sjkuzma's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
swashington's review against another edition
4.0
Love White's books - this one will give me nightmares!
skinnypenguin's review
4.0
Interesting scenario. Some Cubans kidnap a kid and want to trade him for documents that had been in Castro's secret files. They had planned to kidnap a female Senator but that was foiled by Doc Ford. Doc then goes on to try and find the boy. Tomlinson is also involved and the past rears up when there is info that suggests members of his family are somehow involved. The Cubans are quite brutal killers and torturers. A British agent and US agent are also involved and the story goes from New York to Florida.
Doc also finishes off a brutal serial rapist and killer and the police are investigating and trying to pin it on him.
Doc also finishes off a brutal serial rapist and killer and the police are investigating and trying to pin it on him.
vkemp's review
4.0
Tomlinson and Doc Ford are always entertaining. This time their wits are matched by Will, rodeo rider and juvenile delinquent.
brettt's review
1.0
Dead Silence is the 16th "Doc Ford" novel by Randy Wayne White. Ford is a marine biologist who also happens to be a sometimes-retired secret agent. He lives in South Florida and consults with a number of clients in both of his fields of expertise. Several oddball characters populate the area and circulate in and out of the Doc Ford novels, including his hippie stoner pal with a mysterious past, Tomlinson, and that past plays a role in Dead Silence.
While visiting a lady friend who happens to be a U.S. Senator, Ford foils an attempt to kidnap her. Unfortunately, the kidnappers get the teenage essay contest winner who the Senator was showing around New York City on his prize tour, and she enslists Doc's aid to find the boy before time runs out. Although the series has a big following and Doc's had some entertaining adventures, Dead Silence is a big sprawling mess, mashed together like a series of writing exercises someone's tried to craft into a novel using tacked-on transitions. The story hangs on a baker's dozen of coincidences, each individually less plausible than a royal flush deal from Doc Holliday. Together they add up to a tale even more unlikely than surviving a negative performance review from Darth Vader. As sauce, White throws in a couple of ugly -- and in one case, completely irrelevant -- murders.
Original available here.
While visiting a lady friend who happens to be a U.S. Senator, Ford foils an attempt to kidnap her. Unfortunately, the kidnappers get the teenage essay contest winner who the Senator was showing around New York City on his prize tour, and she enslists Doc's aid to find the boy before time runs out. Although the series has a big following and Doc's had some entertaining adventures, Dead Silence is a big sprawling mess, mashed together like a series of writing exercises someone's tried to craft into a novel using tacked-on transitions. The story hangs on a baker's dozen of coincidences, each individually less plausible than a royal flush deal from Doc Holliday. Together they add up to a tale even more unlikely than surviving a negative performance review from Darth Vader. As sauce, White throws in a couple of ugly -- and in one case, completely irrelevant -- murders.
Original available here.
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