Sanibel Flats

Randy Wayne White

Marion "Doc" Ford has retired from his secret (NSA?) government job. He has moved to Sanibel, Florida, to pursue his first choice of work. He is a marine biologist who can study sea life and has a biological supply business to supply specimens to education systems and other groups who need sea life to study. He lives on his boat in Dinkins Bay.

He has an unusual group of neighbors, including the lovely woman he sees occasionally and Tomlinson, apparently a burnt out hippie. He spends many of his evenings at local parties. He has his memories, especially of a certain Central American woman he left behind. He has settled into his new life, though, and is reasonably happy.

Then an old high school friend, Rafe Hollins, shows up. The man is in the midst of a nasty divorce and was being denied visitation rights with his son. So he kidnapped his son and left the country. But Rafe also was in some shady dealings with pre Columbian art smuggling from Central America. When he takes something a Masaguan rebel army wanted, they kidnap his son until he returns it.

Doc doesn't want to get involved. He turns Rafe down. Next time he sees Rafe, the man is hanging from a tree branch, either murdered or having committed suicide. Doc refuses to believe it was suicide. The sheriff of the local town doesn't agree. Doc finally decides he needs to return to Central American and retrieve the boy. He takes Tomlinson down in the depths of Central America with danger all around.

Sanibel Flats is the first in Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series. It sets up the characters of Doc and his friend Tomlinson. The mystery is suspenseful. Overall, though, this book is average. The series gets stronger as it progresses. White is still getting a feel of how he wants to present Doc.

Doc is too much the man's man and not very complex in this first book of the series. He definitely gets to fulfill a man's fantasy love life. He is rugged while on the hunt, yet can be softer when in his home surroundings. The end has a poignant twist to show the softer side of the tough man - still fairly typical of this type of character. Tomlinson, though,become more complex quickly. His extra skills are just what Doc needs when they travel down to Central America.

The book is readable and keep the reader's interest. If this had been the first book in the series I had read, though, I probably would not have picked up another one.

Notice:  Graphic violence, Strong indecent language, Strong sexual content

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