It starts out as a fun excursion for four divers off the Florida coast. Two days later only one is found alive-naked atop a light tower in the Gulf of Mexico. What happened during those 48 hours? Doc Ford thinks he's prepared for the truth. He isn't.
Twelve Mile Limit: Doc Ford Series, Book 9
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From Publishers Weekly
Fans of the Florida Gulf Coast marine biologist Doc Ford, White's swashbuckling Travis McGee-esque hero, will applaud this ninth Ford suspense novel (after Shark River), though the literati will likely complain that White continues to fall just short of his near-mythic forerunner, genius storyteller John D. McDonald. In this latest tale, based on a real-life 1994 incident, a boat of scuba divers sinks at a dive site off of Marco Island. When a woman who works in his lab turns up among the missing, Doc jumps into the investigation (though not before he takes time out for an amiable menage-a-trois with two local sirens). The accident's apparent lone survivor, a sexy redheaded Sarasota attorney who swam four miles to the safety of a beacon buoy, confides to Doc that she saw her three companions taken aboard a foul-smelling shrimp boat. Ex-covert agent Doc calls on highly placed government pals to retrieve photos from a surveillance satellite, and the high-resolution images not only confirm the rescue but identify the boat owners as having a history of running drugs and smuggling illegal aliens. Accompanied by the dazzling survivor, Doc tracks the villains to Cartagena, Colombia, where he mounts an operation to free the divers, whom they suspect are about to be sold into prostitution. While this isn't the strongest of the Doc Ford escapades there's some sloppy plotting and gimmicky narrative twists it's plenty entertaining, and White's ironic touches will have fans shouting "encore."
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
"We like small, brave people who find small, brave ways to endure and achieve." So says Doc Ford, marine biologist, about his fellow boat people at Dinkin's Bay Marina on Sanibel Island. Ford himself is plenty brave but only wishes he was small. In fact, he's a former dirty-tricks expert for the CIA who gamely tries to live a quiet life. This time the trouble comes when one of his marina pals is lost at sea during a diving trip off the Florida's Gulf Coast. With the help of the sole survivor, Ford attempts to learn what really happened after the divers' boat went down. To get the answers he needs, Ford must return to Colombia, scene of his former CIA dirty doings. White sticks closely to formula in this series: a small, brave person gets in trouble, and Ford, reluctantly shrugging off his Clark Kent disguise, does whatever it takes to rescue the imperiled soul, realizing in the process that violence still attracts him. Formula, yes, but White enlivens it with crisp action, thoughtful reflections on human relations, and some of the best writing about the sea by anyone in or out of the crime-fiction genre. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
On the bright and blustery November afternoon when we first got word that our friend, Janet Mueller, was one of three people missing after a boating accident, I was working in the lab of my little wooden stilt house at Dinkin's Bay Marina, Sanibel Island, Florida. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
On the bright and blustery November afternoon when we first got word that our friend, Janet Mueller, was one of three people missing after a boating accident, I was working in the lab of my little wooden stilt house at Dinkin's Bay Marina, Sanibel Island, Florida. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Dr. Marion "Doc" Ford is a marine biologist who lives in a house on stilts, off the west coast of Florida, and makes a living harvesting and supplying labs and schools with ocean wildlife local to the area. However, he has a dark past, having worked as one of the "Negotiators," a shadowy organization that works for the U.S. Government. The Negotiators have a talk with people who are being unreasonable, and make them see the error of their ways. Typically, the individual involved is an international drug kingpin who won't see the error of his ways and donate all of his loot to charity, and the solution is killing him. Ford has left all of that behind because it bothered his conscience.
In this novel, a close friend and employee of Ford has been lost at sea. One of the three people on the boat with her was rescued, and provides an account of what happened, but no matter how hard the Coast Guard looks, the other three companions aren't found. When Ford is approached by the survivor, and told that there was a boat that perhaps picked up the other survivors, he uses his connections with people in the government to investigate, and dives into an adventure to rescue his friend.
I enjoyed this book, and especially enjoy the way the author makes things interesting and suspenseful without having a blazing shootout every thirty pages (though those are fun, too). Ford is almost disdainful of guns, and those who use them, but not stupid enough to walk into a gunfight carrying a knife or something. There's also a nice subplot involving an environmentalist vs. fisherman battle that sounds so real and familiar that it must either be true or based on truth. I really enjoyed this book.
By doc peterson
Format:Hardcover
Fans of Randy Wayne White will not be disappointed by Twelve Mile Limit, another of his "Doc Ford" series, although it is not his best work.
The plot revolves around the real-life mystery of a sinking of vessel over the Baja California, a 1940's wreck off the gulf coast of Florida and the disappearance of several of the tourists on board. White then weaves his familiar brand of mystery, political commentary and action in a thrilling story.
However Twelve Mile Limit is not White's best work. I was disappointed by his inclusion of a manage a tois and the somewhat familiar "drug-dealers and white slavers" in South America theme. The book would have been good - maybe better - without them. Nonetheless, it is an enjoyable and fast-paced read, made all the more riveting by the true-mystery flavor to it.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I picked up Twelve Mile Limit while vacationing on Sanibel Island, on the advise of the owner of a terrific book shop on the island. It was my first Randy Wayne White book, and I had a very hard time putting it down. Since I was on Sanibel while reading, it was wonderful to eat at a particular restaurant and then see it included in the book. A terrific beach read and fully enjoyable.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining Though Familiar
For Doc Ford fans, this is a familiar and entertaining tale. My only frustration was at the point that the plot jumped to South America and I had a flash of "same plot, different... Read more
Published on Feb 27 2003 by D. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars
Doc's Flea Market
If you like Doc Ford, you'll love this one, he is the absolute center of the novel. It includes an attractive lawyer, a disaster and rescue at sea, Dinkin's Bay parties, Coast... Read more
Published on Jan 8 2003 by Charles J. Marr
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Entry
The author has another great entry in his "Doc Ford" series,
and this one is hard to put down.
He explores a complex set of factors in putting forth this
mystery,... Read more
and this one is hard to put down.
He explores a complex set of factors in putting forth this
mystery,... Read more
Published on Sep 21 2002 by bill runyon
4.0 out of 5 stars
The places you'll go
The best Doc Ford yet, educates and inspires and the pages keep turning. A "Heart of Darkness" twist allows Ford some self-examination in the heart of the Colombian... Read more
Published on July 22 2002 by John Bowes
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointing Doc Ford
This book is a "Formula Ford" - same old plot, and I'm beginning to think that Ford is really promiscuous. Read more
Published on July 21 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Doc Ford Novel!
This latest Doc Ford novel is exceptional. It combines a lost at sea survival story with a action packed adventure in Columbia. Read more
Published on July 6 2002 by Juan K
2.0 out of 5 stars
His worst by far
... I used to love this series, but in the past few books, it's grown more outlandish, improbable and repetitive. Read more
Published on July 5 2002 by Robert I. Katz
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Outstanding Entry in the Series
Randy Wayne White returns to good form with this story from the Doc Ford series. I was somewhat disappointed by last year's Shark River and did not believe that it lived up the... Read more
Published on July 3 2002 by Norman Paperman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twelve Mile Limit
One of White's best. I hated to finish the book. Great characters and locales. The research involved in all phases of constructing this novel must have been tremendous. Read more
Published on Jun 21 2002 by Robert G. Meyer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Hit
White has hit a home run again. This one is a well researched page turner that keeps the reader interested throughout. This is the one series that I really look forward to. Read more
Published on Jun 15 2002 by Jeff Stewart
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