annieb123's Review of One Deadly Eye

by Randy Wayne White

From New York Times bestselling author Randy Wayne White, after the deadliest hurricane to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast in a century, Doc Ford must stop a gang of thieves—and worse—during the twelve hours of chaos that follow the passing of a storm’s eye.

A Russian diplomat disappears while Doc is tagging great white sharks in South Africa, and members of a criminal brotherhood, Bratva, don’t think it’s a coincidence. They track the biologist to Dinkin’s Bay Marina on the west coast of Florida, where Brotherhood mercenaries have already deployed, prepared to pillage and kill in the wake of an approaching hurricane.

No one, however, is prepared for a cataclysmic event that will forever change the island and leaves Doc to deal with escapees from Russia’s most dangerous prison, including a serial killer—the Vulture Monk—who has a taste for blood. His only ally is an enigmatic British inventor whose decision to ride out the storm might have more to do with revenge than protecting a priceless art collection.

Doc has a lot at stake—the lives of his fiancée, Hannah Smith, and their son, plus the fate of his hipster pal, Tomlinson, whose sailboat has disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico. The greatest threat of all, though, is a force that cannot be escaped—a Category Five hurricane that, minute by minute, melds sins of the past with Florida's precarious future.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

One Deadly Eye is the 27th (!!!) Doc Ford adventure thriller by Randy Wayne White. Released 4th June 2024 by Harlequin on their Hanover Square Press imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a very very well written thriller with an impressively palpable sense of dread throughout which the author ratchets up to a white-knuckle crescendo. The threats of a huge hurricane hitting his home area alongside trying to protect his family and friends from a vicious gang of paramilitary killers has Doc pressed to the limit.

Apart from saving his corner of the world from Eastern European thugs and assassins, he's got loads of personal troubles explaining to his fiance Hannah that he might just be a fixer and spy and *not* just a mild-mannered ecology minded professor of biology.

It's very well researched and the author does a fantastic job of scenery and settings, with hair-raising descriptions of the wildness and brutality of a raging hurricane.

Four and a half stars. This would be a good choice for fans of mystery thrillers, for public library acquisition, or for a binge/buddy read. Very high quality fiction.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

29 June, 2024: Started reading

29 June, 2024: Finished reading

29 June, 2024: Reviewed