It wasn’t until I finished this book that I realized that the author was actually Michael Crichton using a penname in the early 1970s. I have enjoyed a few of Crichton’s novels (especially some of his earlier works), but this was very different from the works for which he has become known.

A brief, spoiler-filled summary and discussion of the book follows:

The protagonist is an American expatriate diver in Jamaica hired under odd circumstances by an insurance company officer to recover some items aboard a sunken yacht. Things start getting increasingly suspicious when the diver does a little investigating and finds that the yacht hasn’t actually sunk yet. He knows the whole thing is a set-up, but goes along with the scheme in hopes of getting the rest of his pay-off. (This is definitely one of those cases where he should have taken the retainer and walked away.) As it turns out, it’s far more than just the simple cover-up of a rich man having an affair that he initially believes it is. I actually enjoyed that he ends up getting his bacon pulled out of the fire by his sidekick, a Jamaican guy who hangs out at the local dive bar. My biggest complaint with the book is that the characterization is so thin. While the secondary characters who are briefly introduced are all entertaining, we really never learn what makes the protagonist tick. That’s fine in a straight-up thriller, but this one meanders along a bit as he continually waits for the trap he knows he’s about to fall into t be sprung.

I recommend this one as a fun, light read -- it would be perfect for a vacation read (and even better if you’re vacationing in Jamaica) -- but there is really nothing of any substance here. It’s not a “deep” book by any means, and it’s a pretty by-the-numbers piece. Had characterization, particularly of the protagonist, been stronger, this could have been much more than a pretty forgettable thriller, but in the end, it’s not all that thrilling.

Review copyright 2009 J. Andrew Byers ( )

There was something naggingly familiar about this book--only afterwards did I realize that John Lange is a pen name for Michael Crichton. The book is fast and focused with a series of setups that stretch the imagination. The resolution was a bit lacking, especially the last double-cross that was particularly weak. Crichton's penchant for research shows in this early work, as he describes life in Ocho Rios. Good for completists of Crichton or the Hard Case series. ( )

Yacht subterfuge.

A diver in Ocho Rios is hired by an insurance firm to salvage some important items from a yacht of the sunken variety.

He soon realises there is something very odd about this whole situation, and ends up up to his neck in alligators, hammerhead sharks, ocelots, and more.

The odd speargun and trusted violent friend will certainly come in handy, here.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/09... ( )

Very good, quick read. Great plot/pace. Better read than Zero Cool.