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Doc Ford #2
The Heat Islands
In Randy Wayne White's The Heat Islands, marine biologist and former secret operative Doc Ford is lazily poling his skiff along Southwest Florida's flat copper sea in search of sea anemones, when he runs into the body of the most hated man on Sanibel Island-Marvin Rios.
And when the Island's simplest and sweetest resident is arrested for the murder Doc heads straight into the heart of the sunshine state's dark side-to save his friend from being framed, and to save Sanibel Island from a rising tide of land-grab schemes, blood money and violence.
And when the Island's simplest and sweetest resident is arrested for the murder Doc heads straight into the heart of the sunshine state's dark side-to save his friend from being framed, and to save Sanibel Island from a rising tide of land-grab schemes, blood money and violence.
307 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Randy Wayne White
77 books1,659 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 278 reviews
April 12, 2023
Doc Ford is an interesting main character. He is intelligent,intuitive, and has a dark streak that he keeps pretty well hidden. He has an interesting array of friends that make the story entertaining and keep the quirky Florida image going. There was a lot going on in this story and at the end I had to go back and make sure I understood the hint as to some of what really happened. This author is a little more subtle in his reveal and I was also listening to it and got a bit distracted. Definitely a fun series that I will continue.
February 28, 2009
I gave this 4.25 stars. I really enjoy the Doc Ford books. We went to Pine Island and Sanibel Island, Florida, Doc Ford country, so of course I needed to read one while there! It was so interesting to actually see the setting for these books. As you can probably tell, I am a fan of character driven books. These do not disappoint. What a cast of interesting characters! White also includes a damn good mystery, action and suspense. The perfect package.
May 18, 2017
This second book in the Doc Ford series is very good, but the stakes are somewhat lower than in many of the later novels.
Doc's minding his own business, flirting with a professional tennis player, when the most hated man in the area is killed. The man's brother in law, probably the second most hated man in the area, takes over the business, but he's really too stupid to do it.
From there, we get more deaths, a land grab inside another land grab, and an innocent man jailed for a crime he didn't commit. And of course, Tomlinson gets into a mess.
Recommended.
Doc's minding his own business, flirting with a professional tennis player, when the most hated man in the area is killed. The man's brother in law, probably the second most hated man in the area, takes over the business, but he's really too stupid to do it.
From there, we get more deaths, a land grab inside another land grab, and an innocent man jailed for a crime he didn't commit. And of course, Tomlinson gets into a mess.
Recommended.
January 10, 2011
I got this book as a Christmas present and since the other Florida themed Christmas present was so successful (Stormy Weather), I was excited. But I shouldn't have been. It is apparently part of a series where the original author died and a new author took over the series. There were praises for Randy Wayne White, but not from me. This murder mystery was not particularly mysterious or intriguing. Oh and the twist with the lesbian tennis player who wants to play LPGA golf? Ooh I didn't see that one coming. Lame. The book was somewhat redeemed with all of the biology tid-bits, but there was not enough tarpon factoids to save it.
March 3, 2013
Suspenseful mystery with some very unsavory characters (unfortunately-believable in today's world) My first Doc Ford Novel-would read again. Mr. White's characters are well done, and his take on the enviromental destruction of Florida seems accurate. Heir to John D. McDonald-not sure, but it is a well written book. I have visited Sanibel and Captiva, so always interested in books written about the area.
March 10, 2013
Doc Ford is back to his quiet life in Southern Florida, capturing sea creatures for schools and hanging with female tennis pro who's recovering from an injury. All is good until the truly hated owner of a marina shows up dead in the water and suspicion falls on one of Doc's friends.
Besides the mysteries, White does a great job of describing life on the water and in Florida, warts and all. Add in a really creepy villain and this was a great read.
Besides the mysteries, White does a great job of describing life on the water and in Florida, warts and all. Add in a really creepy villain and this was a great read.
February 23, 2015
This is a mystery of sorts with a dead body turning up just before a big fishing competition and all. Yet the mystery itself is all laid out for the reader so it is very easy to see what happened. So the story follows more of the characters that are revolving around this mystery. And this is where the author does a fine job. His characters are some fun oddballs that fit right into the story and the setting. So for some fun in the Florida sun this is a great not to be missed series so far.
December 14, 2023
I bought this book because we had a fabulous dinner at Doc Ford’s Restaurant in Ft. Myer’s. I think the owner is a part of the restaurant, and the main character in this mystery series is Doc Ford.
There are at least 20 books in the series. I liked hearing about the islands and marine life, fishing, etc., but the male- female relationships seemed dated.
There are at least 20 books in the series. I liked hearing about the islands and marine life, fishing, etc., but the male- female relationships seemed dated.
March 3, 2013
Thoroughly hooked on Doc Ford!
Randy's writing style feels so laid back and simple, yet the stories are complex and compelling. He's so descriptive I feel like I'm back in Florida, though thankfully, I'm not!
It took me a few years to check him out, but now I can't get enough :)
Randy's writing style feels so laid back and simple, yet the stories are complex and compelling. He's so descriptive I feel like I'm back in Florida, though thankfully, I'm not!
It took me a few years to check him out, but now I can't get enough :)
September 27, 2017
Second book in series. Published in 1992 it's classic Marion 'Doc' Ford. Along with some very interesting characters and of course Tomlinson this yarn is a classic suspense thriller. Now 25 years old it is very dated in some parts. However that doesn't take away enjoyment of reading. Four stars out of a possible five stars. Great series, a must read book.
May 15, 2012
Say no to imitations. Say no to derivatives. Don’t believe the hype on the back of a paperback. Say no to Randy Wayne White. Say no to Doc Ford, one of the most boring protagonists to grace any detective type novel. The Tampa Tribune Times claims that White, whose novel The Heat Islands is set in Florida, is the rightful heir to John D. MacDonald. Indeed he is, but he is not a very good heir and does little justice to the author of Cape Fear and creator of Travis McGee, a truly idiosyncratic 20th century crime novel character. McGee was the hero of more than 20 novels by MacDonald. He called himself a salvage consultant, lived on an old boat called the Busted Flash, which he’d won in a card game and generally salvaged beautiful women and stolen loot. Here’s McGee as he sees the world, from the 1964 novel The Quick Red Fox:
I was not a very earnest or constructive fellow…
I am not a nine to five animal. I cannot swallow the myths that say nine to five is a Good Thing because that’s the way nearly everybody else gets stuck. I cannot be an orderly consumer, with 2.3 kids and .7 new cars a year, and an after hours secretarial arrangement. I am not properly acquisitive. I like the Busted Flush, the records and the paintings, the little accumulations of this and that that stir memories, but I could stand on a shore and watch the whole thing go glug and disappear and feel a mild sardonic regret. No Professional American Wife would stomach that kind of attitude.
McGee was also environmentally aware, painfully astute on the destruction of the Everglades, at a time when being any kind of environmentalist in the US was still as dirty a word as communist. Randy Wayne White treads the same wooden planks. The Heat Islands was first published in 1992. Doc Ford, the likable, handsome ageing protagonist lives in a rickety stilt house in the Florida islands, works as a marine biologist and stumbles across the nasty murder of a nasty man. By page 40 we know whodunit. We also know that the man whodunit is evil and disturbed beyond belief and that he is eventually likely to threaten and attempt to kill Ford’s love interest, a pro tennis player and health freak who spends most of the book forcing Ford into a fitness regime that makes him increasingly aware of the passing of time and his coming old age. After a hundred pages I was rooting for the bad guy to kill the woman.
The Heat Islands is well written in the same style as the McGee novels, but what was revolutionary in the 1960s – McGee’s environmental conscience, his rejection of the American Dream and the 9 to 5 lifestyle – is now merely tired window dressing. That moment is gone and White has few real issues. His criticism of resource exploitation like overfishing sounds as hollow as a speech by Jeb Bush. And unlike McGee, Doc Ford never really comes into his own as a protagonist. He moves through the story in a haze, doles out violence when he doesn’t altogether need to – a small reclamation of the macho type perhaps, amidst all the politically correct and oh so sensitive relationship pap readers have to wade through.
A thoroughly unnecessary read.
Nothing beats McGee for crime stories set in Florida. There have been rumors that John D. MacDonald’s seminal character will be the subject of a movie soon, an adaptation of the first novel the rugged and charming protagonist appears in The Deep Blue Good By, to be directed by Oliver Stone and starring Leonardo Di Caprio who apparently bought the rights to the entire series. I am not holding my breath, McGee might not translate well into our hyper capitalist times.
If you enjoyed or disagreed with this review, check out my blog The Devil's Road my link text
I was not a very earnest or constructive fellow…
I am not a nine to five animal. I cannot swallow the myths that say nine to five is a Good Thing because that’s the way nearly everybody else gets stuck. I cannot be an orderly consumer, with 2.3 kids and .7 new cars a year, and an after hours secretarial arrangement. I am not properly acquisitive. I like the Busted Flush, the records and the paintings, the little accumulations of this and that that stir memories, but I could stand on a shore and watch the whole thing go glug and disappear and feel a mild sardonic regret. No Professional American Wife would stomach that kind of attitude.
McGee was also environmentally aware, painfully astute on the destruction of the Everglades, at a time when being any kind of environmentalist in the US was still as dirty a word as communist. Randy Wayne White treads the same wooden planks. The Heat Islands was first published in 1992. Doc Ford, the likable, handsome ageing protagonist lives in a rickety stilt house in the Florida islands, works as a marine biologist and stumbles across the nasty murder of a nasty man. By page 40 we know whodunit. We also know that the man whodunit is evil and disturbed beyond belief and that he is eventually likely to threaten and attempt to kill Ford’s love interest, a pro tennis player and health freak who spends most of the book forcing Ford into a fitness regime that makes him increasingly aware of the passing of time and his coming old age. After a hundred pages I was rooting for the bad guy to kill the woman.
The Heat Islands is well written in the same style as the McGee novels, but what was revolutionary in the 1960s – McGee’s environmental conscience, his rejection of the American Dream and the 9 to 5 lifestyle – is now merely tired window dressing. That moment is gone and White has few real issues. His criticism of resource exploitation like overfishing sounds as hollow as a speech by Jeb Bush. And unlike McGee, Doc Ford never really comes into his own as a protagonist. He moves through the story in a haze, doles out violence when he doesn’t altogether need to – a small reclamation of the macho type perhaps, amidst all the politically correct and oh so sensitive relationship pap readers have to wade through.
A thoroughly unnecessary read.
Nothing beats McGee for crime stories set in Florida. There have been rumors that John D. MacDonald’s seminal character will be the subject of a movie soon, an adaptation of the first novel the rugged and charming protagonist appears in The Deep Blue Good By, to be directed by Oliver Stone and starring Leonardo Di Caprio who apparently bought the rights to the entire series. I am not holding my breath, McGee might not translate well into our hyper capitalist times.
If you enjoyed or disagreed with this review, check out my blog The Devil's Road my link text
August 14, 2014
"The legal system, Ford knew, was an abacus of shrewdness, not a scale of justice. Indeed, true justice was an anomaly. It was not that legislators, attorneys, and judges weren't good and decent human beings - though some certainly were not. The problem was that they and their legal forebears had gradually perverted the legal system for the protection of their own profession. Jurisprudence was no longer a moral process. It was a competition in which the competitors - attorneys - created their own rules.
It was the lone oversight in the carefully constructed system of checks and balances created by the nation's founding fathers. The oversight was this: Most legislators were also attorneys. The founding fathers had not foreseen it and probably had no reason to worry about it at the time. As a result, new laws favored the competition of law, not the society that the legislators were mandated to serve. Which was why social ethics and legal ethics - once nearly synonymous - were now strange antonyms, orbiting in concentric circles. Professional behavior that would be considered outrageous by any society on earth was now perfectly acceptable behavior in the outlander orbit of legal ethics." ~ The Heat Islands, pp. 152-153 (Randy Wayne White, 1992).
Imagine an alternate reality where John Steinbeck had written To Have and Have Not and Ernest Hemingway had written The Log from the Sea of Cortez...
The result might have been very similar to Randy Wayne White's The Heat Islands.
Doc Ford is a former secret agent turned marine biologist. While Doc is attempting to fill an order for sea anemones, from Bowling Green University, and the fishing guides are trying to help their fares win a tarpon fishing contest, a dead body is found floating, after a bad storm. The dead man is the host of the fishing contest and the "Most Hated Man" in the Florida Keys.
It was the lone oversight in the carefully constructed system of checks and balances created by the nation's founding fathers. The oversight was this: Most legislators were also attorneys. The founding fathers had not foreseen it and probably had no reason to worry about it at the time. As a result, new laws favored the competition of law, not the society that the legislators were mandated to serve. Which was why social ethics and legal ethics - once nearly synonymous - were now strange antonyms, orbiting in concentric circles. Professional behavior that would be considered outrageous by any society on earth was now perfectly acceptable behavior in the outlander orbit of legal ethics." ~ The Heat Islands, pp. 152-153 (Randy Wayne White, 1992).
Imagine an alternate reality where John Steinbeck had written To Have and Have Not and Ernest Hemingway had written The Log from the Sea of Cortez...
The result might have been very similar to Randy Wayne White's The Heat Islands.
Doc Ford is a former secret agent turned marine biologist. While Doc is attempting to fill an order for sea anemones, from Bowling Green University, and the fishing guides are trying to help their fares win a tarpon fishing contest, a dead body is found floating, after a bad storm. The dead man is the host of the fishing contest and the "Most Hated Man" in the Florida Keys.
Read
May 5, 2024I read the early books in this series probably 20 years ago. Upon discovering I have some of the later books that I've not yet read, I decided to do a reread to refresh my memory.
These books have a lot I like: adventure, mystery, murder, marine biology, some good ecological messaging, and a few main characters I mostly like.
What else do they have? Detailed descriptions of every single female character's breasts. Lots of grabbing of said breasts. So far, women seem to fall into 3 categories: 1. dirty sluts, 2. demure, soft, little-girl-like (ew), weak, trembling women (who are secretly also dirty sluts that will let a big strong man do anything to them), and 3. strong women (who are secretly lesbians. Obviously).
I think I get what the author is doing. He's creating juxtaposition between the villians' view of women (aka b*itches, every one of them) and Doc, who would NEVER. It's just....off-putting. Having recently read some other early 90s male-written backlist with similar breastiness, I think it's a sign of those times. I think I just read fewer male authors these days, at least in breastiness-prone genres, but I hope it's gotten at least a little better?
I'll keep reading because overall I do enjoy the series. I'll also keep rolling my eyes and hope the author grows out of it.🤞 I'm skipping a star rating for now because I'm really conflicted.
(Seriously though, women do not tremble. Stop it.)
**I also blame part of the little-girl-ness of the women characters on the audiobook narrator, who insists on reading the women in little-girl voices. Male audiobook narrators: Can we not? Please?
These books have a lot I like: adventure, mystery, murder, marine biology, some good ecological messaging, and a few main characters I mostly like.
What else do they have? Detailed descriptions of every single female character's breasts. Lots of grabbing of said breasts. So far, women seem to fall into 3 categories: 1. dirty sluts, 2. demure, soft, little-girl-like (ew), weak, trembling women (who are secretly also dirty sluts that will let a big strong man do anything to them), and 3. strong women (who are secretly lesbians. Obviously).
I think I get what the author is doing. He's creating juxtaposition between the villians' view of women (aka b*itches, every one of them) and Doc, who would NEVER. It's just....off-putting. Having recently read some other early 90s male-written backlist with similar breastiness, I think it's a sign of those times. I think I just read fewer male authors these days, at least in breastiness-prone genres, but I hope it's gotten at least a little better?
I'll keep reading because overall I do enjoy the series. I'll also keep rolling my eyes and hope the author grows out of it.🤞 I'm skipping a star rating for now because I'm really conflicted.
(Seriously though, women do not tremble. Stop it.)
**I also blame part of the little-girl-ness of the women characters on the audiobook narrator, who insists on reading the women in little-girl voices. Male audiobook narrators: Can we not? Please?
May 30, 2011
Like a trip to Fla with people you hope you never meet. I would read another book by him again I'm not sure if the Fl he describes is real but it feels real while being populated by charters who are clearly good or bad
September 27, 2017
I just don't get the hype about this author. I keep trying him and am disappointed each time.
February 8, 2020
3.5* Having just visited Sanibel Island, Pine Island and Doc Ford's restaurant, this was an appropriate book to pick up. Marine biologist Doc Ford lives a quiet life on Sanibel Island in his lab combined stilt house. He has friends, neighbors who live far enough away to not visit frequently, and a current job that keeps him away from his former job as a secret operative. Yet, trouble doesn't seem to stay away from his current lifestyle... I will continue to read the "Doc Ford" series, so far, they are worth the read.
February 7, 2024
I would rate this a 3.5. This was my first book from the author and I appreciate the knowledge of Florida and the characters of Doc Ford and his friendships. The story kept me guessing until the very end.
Where this book lost some credit from me was you could clearly tell it was written by a man. The constant need to describe as a fantasy or rip apart every woman that came in to a scene was a bit much.
Where this book lost some credit from me was you could clearly tell it was written by a man. The constant need to describe as a fantasy or rip apart every woman that came in to a scene was a bit much.
May 19, 2019
I can relate to scenes Randy Wayne White writes because I have been to most of these places. Reading his books gives you an education about the gulf waters, fish, shellfish, mangroves and the islands. An enjoyable read.
August 29, 2019
Only two into the series, but I'm really liking Doc Ford and White's fine storytelling. With a nice touch of humor, and a strong sense of place. The bad guys are bad...but, Doc isn't what they expect as an adversary.
June 14, 2021
Started reading the Doc Ford books when we got to Sanibel on vacation! I just finished the second and will try to get the third👍. They are great beach reads and I am learning lots about the area. Thanks Mr. White, I hope to see you at Dic Fords restaurant.
April 28, 2022
I was happily reading this book on the beach, thinking everything was going great, when out pops the n word. More than once. DNF, and the book is getting tossed in the trash.
May 19, 2023
Ugh! I wrote a review for this book and then the Readwise app crashed. I really don't feel like rewriting it - but I'll just note that this second Doc Ford book was much tamer and less frantic than book one. I can't say the plot was all that engaging (there are a few good moments). I still like the idea of the main character being a former agent for some unknown US agency is now a marine biologist supplier but somehow gets caught up in mysterious deaths.
I'm sure the series will get better. 2.5 stars upped to 3 since White is a decent narrative author (take a lesson Andy Wier ;) )
I'm sure the series will get better. 2.5 stars upped to 3 since White is a decent narrative author (take a lesson Andy Wier ;) )
August 2, 2024
once you start reading, it's hard to put it down.
November 10, 2025
Just getting started in the Doc Ford series, and enjoying it very much. Well told story with lots of action interspersed with humor.
August 19, 2018
I am listening my way through the Doc Ford stories. I love the way he mentions Immokalee without making a social statement. I also enjoy the marine biologist talk sprinkled throughout.
January 2, 2022
Not as good as Sanibel Island, really a 2.5. Sutter, the villain, was written almost as with a formula, something a writer shouldn’t do with human evil.
January 18, 2026
I've never been so disinterested in a love interest. it had no bearing on the plot to the point of annoyance it was included.
Not a huge fan either of books where the protagonist just "exists" and solves the mystery at his leisure.
Will give this series one more try before I hang it up. I typically enjoy the Florida genre usually.
Not a huge fan either of books where the protagonist just "exists" and solves the mystery at his leisure.
Will give this series one more try before I hang it up. I typically enjoy the Florida genre usually.
April 6, 2012
Is it okay for the hero to become a muderer? If ever a character needed killing it is Karl Sutter (Colin Kane). Even Poirot murdered in the final book, Curtain, but after all it was the final book. I don't have the answer but this wasn't the only problem this book has. This writing is dissonant to me. There are passages of really beautiful writing followed by the most mundane followed by explicit brutality. For me it did not mesh well. I realize it is difficult to maintain intensity in writing but I'm not sure this author is trying very hard. The characters were well developed and overall fairly likable. That is why I gave it two stars rather than one.
February 6, 2016
#2 in the Doc Ford series.
Doc Ford series - When the body of marina owner Marvin Rios is found in the ocean after a storm, Doc's friend Jeth Nicholes is arrested. With his coterie of pals - aging hippie Tomlinson, former tennis star Dewey and another marina owner, Mac - likable marine researcher Doc attempts to piece together how Rios really died. Politics and land development are pivotal elements.
Doc Ford series - When the body of marina owner Marvin Rios is found in the ocean after a storm, Doc's friend Jeth Nicholes is arrested. With his coterie of pals - aging hippie Tomlinson, former tennis star Dewey and another marina owner, Mac - likable marine researcher Doc attempts to piece together how Rios really died. Politics and land development are pivotal elements.
October 12, 2017
It has been fun to discover White’s murder/mystery novels. He combines a solid crime tale with a natural history primer of Florida’s flora and fauna. Doc Ford is a former NSA employee living on Sanibel Island as a marine biologist and gets invariably involved in investigations that involve his island community. In this offering, a widely disliked businessman is found dead, floating in the bay. Clearly, there are plenty of possible suspects. Recommend.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 278 reviews