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Out of the Sea
It wasn't just the hundred grand. It was the smell of the sea, the wild thrill he got from smuggling, the way he could laugh and dodge bullets in the night off the Spanish coast. It was in his blood and Juanita knew it, knew that this last trip could keep him from her arms forever. But she also had to have him - and she defied the elements with all the dark savage love she could command.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
11 people want to read
About the author
Don Smith
31 booksLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Don Smith
Don Smith (August 2, 1909-January 11, 1978) was a Canadian writer of detective and spy fiction. He is best remembered for his Secret Mission series of novels, starring the businessman-turned-spy Phil Sherman.
Smith was born Donald Taylor Smith in Port Colborne, Ontario. In 1934-1939 he was a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star in Beijing and he piloted a fighter in the Royal Air Force during WWII. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his participation in the Dieppe Raid in 1942.After the war he lived in Morocco and Majorca, manning different businesses before becoming a full-time writer in his 50s.
source: Wikipedia
Please see: Don Smith
Don Smith (August 2, 1909-January 11, 1978) was a Canadian writer of detective and spy fiction. He is best remembered for his Secret Mission series of novels, starring the businessman-turned-spy Phil Sherman.
Smith was born Donald Taylor Smith in Port Colborne, Ontario. In 1934-1939 he was a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star in Beijing and he piloted a fighter in the Royal Air Force during WWII. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his participation in the Dieppe Raid in 1942.After the war he lived in Morocco and Majorca, manning different businesses before becoming a full-time writer in his 50s.
source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 23, 2020
A hard-boiled sea-faring adventure tale telling the story of Brian Hart, a WW2 vet who finds a lucrative and exciting career as a smuggler in the Spanish Mediterranean after coming back from the war - very dangerous and highly illegal work. Hart navigates through storms, naval police raids, beatings, and double crosses while trying to keep his hot-blooded Spanish girlfriend satisfied, especially after her father is murdered and she blames him. Of course Hart has to find the murderer, an investigation requiring infiltrating some very unsavory smugglers and criminals, and then some cat-and-mouse action when he is accused of being a communist on top of a smuggler and pretty much everyone is out to get him. Adventure novels on the high seas appeal to me and this is a terrific one, with lots of fascinating details of post-war Mediterranean smuggling routes and locations, mostly Tangier to Mallorca, inspiring me to read up on these locations which I previously knew nothing about. This novel is one of the few Giant Fawcett Gold Medal books that the publisher released under the Red Seal imprint for their longer books, this one is 264 pages, and unfortunately long out of print.
December 22, 2025
Don Smith’s “Out of the Sea” should probably be named”into the sea” as Captain Brian Hart is almost always at sea. Originally a 1952 Gold Medal Red Seal, the 2025 Cutting Edge e-book recaptures the original book cover in brilliant color.
It is set historically in post-WW2 in the western Mediterranean. Hart, previously a volunteer with the British Air Force, can’t seem to just go back to the States and live a quiet 9 to 5 life. Instead, Hart runs a smuggling route from Tangiers, Morocco, to Mallorca, Spain, avoiding Franco’s Spanish Navy and profitably delivering sacks of coffee and cigarettes.
He has promised his girlfriend Juanita that he will quit once he has enough of a stash of money, but she doesn’t believe he will ever quit and instead believes Hart is hooked on the excitement and adrenaline rush. She doesn’t realize that Hart is delivering to her estranged father, Francisco, but later blames Hart when Francisco is murdered for Hart either giving up the name when beaten by thugs or for not quitting when she asked him to. The explosions of passion between these two continue throughout the novel as they fight and then Juanita has to be rescued with an entire country on the hunt for her.
Smith fills this novel with excitement from cover to cover with every smuggling run tense as Hart is nearly captured by authorities or suspected of running guns for Soviet Communists, arch-enemies of Franco’s Spain. This is a terrific find.
It is set historically in post-WW2 in the western Mediterranean. Hart, previously a volunteer with the British Air Force, can’t seem to just go back to the States and live a quiet 9 to 5 life. Instead, Hart runs a smuggling route from Tangiers, Morocco, to Mallorca, Spain, avoiding Franco’s Spanish Navy and profitably delivering sacks of coffee and cigarettes.
He has promised his girlfriend Juanita that he will quit once he has enough of a stash of money, but she doesn’t believe he will ever quit and instead believes Hart is hooked on the excitement and adrenaline rush. She doesn’t realize that Hart is delivering to her estranged father, Francisco, but later blames Hart when Francisco is murdered for Hart either giving up the name when beaten by thugs or for not quitting when she asked him to. The explosions of passion between these two continue throughout the novel as they fight and then Juanita has to be rescued with an entire country on the hunt for her.
Smith fills this novel with excitement from cover to cover with every smuggling run tense as Hart is nearly captured by authorities or suspected of running guns for Soviet Communists, arch-enemies of Franco’s Spain. This is a terrific find.
March 12, 2025
Captain Hart smuggles goods into Spain via the Mediterranean. He's just bringing in coffee, cigarettes, tires, and the like, but it's still dangerous work, whether the seas are choppy or the police are after him. This is why his spitfire of a girlfriend Juanita wants him to call it quits, but the money is just too good. Hart's always just another one or two trips away from thinking he has enough money to retire. Then Juanita's father is found shot in the head and everything goes sour.
Hart's an interesting guy. He's super knowledgeable, streetwise, and plays by his own moral code. He can be a charmer, but he was hard to like. His first mate Paco was the real hero. Hart would have been nowhere without him.
There's a lot going on in this book—it's 260-some pages—but I'm not sure it had to be so long. A number of pages at the beginning were exposition about how smuggling worked, and once the plot started rolling, even more pages were devoted to the characters making detailed plans how to get out of their current mess. The last quarter of the book is sort of this cat-and-mouse denouement, and it does not have the drive that the rest of the book had.
Smith clearly knows what he's writing about when it comes to seafaring, and I wonder how much of the book may have been autobiographical, but I wish there was a bit more tension and less detail on all those pages.
Hart's an interesting guy. He's super knowledgeable, streetwise, and plays by his own moral code. He can be a charmer, but he was hard to like. His first mate Paco was the real hero. Hart would have been nowhere without him.
There's a lot going on in this book—it's 260-some pages—but I'm not sure it had to be so long. A number of pages at the beginning were exposition about how smuggling worked, and once the plot started rolling, even more pages were devoted to the characters making detailed plans how to get out of their current mess. The last quarter of the book is sort of this cat-and-mouse denouement, and it does not have the drive that the rest of the book had.
Smith clearly knows what he's writing about when it comes to seafaring, and I wonder how much of the book may have been autobiographical, but I wish there was a bit more tension and less detail on all those pages.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews