Deep Shadow (Doc Ford Series #17)

Fast-paced throughout the exciting story line

During a robbery, ex-cons, King and Perry kill a family of five. They flee from a massive manhunt hiding in the swamps of Central Florida. Their plan is to wait till the heat cools down a little though both know that will be some time as the media has stirred the public and the police.

Doc Ford and his three friends (Tomlinson, Will, and Arlis) go to a small lake in search of the late Cuban dictator Batista's treasure plane, which vanished in 1958. However King and Perry capture Doc and company; and force them to keep diving in search of the plane. None are aware of what lurks in the nearby swamps.

Readers will knows the swamp is far from Dead Silent between Doc and his buddies, the two deadly thugs, and a Swamp Thing that wants to dine on divers. Fast-paced throughout the exciting story line, fans will be hooked from the moment everyone converges and readers will never stop reading as the tension mounts with anticipation of one hell of a climax. Who, if any of the four buddies, will leave Central Florida alive?

Harriet Klausner

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Deep Shadow

In Deep Shadow, two of Doc Ford's friends are trapped underwater when a cave collapse in a Floriday lake that they were exploring in. When Doc surfaces to get help he meets up with the two ex-cons that want Doc to locate the treasure of a Cuban plane that crashed there years ago. Can he save his friends and not get killed in the process? Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford novels are full of adventure, tension and just good story-telling. This one is no exception.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Tropical Adventure At Its Best

Whether writing as Randy Wayne White or Randy Striker, RWW is the best action writer for mysteries with that tropical feel. When you are reading a Randy Wayne White/Randy Striker story you are immediately transported to Florida and the Florida Keys. His characters and plots are believable and well conceived. Like a Clive Cussler novel, Randy Wayne White's stories are exciting from the very beginning. Though Randy Wayne White writes in a very masculine style similar the likes of James Patterson, Ian Fleming, Clive Cussler, etc. mystery lovers of either gender will enjoy this "good read". A great book for when you are laying on the beach enjoying the sun and surf or curled up in your favorite reading spot at home.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Fresh Look at Doc Ford

After writing 17 books detailing the adventures of sometime-spy Marion "Doc" Ford, author Randy Wayne White - an enthusiastic ball player - proves in his latest that he can throw a changeup with the best of them.

"Dark Shadow" throws us several changeups, in fact.

This book's Doc Ford is decidedly off duty, with no exotic weapons or spy gadgets to help him out of increasingly horrifying straits. All he has are his wits, and - maybe - his friends.

The story starts off with a simple day's outing with old friends. However, a parallel story involving 2 crazed ex-convicts soon overlays the first, and the relaxing day Doc Ford was enjoying turns into an unusually gritty look into the dark sides of enemies and friends alike.

Alternating his chapters between first and third person perspectives, White shows us the hero as he thinks as well as how he is seen, and manages these shifts with enough skill that they never jar the reader out of the story's flow.

All in all, White's many changeups work very well. This is a refreshing new look at a familiar character, and shows us a reinvigorated writing style that reaches deeper than ever into the adventure genre.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Double Departure

Randy Wayne White has departed in style and in plot from his previous books. For the first time, he uses multiple points of view, allowing the reader into the heads of characters other than Doc Ford.
The plot is also less special agent and more tough guy battles nature than in White's previous books.
What has remained constant is White's excellent research. He is able to make complex science accessible.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent mystery

I really liked Deep Shadow and thought the book very plausible. I recommend the book to those who enjoy mysteries or thrillers. I have enjoyed many of Randy White's books and I believe he is one of the best.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Doc Ford does it again

I love Randy Wayne White's books about Doc Ford. I found this particularly gripping because of the water in the cave and the problems of escaping. I found it very scary and would recommend it to everyone who likes suspense.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

An Intriguing Conceit

WIth the exception of a prologue and and the final chapter, the entire novel takes place within a couple of square acres and no more than half a day elapses. This is not the typical Doc Ford book that had become rote over the last few attempts. No super secret agent malarkey, no deep revelations about characters that are far-fetched and only there to explain a plot twist.

This time out, Mr. White has delivered a page-turning knock out of a thriller. I'm writing this review at 4am, if that tells you anything. I highly recommend this book. For those of us that had become a bit disenchanted with the series, this book seems to set it back on the right path.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

BEST DOC FORD THRILLER!

I couldn't put it down! Randy Wayne White has written a terrific thriller. Doc Ford and Tomlinson go diving for treasure in FL but find themselves in the company of killers, human and reptillian! Loved it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not as Good as most of his other Work.

Still entertaining

An Unworthy effort...not recommended

It took me forever to make it through this book----353 pages in hardback. I wanted to punt so many times, but I finally made it to the end. This book might interest someone that is a diving and deep water afficionado, but I must say that I was bored by the first 100 pages and the rest did not make it any easier.

A good read

I am a first time Randy Wayne White reader and this story was easy to read and kept me on the edge of wanting to know what's in the next chapter. But the times of falling back to the past kind of slowed the story down, but when the story came back to the persent it caught the attention of wanting what's next. It also made me wanting to catch King and put my own hands around his throat what a punk.

Not his best

I think he tried something new here and it turned out to not be his best work. Not bad and worth reading if you like White, just not what we are used to from him.

Another realistic novel from R. W. White

One of the things that keeps me coming back to an author's books is whether or not the characters and plot are realistic. In short, could one have actually been there and experienced the plot. Randy Wayne White provides this to the max. One can get absorbed in the plot so as to feel they are watching characters they feel they know (from [previous books). He provides unexpected changes in each character's persona/background which changes one's impression(s) of that chacter - some would call it "continual character building." White is a master at this. Great read and easy to get caught up with the characters and leaves one wondering what trouble they will get into next.

GLUG

RATING IT H2O. Doc Ford has re-found his gonads after the old lady got them a book or two back. However, he seems to have forgotten what they are for.

It was like syfy channel met AARP.

Ok, I have been reading Doc Ford series for years. I love the realism of the books through the use off real locations like Sanibel Island and the surrounding island off the coast of Florida, and relevant news stories. But this one really lost me- it is a surprising plot for a marine biologist. It was too farfetched for the series and older characters. Very unrealistic and while the author tried to be creative and suspenseful, I found myself reading the book just to finish it, not because I was enjoying it. This was a disappointment for me. Come back to earth, Randy!

A nice read

A very good read. Lot's of intensity in particular sections of the book. As always, I love the two primary characters (Ford and Tomlinson) and the author's ability to take two different personalities and merge them into a group.

I still enjoy the author's earlier works as they were more raw and exciting seemingly than his later novels

Randy Wayne White's new action mystery novel,"Deep Shadow", will keep you up reading way past your bedtime. In his latest Doc Ford novel Randy Wayne White's talents as a world class story teller have reached a new high.

Sunken treasure, bad guy's, a mysterious creature and a day when nothing can go right. This is the setting for the book "Deep Shadow" where Randy Wayne White's character of Doc Ford is pitted in a life and death struggle for not only his own survival but the survival of his friends. What begins as a simple dive outing in the remote Florida interior to search for a sunken treasure turns into a nightmare when the dive crew is beset upon by underwater misfortunes in the dive and two escaped criminals with nothing to loose. All of this may not be the worst part, a hidden terror inhabits the lake.

The latest in a series of Doc Ford novels by Randy Wayne White, "Deep Shadow" is by far the best novel he has written to date. The writing is discriptive enough that it allows you to almost see, smell and hear the sounds of the remote Florida interior lake where the story takes place. A great story that keeps going from cover to cover in a book that can either stand alone or be read as a part of the Doc Ford series. Even the most casual of readers will not be able to set this book down. As I finished the last page I had only one word to say, "Wow!"

ANOTHER GREAT

As good as John D. Mac. maybe even better.

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