Everglades

Rating:
Summary: A great storyteller but a stale series
Review: Doc Ford, marine biologist, finds an old friend waiting for him on his boat in Dinkin's Bay. His friend,Sally Minster, has recently lost her husband in a boating accident when he disappeared at sea. It is felt that he is dead but there is some evidence that this might not be the case. Before his assumed death, her husband was involved in a cult group run by a man called Bhagwan Shiva. Shiva is planning an event to increase his net worth with some unsavory characters. Ford investigates and what he finds out could be quite explosive.
I have read the Doc Ford books since Ford made his first appearance running out of a tunnel naked in SANIBEL FLATS. Talk about symbolism! However, after one decidedly bad book and a couple of mediocre books, I felt the series was becoming a bit flat. In fact, I had stopped reading the series after book number six, THE MANGROVE COAST. I decided to give the series one more try. After reading it my feelings are mixed. The book reminds me of two things. The first is how good a storyteller Randy Wayne White is and how solid a creation Doc Ford is. The book gets off to a rollicking start with some wacky characters that seem to run rampant in so many of today's Florida mysteries. Then a third of the way into the book I was reminded as to why I stopped reading the series. The author, in addition to telling the story, feels the overwhelming need to lecture the reader on a whole host of issues. For example, we are treated to a history of the Everglades, as well as a history of earthquakes in Florida, the Seminole Indian tribe, and general Florida history. We also learn about Florida geography and geology among many other topics. It is obvious Randy Wayne White loves the state- especially environmentally and he never hesitates to let the reader know it. Of course, this serves to slow down the pacing of the increasingly unrealistic plot. I still feel the series is getting stale and, perhaps, Mr. White would do well to follow the lead of Harlan Coben, Bob Crais and Dennis Lehane among many others and go to a few standalones. He has the talent and ability to meet with the same success those authors achieved with the standalones. Until then, I wish Mr. White and Doc Ford well but won't be coming by to visit for a while.

Rating:
Summary: strong tale
Review: Dr. Marion Ford lives in a stilt house on Dinkin's Bay on Sanibel Island off the west coast of Florida, which is also home base for his business, supplying marine specimens to schools and research facilities. On the surface, he looks like a nerdy scientist but for years he was a deep cover spy. The guilt and shame he feels for those years is spiraling him into a deep depression, just when a good friend apples to him for help.

Newly windowed Sally Minster comes to Doc Ford for help because someone broke into her apartment and has stalked her since her husband died. Doc finds out that the man who followed her is a private investigator who wants to make sure that Sally's husband is really dead. Before he died he became deeply involved with the International Church of Ashram Meditation Inc., run by a con man named Shia who will do anything necessary to get what he wants. When Sally is kidnapped and the man guarding her is found murdered, Doc Ford must go into the heart of the guru's empires for answers that will lead him to Sally.

Randy Wayne White is a creative genius who writes stories that are seductively compelling and hauntingly refreshing. The protagonist finally comes to terms with the violence that is a part of him and in doing so is able to help those he cares about as well as appoint himself the avenger to those who need to be taught a lesson. After reading EVERGLADES, one will come to appreciate just how fragile that ecosystem is and find pleasure in the complex and intricate plot.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A backwater "grand slam"
Review: For those of us lucky enough to live in the Boca Grande to Sanibel area, Randy's descriptions and characters always bring a smile or a fond memory. For those who aren't so familiar with the area, the author weaves a wonderful plot with colorful characters and his own brand of common sense philosophy that rings true with "islanders" near and far. Once you get to know Doc Ford and Tomlinson, you will want to read the other books in this unique series. True entertainment coupled with skilled prose...take it to the beach or the lake or Central Park!!!

Rating:
Summary: Great read, but not the best in the Doc Ford Series
Review: Here's the skinny on Randy Wayne White's "Everglades" (at least my version <G>).

First, I'm a huge fan of the Doc Ford series, and Everglades (the latest) is the tenth in the series and I've read all of 'em.

I rated this book only four stars. As far as I'm concerned, all of the Doc Ford books by author Randy Wayne White are great, but some are 5 stars (darn near perfectly entertaining stories) and some not "quite as perfect", if that makes sense.

Why is this one only worth four stars? The plot of crazed cultists, a MOSSAD trained security agent, manmade earthquakes to fulfill prophecy, all equate to a tale less riveting than other scripts in the series. I found the victim, an old childhood friend of Doc Ford who also appeared in "The Man Who Invented Florida" hard to warm up to this time round.

If you're a fan of author Randy Wayne White, by all means buy this book! But if you've never read ANY of the Doc Ford series, I'd highly recommend you read these in the series first. My favorites in the Doc Ford series, are, (drum roll, please):

(5 stars)
Captiva
Twelve Mile Limit
Shark River
The Heat Islands
Ten Thousand Islands
Sanibal Flats (the first in the series)

The following are the 4 stars in the series--great stories, but I wouldn't recommend them as a first read of the author:

Everglades
The Man Who Invented Florida (a bit different from the rest of the series--Doc Ford isn't as prominent in the tale as his uncle, Tucker Gatrell, but this also is the funniest in the Doc Ford series)
North of Havana
The Mangrove Coast

Rating:
Summary: Everglades a nice return to a series I had abandoned
Review: I have been a fan of Randy Wayne White since I first read his columns in Outside magazine. I loved the early books in the Doc Ford series, but felt that they took a dark and offensively misogynist turn somewhere around North of Havana. I stopped reading them after The Mangrove Coast. I joked to a friend that the author must be going through a nasty divorce or something, because he seemed to have a compelling need to torture, maim, and/or kill every female character in his books. However, a friend who shared my love of the early books and has continued to read the subsequent books, gave me a copy of Everglades, saying that she thought I would like this one. She was right. I did like it. And I especially appreciated that the main female character didn't die, or lose a limb, or become permanently disfigured. I liked it enough that I'm going to give the author's latest book, Tampa Burns, a try.

Rating:
Summary: Doc Ford Rebuilt
Review: Just as Doc goes through the process of recovery from failures in the previous adventure (Twelve Mile Limit) so the author seems in the process of recovering his hero. As the novel progresses, Doc has a growing awareness of his physical limitations and the effects of depression. Gradually he works his way through these problems while solving a mystery in familiar surroundings. This novel is built around the use of a cult as a front for development in the everglades, including but not limited to casino gambling. Doc Ford gets back to his roots in the sea of grass with a childhood friend whose husband has disappeared, the offspring of Tucker Gatrell's sidekick, Joe Egret, and old pal Tomlinson, whose undergraduate musings on an acid influenced philosophy paper have been posted and become an internet phenomenon.

White too has trimmed down. He plays his strong characters and has eliminated much of the annoying "black helicopter" paranoia of his recent novels. While there is still a lot of violence, but perhaps not as abrasive as in Twelve Mile Limit. I do, however, hope that the coda of a Nicaragua trip might come to an end here. As usual White could probably cut some of the repetition, but sometimes his pictures are right on, as in his account of the disorientating effect of airboats or the case of a fine description of the buzzard trees along the old Tamiami Trail. All in all, it's a good three day read.

Rating:
Summary: The Green Flash
Review: Many years ago, John D MacDonald introduced me to the green flash. I've now seen it, if only on the cover of this book. The author's photo glows with the green light at sunset and his book echoes strongly with the convictions first aired by MacDonald. A little too much editorializing, but still a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A unique Eveerglades mystery.
Review: Randy Wayne White's "Everglades" is an intriguing ride from start to finish.

Sanibel marine biologist Doc Ford (whose clandestine past involved covert government spook ops) is recovering from recent tribulations. He is both depressed and out of shape---and attempting to come to terms with his violent former life.

Nevertheless he remains the avenger to those who hurt his friends.

Former flame, Sally Carmel, shows up asking Doc's help. She does not buy the report of her husband's boating death.

Her husband was the moneyed partner with Bhagwan Shiva, the head of a crooked religious cult whose cash flow is in jeopardy.

The cult is an eco-terrorist front for developing casinos and condos in the Everglades. To get the support of the Seminoles, Shiva must convince them he possesses mystical powers.

With his venomous henchman Izzy, Shiva orchestrates an earthquake in the Everglades to demonstrate his powers.

While Doc, his best friend Tomlinson and an ex-cop turned PI team up to expose Shiva's conspiracy before the Seminoles are duped, Izzy kidnaps Sally, adding a ticking clock subplot.

Colorful characters, richly atmospheric (you will find yourself swatting the imaginary mosquito), great story telling and the possibility of permanent romance for Doc Ford make this an excellent addition to the Doc Ford saga.

"Everglades. This is the real Magic Kingdom."

Rating:
Summary: a great summer read
Review: Randy Wayne White's latest Doc Ford novel is equal parts psychological thriller, south Florida tarvelogue, and action novella. The perfect summer read. In Everglades, Doc Ford wrestles with his personal failures while finding an old friend in trouble with a New Age spiritualist. The story soon involves Ford's deep-thinking (and heavily spaced out) friend Tomlinson, who has had encounters of his own with the villian.

White is really maturing as a writer, as this book demonstrates. His characters have a greater degree of depth, and his narrative flows between sequences flawlessly. Of course, as one would expect from a RWW novel, he has much to say about his beloved south Florida and life in general as he does about the story line. A strength of this book is that these points only ehance the plot rather than detract from it. The only sticky point about the book is that the nature of the sub-plot requires readers to have read at least the previous book, Twelve Mile Limit in order to clearly understand whats going on. Nonetheless, a recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: a great summer read
Review: Randy Wayne White's latest Doc Ford novel is equal parts psychological thriller, south Florida tarvelogue, and action novella. The perfect summer read. In Everglades, Doc Ford wrestles with his personal failures while finding an old friend in trouble with a New Age spiritualist. The story soon involves Ford's deep-thinking (and heavily spaced out) friend Tomlinson, who has had encounters of his own with the villian.

White is really maturing as a writer, as this book demonstrates. His characters have a greater degree of depth, and his narrative flows between sequences flawlessly. Of course, as one would expect from a RWW novel, he has much to say about his beloved south Florida and life in general as he does about the story line. A strength of this book is that these points only ehance the plot rather than detract from it. The only sticky point about the book is that the nature of the sub-plot requires readers to have read at least the previous book, Twelve Mile Limit in order to clearly understand whats going on. Nonetheless, a recommended read.