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Doc Ford #13
Dark Light
Imagine hurricane winds over the Sahara Desert, preceded by a cavalry of tornadoes. Imagine dunes flattened, then resculpted. Then imagine all that at the bottom of the sea.
A Category 4 hurricane has swept the west coast of Florida, creating havoc, changing lives, and reshaping the ocean bottom. Well-known reefs and wrecks have been covered—and new ones have emerged.
From one such wreck, marine biologist Doc Ford and his friends make a chance discovery that will have a monumental effect—a cluster of mysterious objects that lead to an equally mysterious woman and her ancient, gray-gabled estate of a beach house.
The woman weaves a haunting story of a loved one lost, and her chance to uncover the truth if Ford will help salvage the boat, named Dark Light , which sank without explanation in the hurricane of 1944. Intrigued, Ford agrees, and begins a chain of events that will change his life forever. For there are other things in that wreck as well, and other men who want them, men willing to commit terrible acts. And the woman herself—the woman is not what she seems. . . .
Filled with passion and vivid, pungent prose and some of the best characters in suspense fiction, Dark Light is a thriller of uncommon intensity.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
183 people are currently reading
797 people want to read
About the author
Randy Wayne White
77 books1,584 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 153 reviews
April 1, 2019
This is the 13th offering in Ford’s popular Doc Ford mystery/thriller series. Doc Ford is the Florida marine biologist living on Sanibel Island that is attracted to dangerous mysteries—perhaps due to his own NSA history? Using Ford’s marine business as an excuse, I enjoy how White inserts details of Florida’s rich natural history in his tales.
In Dark Light, a Category 4 hurricane has made a boat sunk during another hurricane in 1944 newly accessible. With that, Ford revisits WWII and the boats that elite Nazis used to escape Germany at the end of the war--for the boat contains relics of the Third Reich. But Ford also adds in an unrepentant murderous psychopath, and a bit of magical realism to the tale. Not my favorite Ford thriller.
In Dark Light, a Category 4 hurricane has made a boat sunk during another hurricane in 1944 newly accessible. With that, Ford revisits WWII and the boats that elite Nazis used to escape Germany at the end of the war--for the boat contains relics of the Third Reich. But Ford also adds in an unrepentant murderous psychopath, and a bit of magical realism to the tale. Not my favorite Ford thriller.
April 17, 2018
Just after a hurricane hit Florida, the fishermen and other denizens of the marina are trying to get their lives back together. An unscrupulous marina owner stole as many boats as he could from the locals under a self serving interpretation of salvage laws.
A wreck is uncovered out in the ocean. A mysterious woman wants to bankroll the salvage operation for Doc and Tomlinson. Meanwhile, there's ghosts of old Florida, the residue of a Nazi spy ring, and Doc's got a concussion.
A good entry in the series, but a bit more mystical than most.
A wreck is uncovered out in the ocean. A mysterious woman wants to bankroll the salvage operation for Doc and Tomlinson. Meanwhile, there's ghosts of old Florida, the residue of a Nazi spy ring, and Doc's got a concussion.
A good entry in the series, but a bit more mystical than most.
July 21, 2020
Doc Ford is cleaning up from a hurricane and another one is on the way, he and Tomlinson are in Tomlinson's boat discussing the strange things happening, and then they get stranger. Love the quirky characters in this series.
January 24, 2010
Doc Ford is a man I could easily have a crush on. And there's his buddy, Tomlinson, who is a free spirit with a wicked sense of humor. Both are smart and take care of themselves, each other and their friends.
There seem to be two stories going on, but they are intertwined. There are some Wisconsin mob guys down taking advantage of the last hurricane's destructive path. Doc wants to set them straight after the mob guys take on some of Doc's buds.
Then there's the the mystery woman Tomlinson introduces to Doc. The story she tells of lost WWII treasure in the ocean intrigues Doc as much as the mystery woman does. I've listened to a couple of books from this series and enjoyed each one thoroughly. This one was especially so. This is a series, but each one can be listened to as a stand-alone as far as I am concerned. And rarely does a series keep going strong when there are a lot of books in the series. This isn't one of those, again, as far as I am concerned. DARK LIGHT is #13 in the lineup and there are 17 of them.
Five Florida coast can be dangerous beans.....
There seem to be two stories going on, but they are intertwined. There are some Wisconsin mob guys down taking advantage of the last hurricane's destructive path. Doc wants to set them straight after the mob guys take on some of Doc's buds.
Then there's the the mystery woman Tomlinson introduces to Doc. The story she tells of lost WWII treasure in the ocean intrigues Doc as much as the mystery woman does. I've listened to a couple of books from this series and enjoyed each one thoroughly. This one was especially so. This is a series, but each one can be listened to as a stand-alone as far as I am concerned. And rarely does a series keep going strong when there are a lot of books in the series. This isn't one of those, again, as far as I am concerned. DARK LIGHT is #13 in the lineup and there are 17 of them.
Five Florida coast can be dangerous beans.....
October 5, 2018
Doc Ford Mystery series, book #13. A 1944 shipwreck, German POWs, a Jewish lover, and an ageless beauty. This was a bizarre story for White and I rated it low since I did not appreciate reading about the antagonist who would occasionally "go too far" and murder women and dispose of their bodies in oil drums.
March 28, 2020
Number 13 in the Doc Ford series. As enjoyable as the others. The author introduces some mystical elements in this one, which I found to be a fun twist. Looking forward to number 14. With such a prolific series, you'd think there would be a movie somewhere down the line.
November 25, 2008
The first few "Doc Ford" adventure novels were extremely entertaining. However, since then they are sounding like "more of the same".
July 1, 2020
Dark Light an appropriate title for this the thirteen Doc Ford Mystery. Damn this was one heck of a story. White was spot on with his writing. Doc encounters a mystery woman who is also friends with his hippy friend Tomlinson. A category 4 hurricane had just swept Sanibel Island, Florida home of Doc. Ford. It leads Ford to find an old woman living in a secluded worn down mansion. His mystery woman.
May 13, 2025
After a Category 4 hurricane hits the coast of Florida, the residents wake up to a great deal of chaos and destruction. Some fisherman also accidently came across, what seems to be, a sunken ship and from it were able get some objects that warranted another trip to the area to search again.
Doc also comes in contact with a woman with a mysterious woman who seems to hold a key to the items that were found.
Doc also comes in contact with a woman with a mysterious woman who seems to hold a key to the items that were found.
March 23, 2025
I really enjoyed this book - the others I read just because of the Sanibel setting
October 4, 2019
Interestingly strange.
April 9, 2016
This was a very different chapter in the Doc Ford series. I found it very interesting and entertaining at the same time. A hurricane hits Sanibel Island prior to the beginning of the story. Things are not the usual at Dinkin's Bay Marina. An old boat, named Dark Light is discovered after the hurricane. The boat is from the WW2 era and the mystery surrounding the boat begins to unfold. History comes alive. From Nazi prisoner camps in Florida, lost loves and artifacts from the German Nazis. We learn that Hannah Smith's house on Gumbo Limbo has been demolished and is now becoming Indian Harbor Marina. After all these years, Arlis reappears during the story. Thoughts and longing for Hannah come alive in Doc. One of Dinkin's Bay regulars comes to his demise during the story. The mystery is solved and Jeth, Tomlinson and Doc find some very valuable items aboard Dark Light. During the Epilogue, Randy eludes to the next book titled Hunter's Moon. All in all, this is a well written book that keeps you wanting to get to the last page, but found myself not wanting the story to end as I approached the final pages.
April 18, 2015
I didn't like the way the main character grapples with his attraction to an older woman. He only gives into her under hither influence of marijuana which he usually staunchly avoids as he seems a control freak. In the light if day he regrets it and she seems willing to apologize for being old. The author reconciles the main characters conflict by having him in the end meet s young version of the old lady. And even disparages the older woman with a phrase of "crazy aunt ---" as spoken by the young nubile niece. Lame. Not a bad story but that was lame
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2012
This book seems a bit better than the last couple of Doc Ford stories I have read, but still falls short of White's earlier goes. This one had a bit of of a metaphysical feel to it had me wondering just who the woman in the old grey house really was. The history of Florida during WWII was a nice touch, but you can always count on RWW to teach us something. A cut above his latest, but not his best IMHO.
October 9, 2013
As a female resident in Lee County with a family member in the fishing charter business locally, I really thought this book would be interesting. The density of the language bewildered me. Unlike movies I turn off when my interest plummets, I usually try to complete a book to give the author the benefit of the doubt. The vulgarity, evil characters, and indecency were well outside my acceptable boundaries to even consider completing this book. I prefer lighter, entertaining reading.
October 21, 2016
Quick, decent mystery, with a little environmental awareness, land developer destruction and greed thrown into the mix. White always combines a decent mystery with environmental education. I always like Doc Ford as protagonist. You don’t see many fish biologists with both a side ‘job’ helping the CIA and having a 1970s hippie as his best friend. Just funny, quick, reminders of how messed up Florida is sometimes!
April 17, 2008
I picked this up thinking it was going to be just a silly book, but it is another in a series that I have picked up before (Sanibel Flats) and really enjoyed. Many south Florida books are all silly and humorous, but White takes the setting in a much more serious direction. (And how weird is it that there is a South Florida mystery genre?)
July 26, 2017
I liked the earlier books better. I'm still confused about the identity of the woman Ford met in the house.
February 13, 2020
Took me forever to read. I love the Doc Ford series bout this one left me very unsatisfied.
September 26, 2021
Low rating on this one... It was quite unusual and not as enjoyable as the prior Doc Ford stories.
September 13, 2024
Too much magic realism mysticism gunk in here for me. Doc Ford makes out with a woman probably 40 years his senior during a lightning storm. Really? Whatever. The plot wasn’t an entire bust.
You get a close-up look at an unscrupulous, murderous psychopath in this book, and that always makes for fascinating reading.
Doc Ford’s friend asks him to look at a new shipwreck unveiled by a recent hurricane. The boat appears to be a World War II-era craft, and inside are Nazi artifacts dating back to the war years.
There’s some doubt as to who owns the salvage. Doc’s unemployed friend, newly married and dealing with a pregnant wife, discovered the wreck, but a sleazy marina owner believes it’s his.
The mystery element here is decent. I just couldn’t handle the ageless beauty part of the enigmatic woman who offered to bankroll the salvage if she could have just a few pieces.
I never bought into Ford’s attraction to her. White just couldn’t write his way into that in a way that worked for me. It creeped me out a bit, to be truthful.
The NLS narrator’s performance boosted this to two stars. It would have endured the ignominy of life in one-star land otherwise.
You get a close-up look at an unscrupulous, murderous psychopath in this book, and that always makes for fascinating reading.
Doc Ford’s friend asks him to look at a new shipwreck unveiled by a recent hurricane. The boat appears to be a World War II-era craft, and inside are Nazi artifacts dating back to the war years.
There’s some doubt as to who owns the salvage. Doc’s unemployed friend, newly married and dealing with a pregnant wife, discovered the wreck, but a sleazy marina owner believes it’s his.
The mystery element here is decent. I just couldn’t handle the ageless beauty part of the enigmatic woman who offered to bankroll the salvage if she could have just a few pieces.
I never bought into Ford’s attraction to her. White just couldn’t write his way into that in a way that worked for me. It creeped me out a bit, to be truthful.
The NLS narrator’s performance boosted this to two stars. It would have endured the ignominy of life in one-star land otherwise.
March 26, 2024
Doc Ford is a scientist that lives in a stilted house in Dinkins Bay off of Sanibel Island in Florida. He studies sea life and supplies schools with specimens for their students to study.
A recent hurricane has disrupted the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico exposing a shipwreck. Some divers and friends of Doc’s have located the shipwreck. They invite Doc along to dive the site and they locate some German artifacts and personal items as well. The German artifacts have Nazi emblems on them and the personal items have initials on them. While Doc and his friends are looking into what kind of boat this might have been and what it was carrying and who its passengers were they discover that others are also interested in this shipwreck. They are willing to hurt people to get what’s at the bottom of the gulf.
A recent hurricane has disrupted the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico exposing a shipwreck. Some divers and friends of Doc’s have located the shipwreck. They invite Doc along to dive the site and they locate some German artifacts and personal items as well. The German artifacts have Nazi emblems on them and the personal items have initials on them. While Doc and his friends are looking into what kind of boat this might have been and what it was carrying and who its passengers were they discover that others are also interested in this shipwreck. They are willing to hurt people to get what’s at the bottom of the gulf.
November 15, 2017
A circle of evil, old and new, entangles Doc Ford, Tomlinson and Dinkin's Bay. Randy Wayne White combines a World War 2 mystery with a hunt for treasure, while dealing with a modern day murderer and discovers how the old mystery influenced Doc's present troubles. The novel also includes the aftermath of a devastating hurricane on Dinkin's Bay, and the difficulties of obtaining aid from anyone-government, insurance etc. While the novel was written several years ago, it is more than relevant today, after 3 devastating hurricanes in one year. The characters and the mysteries, along with the hunt for treasure make for a very engrossing novel. And Chestra and Marlissa will remain some of my favorite characters! A thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful book.
September 18, 2021
One of my favorites of the series.
After a hurricane ravages Ford’s neighborhood, the owner of a local boat storage yard takes advantage of salvage rights to claim the boats in his yard. Since some of boats belong to Ford’s friends, he looks into it and finds himself involved with forgotten Nazi artifacts.
Part of this is a very unnerving, almost supernatural story. I’d be great for Halloween or around a campfire late at night. Loved it.
Fave scenes: the comparison between the ocean & the desert, the story of how Tomlinson went through the hurricane, Rhona & Joanne’s intervention and Thomlinson reading auras in the bar.
After a hurricane ravages Ford’s neighborhood, the owner of a local boat storage yard takes advantage of salvage rights to claim the boats in his yard. Since some of boats belong to Ford’s friends, he looks into it and finds himself involved with forgotten Nazi artifacts.
Part of this is a very unnerving, almost supernatural story. I’d be great for Halloween or around a campfire late at night. Loved it.
Fave scenes: the comparison between the ocean & the desert, the story of how Tomlinson went through the hurricane, Rhona & Joanne’s intervention and Thomlinson reading auras in the bar.
September 29, 2021
I was first intrigued by White's books because nearly all his stories are based in Florida coastline towns, and I really love what I call "old Florida", especially since I live here. White does a perfect job of describing not only the physical geography of this state, but also the emotions of the people that live here.
But, I've stayed with this series because the antics of his Doc Ford are so intriguing, and realistic; and I want to know more.
I rank this series (and White's writing) right up there with my other favorites (Lee Child & Reacher; Jeffery Deaver & Lincoln Rhyme, etc). I'm really going to hate it when I get caught up with the last book....
But, I've stayed with this series because the antics of his Doc Ford are so intriguing, and realistic; and I want to know more.
I rank this series (and White's writing) right up there with my other favorites (Lee Child & Reacher; Jeffery Deaver & Lincoln Rhyme, etc). I'm really going to hate it when I get caught up with the last book....
March 3, 2025
Dark Light (#13) by Randy Wayne White
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Doc Ford and friends are cleaning up after a hurricane when the find a once buried boat wreck miles off shore. Items found are sure to stir some emotions with their tie to WWII. Now a woman on the island is willing to fund more dives and research, if she can have a few items from the wreckage.
Am interesting read. I initially wondered if I would be interested in continuing after the first couple of chapters, but the story finally kicked in and I’m glad I stuck around for the rest of the book. #darklight
#suspensethriller #thriller
#bookstagram #readersofinstagram
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Doc Ford and friends are cleaning up after a hurricane when the find a once buried boat wreck miles off shore. Items found are sure to stir some emotions with their tie to WWII. Now a woman on the island is willing to fund more dives and research, if she can have a few items from the wreckage.
Am interesting read. I initially wondered if I would be interested in continuing after the first couple of chapters, but the story finally kicked in and I’m glad I stuck around for the rest of the book. #darklight
#suspensethriller #thriller
#bookstagram #readersofinstagram
August 18, 2020
Excellent story from start to finish. Fill with lots of mystery, intrigue and a cast of unique characters. Doc Ford while on the mend from a previous adventure gets involved with a secretive woman who lives in an old mansion on Sanibel Island. Throw in a mysterious sunken ship offshore and trying to help friends and he has his hands full. I love Randy Wayne White's work and this is one of his best.
January 1, 2023
Struggled to get through this one, but that was more likely a condition of trying to read during the holidays instead of the book itself. Since I stopped and started quite abit, the story didn't flow as well as I would like. This one has Doc helping out one of his friends in what becomes a bigger problem than anticipated. Not as heavy on Tomlinson in this one, but does bring back a couple characters from precious books.
April 9, 2025
I am fully aware that these books are formulaic and require a bit of suspension of belief. But for what they are, Randy really writes a well crafted thriller. His characters remain true to form, the plot and pacing is tight, the ebbs and flows of action and crescendos all deliver and they're just fun.
I almost always enjoy picking up one of his books. Especially if I happen to get to read it while I'm on a beach in Florida :)
I almost always enjoy picking up one of his books. Especially if I happen to get to read it while I'm on a beach in Florida :)
May 19, 2017
I'm thoroughly enjoying this new author and I am amazed at his ability to come up with completely different plot lines with every story I read. This one has a bit of a mystical feel to it with ties to WWII and Captiva Island. Well worth the time. Gonna have to g back to the beginning and start reading his stories in chronological order.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews