Shark River

Table of Contents

 

 

PRAISE FOR

“Woven knot by knot, the work of a master.”

“White’s most satisfying to date.”

“The real joy for me in this underread series . . . is not so much the careful plotting, which in
Shark River
is triangulated and tricky and more revelatory of Doc Ford’s elusive background than before. Rather, it is White’s meticulous and loving description of Florida’s vanishing natural landscape that sets the books apart from those by a host of other ‘Florida’ mystery writers.”

“Doc Ford fans will not want to miss
Shark River,
which gives a revealing look at Ford’s dark background and explains his curious bond with Tomlinson. But readers do not need to be familiar with the series to relish a novel that shows one of the nation’s most accomplished wordsmiths at the top of his game.”

“His
mano-a-mano
action scenes adhere to the muscle-flexing style of writers like James W. Hall and Les Standiford.”

—Marilyn Stasio

“A real winner here. I am an instant fan in search of the author’s earlier books. More, please.”

 

“This latest entry in the Doc Ford series is one of the strongest. . . . A taut story of modern greed and violence. Plenty of great twists . . . make this one of the most satisfying thrillers in recent memory.”

“We can’t think of a better way to spend a summer afternoon than curled up with this book. . . . A wild, dangerous adventure . . . Breathless action.”

“A powerful look at Florida’s heart of darkness. . . . A rapid-fire tale that will snare readers like a treble hook. . . . No on around today writes as well about Florida. . . . Rough-edged and violent. . . . One of the best in a series that is as good as anything being written today.”

“When it comes to Florida, White is positively lyrical. . . . Marvelous description, good plotting, and plenty of action.”

“No one evokes life along the sultry mangrove coast of Southwest Florida as perfectly . . . White’s best book yet.”

“White . . . can be counted on to produce the real goods. . . . And although he’s subtle about the atmospherics, when White cranks up the momentum, he tosses in everything.”

“Fast paced. . . . This is
Key Largo
meets
Wild Kingdom.
”

“Maintains an edgy sense of adventure . . . White’s strong sense of place and people keep us wanting to return to Florida’s west coast.”

 

 

“Captivating.”

“White reels in readers with another effective combination of atmosphere and action.”

“[White] seems more than a match for any of Florida’s fictioneers.”

“Action-packed and skillfully plotted . . . a pleasure to read.”

“A first-rate thriller.”

“White is a master of the finishing touch.”

 

 

CAPTIVA:

“A Doc Ford novel has more slick moves than a snake in the mangroves.”

—
Carl Hiaasen

“
Captiva
is . . . packed with finely drawn characters, relevant
social issues, superb plotting, and an effortless writing style.
We’ll drop anything we’re doing to read a new Randy Wayne
White book and be glad we did.”

“One of the more dramatic finales in mystery fiction. White tells one whale of a story.”

“An enticing brew of hard-drinking, thick-skulled anglers, plodding detectives, and plotting marina bosses. White knows a thing or two about friendship, love, and honor.”

“Edginess is what sets White’s work apart from the rest of the pack . . . a prickly, enigmatic hero . . . ambience, compelling characters, and straightforward suspense.”

“An inventive story . . . White knows how to build a plot . . . with touches John D. MacDonald would have appreciated.”

“This is a top-shelf thriller written with poetic style and vision. Don’t miss it.”

 

 

PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF

“Randy Wayne White and his Doc Ford join my list of must-reads. It is no small matter when I assert that White is getting pretty darn close to joining Carl Hiaasen and John D. MacDonald as writers synonymous with serious Florida issues and engaging characters.”

“White is a wildly inventive storyteller whose witty, offbeat novels come packed with pleasure.”

“Enough twists to satisfy any hard-boiled but intelligent detective fan.”

“One of the hottest new writers on the scene.”

“Great action scenes, terrific atmosphere, and a full-bodied hero add up to a pleasure.”

“Packed with finely drawn characters, relevant social issues, superb plotting, and an effortless writing style. . . . The best new writer since Carl Hiaasen.”

“White is the rightful heir to joining John D. MacDonald, Carl Hiaasen, James Hall, Geoffrey Norman. . . . His precise prose is as fresh and pungent as a salty breeze.”

“A series to be savored.”

Sanibel Flats
The Heat Islands
The Man Who Invented Florida
Captiva
North of Havana
The Mangrove Coast
Ten Thousand Islands
Shark River
Twelve Mile Limit
Everglades
Tampa Burn
Dead of Night
Dark Light
Hunter’s Moon
Black Widow

 

 

Batfishing in the Rainforest
The Sharks of Lake Nicaragua
Last Flight Out
An American Traveler
Tarpon Fishing in Mexico and Florida (An Introduction)
Randy Wayne White’s Gulf Coast Cookbook
(with Carlene Fredericka Brennen)

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr. Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

SHARK RIVER

 

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons

 

PRINTING HISTORY

Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / June 2002

Berkley mass-market edition / August 2005

Copyright © 2001 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

 

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-14385-8

 

BERKLEY
^®

Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. BERKLEY is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. The “B” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

 

 

 

With love, respect, and admiration, this book is for my son, Rogan White, upon his graduation from high school—a great Third World traveling companion, a superb organizer, navigator, waterman, fly fisherman, a good man to have at your side in a tough spot, and one of my dearest friends.

The nervous system of the Herring is fairly simple. When the Herring runs into something, the stimulus is flashed to the forebrain, with or without results.

—WILL CUPPY

Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we do not experience it.

—MAX RISCH

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanibel and Captiva islands, and the Koreshan Unity at Estero, Florida, are real places, though used fictitiously in this novel, as are certain actual businesses, marinas, bars, and other places frequented by Doc Ford and his friend Tomlinson. The same is true of Horse Eating Hole on Cat Island in the Bahamas, a place to which islanders will not stray because they fear the dragon. The lake and the legend attached to it are accurately described. I know because my friends Captain Mark Keasler and Captain Andy Fox were the first to sound and dive that lake, and find the caves there. I was lucky enough to be with them. As eighty-one-year-old islander Gaitor Ishmel told us on that day: “That lake a very bad place. If the creature don’t eat you, it ’cause he down there sleeping.”