Hunter's Moon

Randy Wayne White

Doc Ford and his friend Tomlinson are approached by ex-president Kal Wilson. Wilson's wife recently died in a plane crash in Nicaragua. Wilson is sure everyone on the plane was murder and he wants them to help him avenge all their deaths. Wilson has little to lose and much to gain in his quest. Wilson contacts Doc because Doc saved his life in Columbia years earlier. He claims he had access to information about Doc's past that Doc denies. Wilson promises to have those records sent to Doc for destruction. He offers a similar deal to Tomlinson, promising to clear Tomlinson's name from a bombing many years earlier.

To complicate matters, the psychotic pyromaniac Lourdes from Tampa Burn has been in contact with Doc's son. Doc is concerned that Lake will let himself be drawn back in by the psychopath. Before he heads to Nicaragua. and Panama, he sends a message to Lake to warn him about Lourdes.

Then Wilson, Doc, and Tomlinson fly in under the radar to find who caused the plane crash before the ex-president gives a major speech at a national ceremony in Panama. Wilson has some surprises for Doc before he finally walks off the stage after the inspiring speech.

This newest novel in Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series uses the current religious world climate as the backdrop to Kal Wilson's idealism. This is political suspense pulled from the headlines of the 21st century. It gets gruesome in some of the violence and aftermath scenes. Tomlinson's role alters some in this book with an interesting twist for his life revealed by the end.

Hunter's Moon is fast-paced, dragging the reader along. At the same time, it's easy to skip short sections without losing continuity. I had some trouble with Wilson's character as he holds to the standards of the United States presidency yet following his own agenda as well. There are parts of the character that seem disparate, especially by the end.

If you've read the Doc Ford series, you'll like Hunter's Moon. It's not the best in the series, but keeps the characters' lives building as well as making a statement about current global politics and conditions.

There is one amusing side story that caught my fancy. Both Doc and Tomlinson have to give up their cell phones for a while. When both wanted to separately make a phone call, neither could because neither had the phone numbers memorized. They were programmed in the cell phone, not in their heads. I can empathize completely with that. My brother's number is "2", my mother is "3", and my sister is "4". Let's hope I don't lose my cell phone.

Sanibel Flats
The Heat Islands
The Man Who Invented Florida
Captiva
North of Havana
The Mangrove Coast
Ten Thousand Islands
Shark River
Twelve Mile Limit
Everglades
Tampa Burn
Dead of Night
Dark Light
Hunter's Moon
Black Widow
Dead Silence
Night Vision
Chasing Midnight