From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. At the start of bestseller White's outstanding 17th Doc Ford thriller (after Dead Silence), two low-life ex-cons, King and Perry, are on the lam after killing a family of five in a burglary. They end up in Doc's neck of the woods, or rather his neck of the swamp, in central Florida. Doc; his boat-bum hipster pal, Tomlinson; troubled Indian teen Will Chaser, who played a key role in Dead Silence; and Arlis Futch, a crusty old fisherman, have arrived at a small lake, which they intend to search for Batista's treasure plane, which disappeared in 1958 while flying the ex-dictator's looted booty out of Cuba during the Castro takeover. King and Perry, who are as bad as they come, quickly take control of the others, forcing Doc and friends to continue diving in the lake, after which the pair plan to kill them all. Throw in a giant, mysterious swamp creature with an appetite for cattle, horses, and divers, and you've got a nail-biter that's virtually impossible to put down. Author tour. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. FromStarred Review Florida’s mystery heroes have been having a hard time this year. First, James W. Hall’s Thorn spent most of an entire novel trapped in a dry well (Silencer, 2010), and now, in Randy Wayne White’s latest Doc Ford thriller, the intrepid marine biologist goes underwater for a couple hundred pages. It starts innocently enough, with Ford, his hippie pal Tomlinson, teenager Will Chaser (from Dead Silence, 2009), and cranky old-timer Arlis Futch embarking on a treasure-hunting trip to an isolated lake, on the bottom of which is purported to be a mother lode of gold from Batista’s Cuba. Three problems quickly develop: a sort-of underwater avalanche that leaves all but Ford trapped under tons of limestone (a cave keeps the victims alive as their air supply dwindles); the arrival (on land) of two psycho killers right out of In Cold Blood (one is even named Perry); and, scariest of all, the lurking presence of, yes, a sea monster. Ford eventually surmounts all the obstacles before him, of course, but along the way, we are treated to a wonderful mix of hair-raising horror, grace under pressure, and fascinating natural history. There turns out to be a biologically sound explanation for the presence of the sea monster, but that doesn’t make it any less terrifying for anyone who remembers Creature from the Black Lagoon (as Ford notes, “The universe beneath is alive—relentlessly alive”). It’s no surprise that White’s long-running, always-popular series has broken through to mainstream best-sellerdom; his novels appeal on so many levels: as portraits of a steadily evolving, tough-yet-introspective hero; as eco-friendly investigations of natural Florida; and as muscular, head-banging adventure thrillers. And, now, there are sea monsters, too! --Bill Ott

"When it comes to creating push-the-limits plots and loathsome bad guys" (Sarasota Herald-Tribune), Randy Wayne White is a master. This is the New York Times bestselling author at his vintage best—a violent plunge into the depths of the Gulf Stream as one man's vengeance becomes another's worst nightmare.... Ex–Navy SEAL Dusky MacMorgan survived a military hell only to find it again where he least expected it—as a fisherman trolling the Gulf Stream in his thirty-foot clipper. His new life is shattered when a psychotic pack of drug runners turns the turquoise waters red with the blood of his beloved family. Trained in the lethal arts, Dusky has only one recourse. Armed with an arsenal so hot it could blow the Florida coast sky-high, he's tracking the goons responsible—right into the intimate circle of a corrupt U.S. Senator iving beyond the law in his own island fortress. It was built for ruthless power and perverse pleasure. Now it has to withstand the...

From the jungles of Belize to the streets of Atlanta, Hawker's war rages on The CIA wants James Hawker dead. For years, his one-man campaign against organized crime has struck fear into America's most corrupt politicians, and now they're striking back. Hawker escaped the United States by the skin of his teeth, and has spent the last months living the life of a glamorous expatriate in Latin America: fast cars, lovely women, and all the champagne his Swiss bank account can buy him. For some men, it would be paradise. For Hawker, a life without action is a living hell. Then anticommunist crusader Colonel Curtis invites Hawker to Belize, where he's been assisting the rebel movement in the fight against tyranny. His enemies have powerful friends back in the United States, who would kill Curtis to protect the regime. For the sake of liberty, Hawker must stop running—and resume his battle for America's soul. Atlanta Extreme is...

Hannah Smith returns in the stunning new adventure in the New York Times–bestselling series from the author of the Doc Ford novels.The house is historic, some say haunted. It is also slated to be razed and replaced by condos, unless Hannah Smith can do something about it. She’s been hired by a wealthy Palm Beach widow to prove that the house’s seller didn’t disclose everything he knew about the place when he unloaded it, including its role in a bloody Civil War skirmish (in which two of Hannah’s own distant relations had had a part), and the suicides—or were they murders?—of two previous owners. Hannah sees it as a win-win opportunity: She can stop the condo project while tracking her family history. She doesn’t believe in ghosts, anyway. But some things are more dangerous than ghosts. Among them, as she will learn, perhaps fatally, is human obsession.**

Doc Ford faces his greatest challenge ever, in the stunning new novel by the New York Times-bestselling writer.Book after book, Randy Wayne White's audience and critical acclaim continue to grow. His most recent thriller, Dark Light, was "one of his brightest novels" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel), "darkly marvelous" (The Miami Herald), "a compelling, readable tale in the justly celebrated Doc Ford series by one of this country's premier crime novelists" (Booklist). With Hunter's Moon, White is ready to take another giant leap.On a foggy, tropic October night, the full moon burning through the mist, I stopped paddling when I heard unexpected voices. Muted whispers, neither English nor Spanish, the voices of men moving in stealth. They shouldn't have been here. I shouldn't have been here. There were plausible explanations, but I didn't like any of them.When Ford saves from assassination a controversial former president of the United States who is staying on an island off...

Hawker returns to Chicago—where an old friend is about to die When the police department told him to hold his fire, Hawker pulled the trigger anyway—and killed a dangerous terrorist. Since losing his badge, this hardnosed vigilante has been exiled from Chicago, the city he loves more than any other. He returns for the sake of one man: Saul Beckerman, a friend from the old neighborhood who has become one of the richest people in the city. Since Hawker began his nationwide war against organized crime, Beckerman has gotten into trouble with the wrong people, and even the nation's most dangerous defender can't save him now. Hawker arrives at Beckerman's penthouse just as his cocktail party is transforming into an orgy. Avoiding the writhing flesh of Chicago's most powerful, Hawker takes his friend onto the balcony. He's about to ask what's troubling the man when the air is rent by a gunshot. Beckerman dead, Hawker sets out on a mission...

Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford novels have been praised as "witty" (San Diego Union-Tribune), "must-reads" (Chicago Tribune) and "superb." (Denver Post) Now, White's newest thriller takes Doc Ford to Havana, where his friend is being held by the Cuban government. Still haunted by his suspected involvement in a plot against Castro, Ford ventures to Cuba—where he finds himself entangled in a web of murder, revenge, and assassination. From the author of the critically acclaimed novel Captiva (Prime Crime, 5/97) Another mystery featuring Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford is on the way Will appeal to fans of Carl Hiaasen and John D. Macdonald "We'll drop anything we're doing to read a new Randy White novel and be glad we did." —Denver Post

From Publishers WeeklyThe 13th installment of bestseller White's aging but still solid series featuring Doc Ford (after 2005's Dead of Night) finds the retired CIA operative picking up in the aftermath of a hurricane that's ravaged the Florida coast. Hired to sift through the old wreck of a pleasure craft, the Dark Light, that's been spotted after the huge storm, Ford and his salvage team discover items inside the boat that stir deadly vengeance—Nazi artifacts. Ford runs into trouble immediately from Bern Heller, a nearby marina owner who claims his company has rights to the wreck site and doesn't hesitate employing violence to get his way. At issue, Ford soon discovers, is more than just old Lugers, war medals and a few gold bars. The real prize lies in the ownership of thousands of acres of Florida beachfront property. While the novel peaks in a typical burst of satisfying action, the plot takes too long to get underway and lacks the overall crispness of the author's best work. 80,000 first printing; author tour. (Mar. 16) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistLately, the ongoing drama in White's justly celebrated Doc Ford series, set on Florida's Sanibel Island, has come from marine biologist Ford's deal with the devil: he will continue to work as a covert government operative, assassinating bad guys around the globe, if his bosses keep their hands off his ex-hippie pal, Tomlinson, whose long-ago involvement in a '60s bombing has targeted him for retribution. This time, though, that plotline takes a rest, as Ford deals with more immediate threats: the aftereffects of a category 4 hurricane that swept across the island, leaving in its wake a lot of angry marina dwellers ("shit on by God, by nature, by government, by insurance agencies"). Among those aftereffects is the discovery of a ship long buried at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the victim of a similar hurricane in 1944. Ford is asked to restore various artifacts found on the vessel, and when one of them turns out to be a Nazi medal, a new mystery is afoot, involving an alluring older woman living in a nearby gabled mansion. White attempts to juggle a lot of storylines in this one--the Nazi angle; the 1944 hurricane; the mysterious woman; a psycho marina owner out to claim the artifacts for his own--and while he occasionally seems on the verge of losing control, he keeps all the balls in the air through the finale. Not one of the series' high-water marks, perhaps, but still a compellingly readable tale by one of this country's premier crime novelists. Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved