Review by Booklist Review
Trouble is brewing at a Florida trailer park populated by illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America: the park's manager, a steroid freak who dabbles in snuff movies, draws his expendable talent from the immigrant population, but he's managed to offend a drug lord, who isn't pleased that his female customers are turning up dead. Matters are further complicated when an adolescent girl, Tula, rumored to possess mystical ability, sees the manager feeding a body to his pet gator. Doc Ford, Sanibel Island marine biologist and sometime black-ops agent, is drawn into the trailer-park trauma by his longtime friend Tomlinson, the aging hippie whose own mystical inclinations have brought him into contact with Tula. When the steroid freak kidnaps Tula, Ford is forced to go full commando night-vision goggles and all to track down the girl and dispatch the numerous bad guys. As always, White handles the action scenes superbly, writing with both precision and dramatic flair, but he gets inside the heads of his characters, too, not only Ford, the conflicted warrior, but also Tula, who sees herself as Joan of Arc, and even the steroid freak, who just may have an inner life beneath his biceps. A must for series fans. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: It took White's Doc Ford series a while to draw a mainstream audience, but the books started turning up on New York Times best-seller lists several years ago and are likely to remain there for the foreseeable future. A three-week author tour will give the charismatic White, a former fishing guide and veteran real-life adventurer, plenty of opportunity to spread the word still further.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In White's intelligent, fast-paced 18th Doc Ford thriller (after Deep Shadow), Doc's hipster friend, Tomlinson, persuades Doc to help an extraordinary 13-year-old girl, Tula Choimha, recently arrived at a Florida trailer park from Guatemala. Tula, who speaks with God and whose patron saint is Joan of Arc, is determined to find her mother and brother, who came to America months earlier but have disappeared. People who get to know Tula believe she is special, blessed, even a saint-except for the sleazy, steroid-infused trailer park landlord, Harris Squires. Fearful that the discovery of some human remains inside an alligator carcass will implicate him in a crime witnessed by Tula, the paranoid Harris kidnaps Tula and takes off. Doc sets out to rescue Tula, but standing in his way is a menacing gangbanger, Victorino, and Harris's vicious girlfriend, Frankie. White balances the sordid criminal activities with plenty of intriguing wildlife lore. The bond that Tula forms with her captor adds poignancy. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The 18th Doc Ford thriller (after Deep Shadow) mixes street-gang grittiness with eerie spirituality as a 13-year-old Guatemalan child searches for relatives in Florida. The community of undocumented Guatemalans is vulnerable, fearful of authorities. The manager of the trailer park where the immigrants live is a bodybuilder, manufacturing illegal steroids and using the women in porn films, taking advantage of their silence. He is aided by his girlfriend and a local gang. Ford, a marine biologist by day, CIA-trained troubleshooter at other times, and his aging hippie friend, Tomlinson, arrive at the trailer park to meet young Tula just as an alligatorÅsnatches a resident. A typical Doc Ford scene unfolds, with Ford wrestling the alligator, infuriating the landlord, and unleashing more trouble when a human bone is found in the gator. Tula's mysticism injects spirituality into the story, adding an extra dimension to the plot. Verdict Explicit depictions of steroid use and gang behavior supply the action in a slightly predictable plot. Authentic bad guys juxtaposed with the innocent Tula create a story Doc Ford fans and adventure readers will enjoy. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/10; national tour.]-Sally Bickley, Del Mar Coll. Lib., Corpus Christi, TX (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
