Rating:  Summary: Mangrove Coast Review: O.K. the stories over. The mystery is solved.The last chapter solves the convoluted plot through the jungles of the Everglades,Columbia and Panama.It all comes together, It's midnight and we can end the suspense and finally go to bed. Why read the epilogue,right? Why read that they all lived happily ever after? Wrong. White leaves the last agonizing twist to the very last paragraph of the last page.
Rating:  Summary: Mangrove Coast Review: O.K. the stories over. The mystery is solved.The last chapter solves the convoluted plot through the jungles of the Everglades,Columbia and Panama.It all comes together, It's midnight and we can end the suspense and finally go to bed. Why read the epilogue,right? Why read that they all lived happily ever after? Wrong. White leaves the last agonizing twist to the very last paragraph of the last page.
Rating:  Summary: Far from White's Best! Review: Randy Wayne White is a polished author and I have enjoyed his series with Doc Ford very much, however, The Mangrove Coast misses the mark by a long shot. I agree with the other reviewers that this is easily the slowest start to a mystery novel I have read in a long time. As a matter of fact it took all my power to keep reading past the first few chapters. Finally on page 181(of 290) a dead body turns up. The plot revolves around a women seduced by a man through a internet romance. The story trudges on finally bringing Doc Ford to Panama, which must be the site of White's latest vacation. The story reads as if White created as he went and finally decided 2/3 of the way through that he better put some action in the book. The final chapter reminded me of the Bobby Ewing shower scene in Dallas. Was it a dream? What the final scene reveals could be described as " idiotic, cliched, or just plain cheating by the writer". The "clues" do not lead up to the ending and any reader will feel cheated, not amazed. The supporting characters do not help matters. Tomlinson appears breifly in a couple of scenes, mainly to assert his compter knowledge-hard to believe as a marine biologist Ford has little knowledge of the internet or computers. Tomlinson is no where near his loveable self and disappears quickly in the novel. Tucker Gatrell has seen better days too, but thankfully he is killed off in the end. I was very disappointed with this outing-I look forward to Doc Ford taking some time off to get his thoughts together and return in full force.
Rating:  Summary: The Mangrove Coast Review: The best and most believable books of fiction are based on fact. And, the most liked and admirable characters of these books are those that share commonalties with the reader. Then congratulate Randy Wayne White and his new novel, "The Mangrove Coast" as a piece of work that you must read for he has accomplished both. White's stint as the Out There columnist for Outside Magazine for many years allowed him to venture to such exotic locales in Central and South America such as Panama, Nicaragua, and Columbia as well as many other parts of the globe. Now as the author of the Doc Ford series, his time spent in these outposts have allowed him to incorporate these settings into his work in such a way so that you are along for the ride, right there with the characters. From the sulfurous smells of the mangrove coasts to the expatriate third world marinas where you feel like ordering a Polar beer poured over ice. These tropical dramas unfold like storms over the Gulf of Mexico. Building up steam and power until a deluge of lightning, rain and thunder explodes to a climatic conclusion. However, just like the squalls out on the Gulfstream, you never know where these storms are going to head. Do yourself a favor, go ahead and order this book. And you might as well save yourself some time and order Randy's other books as well. You are going to anyway, believe me. So pour yourself a cold one, sit back and prepare to meet a truly interesting group of characters and settings that will come alive in your imagination.
Rating:  Summary: Major Disappointment Review: The first two RWW books were pretty good. This one is awful.Take out the parts where RWW burdens us with his personal opinions on politics, the environment and gays, (who cares?) and all that's left is a weak plot and some dismal characters. Gave it one star because I finished it. I shouldn't have wasted the time. What drivel.
Rating:  Summary: A Mystery To Fall In Love With! Review: THE MANGROVE COAST is the sixth of Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series and it is the fastest, most compelling and most intense book in this absolutely wonderful series about a Florida marine biologist and his hipster friend Tomlinson. But if you are a woman be warned in advance: This book is going to scare the h--- out of you and you'll never feel the same about meeting new Internet friends again. (Frankly, it may be for the best). Many have said this before me: If you like John D. McDonald's Travis McGee, you will absolutely love Doc Ford. Ford is just as big and loveable, but he has more layers and seems even more dangerous.SJM
Rating:  Summary: Excellent!!!!! Review: This is Randy Wayne White's best book yet. He will be hard pressed to top it - it is even better than "Captiva." There is a twist at the end that surprised even me, and I generally have things "figured out" by the third chapter. I hope Doc Ford and Tomlinson go on for many more adventures. This is one author whose books I will buy without reading the dust jacket first.
Rating:  Summary: One of the best mysteries I've ever read. Review: Why am I sleepy? Don't tell my students but I stayed up all night finishing The Mangrove Coast. One of the most stunning and surprising endings in mystery fiction in my opinion. Fans of the Internet will love this book. I'm still reeling! When marine biologist, Doc Ford, is contacted by the daughter of a dead war buddy, he begins a dark journey that puts him on the trail of an Internet sexual predator. Ford follows the trail (along with his uncle, Tucker Gatrell -- a classic character) to Colombia and then Panama where the reader not only learns a lot about the Panama Canal but is also swept along on a genuinely wild ride full of suspense. Women on-line who have developed warm and maybe even intimate E-mail friendships will never be the same after reading this book. A bookstore friend loaned me a review copy of The Mangrove Coast and she promised me that I wouldn't be able to put it down. She was right! I only hope Mr. White's other books are nearly as good. I suspect I am among the first of many new fans of this wonderful Florida writer -- D.A.Hinkle
|