved. Modern readers prefer to experience a story from the characters’ POVs. The old ‘Show, don’t tell’ adage applies here in spades. This book is sorely in need of SHOWING events rather than TELLING us about them. It feels like a news article with occasional dialogue rather than real fiction. Head-hopping occurs in many scenes—switching from one person’s thoughts to another within the same scene. This is accepted in some romance novels but frowned on in other forms of fiction.
Except for the villains, the basic characters are pretty solid, the kind of ensemble you’d expect in a scuba novel. I liked Mike, Kelly, Tanya, Antwon, Kurt, and Baily. The two guys on the yacht were a bit too stereotypical and convenient. I think they were needed, but as drawn they weren’t very convincing. March was good, but the other island government characters were shallow. Every new character came with a full description—height, build, age, hair and eye color, plus a backstory. It felt like reading off a driver’s license or a police description. There are more subtle ways to handle this.
Dialogue, while serviceable, is very stiff, formal, and on-the-nose (predictable). All the characters sound the same, very formal and proper. Contractions, which can make dialogue more conversational and natural, are few and far between. Far too many dialogue tags and unnecessary use of names. With only two characters in a scene, there is no point to addressing each other by name. It just calls attention to the writing and distracts from the story. One of my pet peeves about fiction is having characters talk to themselves out loud. I don’t do this or know anyone who does this IRL unless it’s to swear at an idiot driver or talk to the cats. Yet some characters here go on and on. Internal monologue, thoughts, is how most writers handle this.
As good and accurate as it is, much of the technical and background info is delivered in “as you know, Bob” dialogue and passages, long classroom-like ‘lectures’ on various topics. The information is very accurate (unlike so much of adventure fiction) but usually more than the average reader needs to know at that point in the story. And considering that much of the target audience consists of divers, we already know a lot of this.
June 7, 2018
Cayman Cowboys (A Mike Scott Adventure) by Eric Douglas is a winner. I was sorely tempted to give this read a five star rating but couldn't quite bring myself to do it because of a few mechanical errors that I found in the text, like mixing up character's names in one spot and numerous misplaced words, all things that could have been caught with a more meticulous proof reading. Other than those mistakes the story was a real humdinger, not just a page turner but a page burner. The character were likable and the dialogue lifelike. The plotting was tight and kept the story forward at a meteoric pace. Actually Douglas's style reminds me a great deal of the early style of Clive
Eric Cusseler. They even have the name "Eric" in common since Eric is Cusseler's middle name.
Great read Eric. I look forward to reading more of the stories you have written.
February 17, 2022
A fun book to read. The characters are 3-D, real and believable. The main character, Mike Scott, diver and photographer, is an appealing protagonist. The action and the underwater scenes are clear and well written. The danger to the Cayman Islands reefs by corrupt businessmen is a strong plot element that the author skillfully uses to build tension and drama for his characters. Cayman Cowboys introduces the character and world of Mike Scott.
November 23, 2023
Great Action Thriller
This is the first book by Eric Douglas that I have read. It is well-written and leaves me wanting to read the next book in his Mike Scott series.
Describing Mike Scott as a photographer sets the stage for any number of future adventures. The scenes in this book about diving shows that Douglas is either a diver himself or he has done his research. All of the main characters are fleshed out very well and not one-dimensional.
This is the first book by Eric Douglas that I have read. It is well-written and leaves me wanting to read the next book in his Mike Scott series.
Describing Mike Scott as a photographer sets the stage for any number of future adventures. The scenes in this book about diving shows that Douglas is either a diver himself or he has done his research. All of the main characters are fleshed out very well and not one-dimensional.
November 16, 2018
Really enjoyed it
It is so refreshing to find an author who can weave a great story without a lot of bad language or sexual content. Nothing but pure story here. Thoroughly enjoyed it as I love the ocean. His explanations of diving helped me follow the story & I knew nothing about diving.
It is so refreshing to find an author who can weave a great story without a lot of bad language or sexual content. Nothing but pure story here. Thoroughly enjoyed it as I love the ocean. His explanations of diving helped me follow the story & I knew nothing about diving.
November 27, 2025
I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this book. I was attracted to the cover as a keen diver so I thought at least there’ll be some diving action. There sure was! Not only diving action but lots of exciting plots. Loved this book. It was the first I’ve read from this author but it won’t be the last.
March 7, 2018
I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one in the series. The pacing of the story moved quickly. There seemed to be a good balance between describing the technical aspects of diving and the plot of the story. This book made me want to dive in the Cayman Islands!
October 22, 2019
Way too easy to solve. Too sappy for my taste. Too many places that just seemed to use up words to fill pages and chapters. I almost bailed on this book but that is not what I do so I painfully stuck with it.
April 19, 2020
A story set on the beautiful island of Grand Cayman. Anyone who has been there will agree. The underwater descriptions make you want to dive right into a world of beauty and awe. The characters are delightful and the story of friendship renewed wonderful.
Highly Recommended
Highly Recommended
July 20, 2020
Low 3
This book is very plot focused. For many readers, that will work just fine. But for me, I want more character and to see the characters and the world more. So it's fine as a plot-driven high stakes thriller, but just not the sort of thing I most want to read.
This book is very plot focused. For many readers, that will work just fine. But for me, I want more character and to see the characters and the world more. So it's fine as a plot-driven high stakes thriller, but just not the sort of thing I most want to read.
December 20, 2020
I like this novel because it was set in my favorite diving place: Grand Cayman. It was a decent mystery with a scuba diving twist. It did explain the diving parts well for a non-diver. I wish Douglas had put more colorful description in about the reefs and fish that abound in Grand Cayman.
November 21, 2018
A nice adventure.
December 30, 2018
A few illogical actions by the people in the book, but other than that, a decent read.
November 27, 2020
Being a certified SCUBA diver I was fascinated with the attention to factual detail. Nicely done.
Morty Fink
Morty Fink
January 21, 2021
Great Tale!
Made me want to get back in the water! Excellent mystery with wonderful characters and lots of diving. Definitely recommend!
Made me want to get back in the water! Excellent mystery with wonderful characters and lots of diving. Definitely recommend!
April 19, 2021
Fun read. Not real "literature" but very enjoyable. Enough action to keep it lively but nothing gratuitous or gruesome. No blatant sex. No foul language. Looking forward to the next in the series.
June 10, 2021
Cayman Cowboys
This was very unusual but thoroughly enjoyed it. Will definitely try more of this series. A fun ride with a flair of mystery.
This was very unusual but thoroughly enjoyed it. Will definitely try more of this series. A fun ride with a flair of mystery.
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July 24, 2022I don't like giving bad reviews. It's like telling the author, who poured his life into the writing, it was a poor effort.
In my opinion, he was much too wordy
In my opinion, he was much too wordy
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews