The Mangrove Coast (Doc Ford Series #6)

by Randy Wayne White

Overview

The seductive daughter of a dead war buddy calls marine biologist Doc Ford in need of help—her mother has vanished without a trace in South America. Doc's efforts to find her take him from the jungles of Colombia to the streets of Panama—and onto the trail of the most vile nemesis he has ever come up against...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425171943
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/1999
Series:	Doc Ford Series , #6
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.73(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Randy Wayne White is the author of seventeen previous Doc Ford novels and four collections of nonfiction. He lives in an old house built on an Indian mound in Pineland, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

Once more, friendship makes a move on marine biologist "Doc" Ford (North of Havana, 1997, etc.), converting the man of science into a man of action. But he likes that. As all followers of this series know, Ford is a closet adrenaline-junkie. This time out, it's winsome Amanda Calloway who can't be refused. She's Bobby Richardson's daughter, after all, that same stand-up Bobby who was Ford's close ally back during their shared Cambodian caper, when, on behalf of their country, the two men did virtuous if shadowy things together. That was 20 years ago, and now here's young Amanda brandishing a letter from the grave, as it were, in which Bobby clearly states that in time of need, "Ford's the one to trust." Amanda's need is dire: her beautiful, gullible mom has disappeared. Not only that, but when last seen she was under the spell of a particularly loathsome Svengali named Jackie Merlot. Amanda wants her mom rescued, and like the latter-day knight-errant that he is, Ford unhesitatingly accepts the missionþagain aided and abetted in his quest by some of the quirky friends whoþve aided and abetted in the past. Soon enough he's in Cartagena, Colombia, and from there it's a short haul to Panamanian Gamboa, where he catches up with his fat but fearsome quarry. So it's Gamboa that becomes the scene of the denouementþa bloody, bittersweet denouementþthat will leave Ford with one less quirky friend. So many misplaced meanderings and wearisome digressionsþon the wonders of baseball, the age of fish, the yeas and nays of cannabis, plus much moreþthat what results is one a competent storyteller's unfortunate lapse into literary self-indulgence.

Kirkus Reviews