Diamond Sky

Rating:
Summary: Murder in the Caribbean, Women on the Run!
Review: Beth Shannon is enjoying Boxing Day (the day after Xmas) on a small island off the coast of Trinidad (a much larger Island) in the Caribbean with her husband and his daughter Noelle, who isn't that much younger than Beth, when Noelle discovers a dead body on the island and her husband has a heart attack and dies.

Meanwhile in Long Beach, California, Noelle's mother, aunt and uncle are brutally murdered and Homicide Lieutenant Billy Wolfe is assigned to the case. He is just back on the job after a year's hiatus because of the death of his wife and son. When Wolfe finds out about the dead body in the Caribbean and the heart attack death of Noelle's father, he's convinced the cases are related, no matter how improbable.

It seems Noelle's father had been part of a diamond smuggling operation that involved the Russian Mafia, as was her uncle, and they had their hands in the cookie jar. Unfortunately their wives got slaughtered as well by the ruthless Russians.

Wolfe meets Beth when she brings her husband's body home for burial and he falls for her, falls hard. He follows her back to the Caribbean, only to find her on the run from the evil, diamond smuggling Russians and he is determined to save her, however before he can launch himself at the bad guys, he's framed for murder and now he's on the run too.

What a great book, a thriller, adventure novel, cop story all blended together to make a read that kept me home and on the edge of my seat on a breezy Sunday, when I was supposed to be having brunch at this neat Mexican place with this new guy at work, who is so good looking he can curl your toes with just a look. Ah well, if he's a reader, he'll understand. If he isn't, he isn't for me. However this book is. It's one I'll read again. A thrill a minute, really!

Rating:
Summary: Damsels in Distress on the Run in the Caribbean
Review: Beth Shannon lives on a sailboat at the Trinidad Yacht Club in the Caribbean with her husband, Frank, who works for Skidmore Oil, an American oil company run by his ex-brother-in-law, Mark Skidmore, from Long Beach, California. It's the day after Christmas and Frank, Beth and Frank's daughter from his first marriage, Noelle, are out at a small island, getting ready for a party, when Noelle discovers the body of a brutally murdered young woman that has washed up on shore. Frank sees the body, has a heart attack and dies.

Beth and Noelle take the body back to California for burial and are met by Long Beach Homicide Detective Billy Wolfe, who tells them that Mark Skidmore, his wife and sister-in-law, who is Noelle's mother, have all been murdered. Wolfe also thinks that despite the heart attack that killed Frank, somehow his death has to be connected.

After the burial Beth and Noelle go back to the Caribbean, without answering Wolfe's questions, so he follows, only to find out that the women have fled the country on Beth's sailboat. It doesn't take long for Wolfe to figure out that the women are running from some very bad Russian Mafia types, who were probably responsible for the murders in California. He further learns that they are not competent sailors. He isn't either, but he hooks up with a fun loving drug smuggler and takes off to try and save the damsels in distress.

And thus begins a chase that encompasses the lenght and breath of the Caribbean, finally ending with a rather violent climax back in California. Lots of action in this story, which is a good fun read, even if the body count is fairly high.

Rating:
Summary: Murder, Smugglers, Romance and the Caribbean!
Review: Beth Shannon lives with her husband Frank on a sailboat in Trinidad. Her step-daughter Noel, who is only a few years younger than she is, is visiting. It's the day after Christmas and the three of them are on a small island off Trinidad's east coast when they discover the body of a young girl, which causes Frank to die of a heart attack.

Beth and Noel bring Frank's body home to Long Beach in Southern California for buriel and discover that while they were on that island, Franks's brother, his wife and Noel's mother had all been brutally murdered and homicide detective Billy Wolfe believes there is a connection to the dead girl that caused Frank's heart attack four thousand miles away and the murders in Long Beach.

There is a connection, of course, and at first Beth and Noel don't want to admit it. They go back to Trinidad, only to be chased all over the Caribbean by diamond smuggling, gun running, Russian Mafia killers with Billy Wolfe hot on their tail. And that's just the beginning of this exciting book that I couldn't put down. What a thrilling read.

Rating:
Summary: Diamond Sky and Hurricane, Art All the Way
Review: I first met Ken Douglas at a Mexican party on Great White Wonder, the sixty-foot racing sloop he used to own. His boat was chock-a-block full of cruising sailors, inside and on the deck. Simpson Bay on the Dutch side of St. Martin really rocked that night. I met Jack Priest for the first time at that party as well.

Later they invited me to join their writer's group, a group of cruising writers that met every Wednesday at a sailor's bar called Lagoonies. We'd get together, read some stuff we'd written, talk about future projects, help each other get our stories in the Caribbean boating magazines.

It was there that I read the first draft for Ken and Jack's book, DIAMOND SKY. I swear, never did you meet two fast friends who argued so much. Ken wanted the book to go one way, Jack another. So they compromised and came up with a fine effort, but Jack's British and until recently been alone for awhile, so he's kind of used to getting his way. He liked DIAMOND SKY, but he really despises drug smugglers, so all the while they were working on SKY, he was also working on HURRICANE. That's why it's got some similar scenes and some of the same characters, like that lovable pirate T-Bone, who stays with the story till the very end in HURRICANE.

I can see why Ms. Sane (see Stephanie Sane's review posted below), was confused. I agree with her that they are both good books, but I disagree when she says you should only buy one and leave the other on the shelf. I've read both, enjoyed both and well read both again, but maybe I'm biased because I live on a boat. Both these books, especially HURRICANE, capture the essence of what cruising life is all about, although they do it with a darn sight more adventure than I see in an average day.

Both books are non-stop, pulse-racing, nail-biting, thrillers. They have bad guys galore, good guys too and terrific heroines. My advice, read DIAMOND SKY first, then read HURRICANE and see how Jack changed it to make it his very own story. Diamond smugglers who rely on children to mine their evil diamonds are lower than a snake's belly. Drug smugglers are even lower than that. And in these two books you get to see plenty of both get their just deserts.

Haley Lawford, S/V Cheerleader Too

Rating:
Summary: DIAMOND SKY and HURRICANE, Is It Cheating or is it Art?
Review: I read DIAMOND SKY by Ken Douglas and Jack Stewart first, then I did HURRICANE, a solo effort by Mr. Stewart that was written before DIAMOND SKY, and the similarities between the two books was scary, bordering on plagiarism, but I guess Mr. Stewart can't steal from himself. And in all fairness I should say that Bootleg Press solicited this review after reading what I wrote about one of their other books. They said that I was critical, but fair and that's what I'm going to try to be here.

DIAMOND SKY opens with our heroines, Beth and Noelle Shannon on an island off the eastern coast of Trinidad. Noelle, eight years younger than Beth, is her step-daughter. Beth's husband Frank is snorkling in the ocean. Noelle discovers a dead body, Frank has a heart attack and dies. The women take the body home to California for burial, are met by homicide cop Billy Wolfe who is investigating the multiple murders of Frank's Boss, his wife and Noelle's mother. Wolfe believes that somehow Frank's heart attack must be connected. After the funeral the woman go back to Trinidad, where they find that a shipyard wants to seize the sailing yacht that Frank and Beth lived on for past debts. Beth knows they owed no money, so the two women sneak the boat out of the country, but after the first day away, they meet up with Noelle's boyfriend, who is really working for the evil men that want to take the boat away.

HURRICANE opens with Blonde and blue-eyed Julie Tanake (a Caucasian American who is married to a much older Japanese man named Hideo) and her daughter Meiko, zooming around by an island of the eastern coast of Trinidad with their friend, local singing star, Tammy Drake. Tammy falls in, grabs on to what she thinks is a floating log, but it turns out to be a dead body. The women go back to the boat that Julie and Hideo live on, only to be greeted by the police and American DEA agent Bill Broxton, who tell them that Hideo has been killed in California while he was delivering a sailboat. Then they find that a local shipyard wants to seize Julie's floating home for past debts that Julie knows are bogus. So, you guessed it, Julie and Meiko sneak the boat out of the country and are joined by Meiko's sneaky boyfriend who is in cahoots with the bad guys.

In DIAMOND SKY the bad guys are Russian Mafia types. The dead Frank Shannon had been working for them and had stollen a fortune of their illegal conflict diamonds and had hidden them on the boat. The women don't know this, the bad guys do. California cop Billy Wolfe flies to Trinidad, finds out the Russians are after our girls and teams up with pirate type, drug smuggler T-Bone Powers to try and get to the woman via sailboat before the evil Russians can find and kill them.

In HURRICANE the bad guys are German mob types. The dead Hideo Tanaka had been knowingly or unknowingly working for the Salizar drug cartel which is in partnership with the German owned shipyard. There is a fortune worth of cocaine hidden away on the boat. The women don't know this, the bad guys do. DEA agent Bill Broxton teams up with pirate type, drug smuggler T-Bone Powers to try and get to the woman via sailboat before the evil Germans can find and kill them.

I'll admit that there is a whole heck of a lot of other stuff going on that differs and that with the exception of the very likable T-Bone character, the lowdown boyfriend Victor and a few minor walk ons, the people are different. But as you can see the plot so far is pretty much the same. From here on though we come to a fork in the road. The DIAMOND SKY girls get themselves to California where they are menaced by bad guys and the HURRICANE girls sail on up to Saint Martin in the Dutch West Indies, where they are menaced by both bad guys and a Hurricane.

I won't spoil any endings here, but I will tell you that they are different. The characters in both books are well drawn. The action in both is superb. They are pulse-racing thrillers that will keep you up on the sleepiest of nights. I loved them both, but my advice to you is to flip a coin, buy one and leave the other on the shelf.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

Rating:
Summary: Action, Suspense and Tension Galore
Review: Long Beach homicide detective Billy Wolfe has a special relationship with the dead, specifically the murdered. He feels deeply that it's his calling in life to bring their killers to justice. However, he has been on leave for awhile, because of the tragic death of his young son followed by the suicide of his wife. It's his first day back on the job and he's called to the scene of a grisly triple murder. Someone has brutally slaughtered Mark Skidmore, his wife Katherine and his sister-in-law Ann Marie Shannon in the Skidmore's penthouse apartment at the Oceanview Towers. This is hard for Wolfe as he'd been living in the Towers when his son had fallen to his death and his wife had taken her life shortly after.

Meanwhile in Trinidad, four thousand miles away, Frank Shannon, Ann Marie's ex, stumbles across the murdered body of his young lover, has a heart attack and dies.

Shannon had been working for Skidmore Oil in Trinidad and made his home on a sixty-foot sailboat in the Trinidad Yacht Club with his young wife Beth, who he'd been cheating on. His daughter, Noelle, on break from medical school because of the Christmas holidays, has been visiting. Beth and Noelle have to take the body back to California for burial.

Wolfe replays Ann Marie's phone messages and finds out about the women bringing back Shannon's body. Another death in the family, and on the same day. Heart attack or not, Wolfe doesn't believe in coincidences. So now, even though it's miles out of his jurisdiction, he has another possible homicide on his hands. Plus he has to go to the airport to meet Beth and Noelle and tell them about the murder of Noelle's mother, aunt and uncle.

And thus begins a thriller that will take you to the Caribbean and back again in a story full of action, suspense and tension galore. I couldn't put it down. I loved Billy Wolfe, so sad and tragic, but very resilient. I liked Beth and Noelle too, but there is a pirate-type, drug-smuggling character called T-Bone that I'll never forget. I actually felt like I was sailing in a raging squall, T-Bone giving me orders as I read along. I loved this book and I think you will too.

Karen Holtz, New Jersey Book Girl

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes Diamonds are not a Girl's Best Friend
Review: Still again I'm writing a review of one of my husband's thrillers, so I'm obliged to declare my bias here. And, of course, I am biased, even if Ken only wrote every other chapter. Boy, let me tell you that was an amazing six months we had, anchored next to Jack Stewart's boat in Trinidad. Ken and Jack pooled their words, drank a lot of rum, fished occasionally and somehow managed to come up with two wonderful books. TANGERINE DREAM, sort of an adventure thriller that takes place in the South Pacific and the book I'm reporting on below, DIAMOND SKY, a blood-racing thriller that opens in Trinidad, moves to Southern California, then back to the Caribbean, then back again to California for a thrilling shoot 'em up climax. Okay, now that my prejudice is exposed, I can get on with the review.

Beth Shannon is on a small island off the coast of Trinidad in the West Indies with her husband Frank, when her step-daughter Noelle, who is only eight years her junior, discovers a dead body. A young woman, pretty once, but not now because she'd been tortured before she'd finally been put to death. When Frank sees the body, he collapses with a heart attack and it doesn't take Beth long before she figures out he'd been having an affair with her. She's not surprised though, because she knew it had to be someone, as he hadn't been in her bed for a very long time.

When they take the body back to California for burial, Beth and Noelle discover that Frank's ex-wife, Noelle's mother, plus Frank's boss and his wife, have all been brutally murdered. Lt. Billy Wolfe, the Long Beach homicide detective heading up the investigation, is sympathetic, has a good ear and Beth is more than a little interested. But she has a boat she's been living on in Trinidad, friends and a life there, so without telling Wolfe, she and Noelle go home after the funeral.

Wolfe is damaged goods. He is just back at work, having been on a year's extended leave because of the death of his wife and son (who perished in Ken's book, DEAD RINGER). He's a little smitten with Beth and besides, he's got a murder investigation to follow up, so he follows Beth to Trinidad. They get together on a dark and rainy New Year's Eve and make love. Then a couple days later Beth inexplicably leaves the country with Noelle, sailing away on their yacht.

Wolfe finds out that the local shipyard wanted to seize Beth's boat for money her husband owed for repairs and that she'd fled to save her floating home, her only asset. He calls Long Beach to report in and finds out photos of the murders have been found in his apartment and now the cops are looking at him for the crime and, to make matters worse, they've informed the Trinidadian authorities. Then Wolfe finds out that some guys from the shipyard are going after Beth. He desperately wants to protect the women, but the cops have the airport staked out. It appears he's stuck. Then an opportunity arises. T-Bone Powers, a drug smuggler who fancies himself as sort of a new millennium pirate, will take Wolfe aboard. T-Bone is caught up with the idea of rescuing modern day damsels in distress and together Wolfe and T-Bone give chase.

But what they don't know is that Beth's dead husband was working with the Russian Mafia and that he'd stolen a fortune's worth of conflict diamonds from them and hidden them on the boat. The men pursuing Beth and Noelle are not just some tough guys who work at a local shipyard trying to collect on a bad debt. They are very bad Russian types and they want their diamonds back and they don't care who they have to kill to get them.

There you have a short report on about the first third of the book. Of course there is a lot more going on in this story that you just have to read. But like I said, I'm biased. Still, I loved DIAMOND SKY and I think you will too. Please give it a read and I promise I'll think only nice thoughts about you.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Rating:
Summary: Murder, Romance and the Deep Blue Sea
Review: Take two women, a mother and step-daughter, who are just about the same age. Put them on a sailboat they can barely sail. Stick them in the Caribbean. Hide a fortune's worth of smuggled diamonds aboard. Have them running from ruthless Russian smugglers and you have the plot of "Diamond Sky" a terrific woman in trouble thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as you rush through the story, eager as all get out to get to the end.

Beth Shannon is grief stricken when her husband dies of a heart attack in Trinidad, but when she and her step-daughter Noelle take the body back to California, they are met by detective Billy Wolfe, who has more bad news for them. Noelle's mother, uncle and aunt have also been murdered and the detective wants to question them.

It seems Noelle's father and uncle had been involved in diamond smuggling with the Russian Mafia and had decided to skim a little off the top. Bad idea. The Russians killed them.

The woman go back to Trinidad and when the Russians try to use legal means to get the boat Beth had been living on with her husband, they sail out of the country under cover of darkness with the Russians hot on their trail. And detective Wolfe is on the their trail too. And they don't really know how to handle the boat. Are they in trouble or what?

You'll just have to read this delicious and thrilling story to find out who catches up to the women first. But don't worry, you'll have a super time as you read though this fast-paced story.

Rating:
Summary: Fire and Ice in the Caribbean
Review: This book starts out like a ball of fire and keeps going. Beth and her step-daughter Noel find a dead body on a small, sleepy Caribbean island. Then Beth's husband dies of a heart attack. When she takes her husband back to California for burial, she finds out his ex-wife has been murdered. After the funeral the women go back to the Caribbean and the sailing yacht Beth had lived on with her husband, only to find out Corbeau Yacht Services wants to confiscate her yacht for money her husband apparently owed. She and Noel flee on the boat.

However, unknown to the two women, Beth's husband had stolen illegal diamonds from the Russian Mafia and had hidden them away on the boat. The Russian's want their diamonds back and will stop at nothing to get them.

DIAMOND SKY is peopled with two women who have to get tough fast, with a homicide cop who goes soft and can't help himself, with a likable rogue drug smuggler and with a various assortment of bad guys you are guaranteed to hate. The book races toward a climax that will have you reading the night away.

Reviewed by Olivia Louise Lewis

Rating:
Summary: Starts Out Like a Ball of Fire and Speeds Up!
Review: This story starts out like a ball of fire and keeps going. Beth and her step-daughter Noel find a dead body on a small, sleepy Caribbean island. Then Beth's husband dies of a heart attack. When she takes her husband back to California for burial, she finds out his ex-wife has been murdered. After the funeral the women go back to the Caribbean and the sailing yacht Beth had lived on with her husband, only to find out Corbeau Yacht Services wants to confiscate her yacht for money her husband apparently owed. She and Noel flee on the boat.

However, unknown to the two women, Beth's husband had stolen illegal diamonds from the Russian Mafia and had hidden them away on the boat. The Russian's want their diamonds back and will stop at nothing to get them.

'Diamond Sky' is peopled with two women who have to get tough fast, with a homicide cop who goes soft and can't help himself, with a likable rogue drug smuggler and with a various assortment of bad guys you are guaranteed to hate. The book races toward a climax that will have you reading the night away.