"A good thriller"
Retired Navy aviator Jack Gallagher learns that his father
Nick drowned when his ship the Sea Devil topsided. Jack
has ambivalent feelings because twenty years ago Nick
deserted his family to search for sea treasure off the
Florida Keys. Though he originally planned on attending
the funeral and immediately returning to Chicago, Jack
thinks the recently changed will that provides him with ten
percent of Doubloon, Inc. is a cryptic message from his
dad. Jack decides to stay for now. Key West Tribune reporter Josie Hernandez writes stories
that imply that someone murdered Nick. At the same time
that the Florida Office of Antiquities investigates
Doubloon for tax evasion through the illegal sales of
antiquities, the company's salvage license may be revoked
by the state. As Josie and Jack make strange bedfellows,
danger mounts as the duo is assaulted. Not long after,
they close in on a special treasure with thugs wanting them
eliminated, a step-family that seems untrustworthy, a
hurricane ready to destroy the duo, and dubious bureaucrats
ready to dry-dock the pair. DOUBLOON would be another run of the mill treasure seeker
thriller except Jay Amberg has had a great time providing
insight into various seafaring processes that his
enthusiasm becomes contagious. Fans receive a taut albeit
standardized thriller but it also provides insight into
treasure diving and the state of artifacts in salt water
(think of some of monuments like the Statue of liberty or
Washington Monument needing a cleaning), etc. This is
cleverly intertwined into the plot, bit also done with such
elation that many readers will consider a vacation off the
Florida coast. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 18, 2003
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