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(More customer reviews)The title refers to those vast expanses of concrete developers have produced as they've urbanized native Florida. It's only mentioned once in the book, but it sets the environmental tone for the story, and for the main character, Doc Ford.
First the good part: White is a top writer with a compact style. He knows the Florida gulf coast locale; his story and characters are consistent and believable, for the most part. This is a series novel. The anchor is Doc Ford, a marine biologist living at a small marina on Sanibel Island. He seems to be loosely patterned after Steinbeck's Ed Ricketts ("The Log From the Sea of Cortez"). Sometimes series novels get a little predictable. I didn't notice it so much here, because this is White's second in the series, and his style is never sing-song. But there were a few characters that I feel sure we'll hear from again in other novels: Dewey, Doc's casual girlfriend, a world-class tennis contender; Walda, Dewey's Romanian tennis friend; and an assortment of fishing guides who work out of the Dinkin's Bay Marina. Others I'm sure we'll never hear from again. You can tell.
The plot orbits the death of a very unpopular local marina owner. White manages to weave some romance and assorted other intrigues into the story before it's over.
Doc's biological knowledge, his keen deductive ability, and his sharp observational skills turn detective once again in this case. Doc also has the enviable ability to learn things but not mention them until just the right time. Remarkable. At first the cops don't want him involved in the investigation, but he eventually solves the case and ties up the loose ends.
Now the bad part: Doc is a formula character, appealing, but still paperback chic: ex Navy SEAL, worked for the CIA and the NSA (we believe, White also has the ability to keep secrets), quiet, soft-hearted--involved in sea anemones, fish larvae, etc. But when the chips are down, and they're down twice in this book, Doc's old killer instinct surfaces, and he turns his very dark skills against the bad guys. You can tell when he's about to do that, a strange look comes in his eyes. "Like he's, what-do-you-call-it, not all there." Have you heard all this before? What the heck, it's only fiction. I can suspend belief for the short time it takes to read this book, but I sometimes yearn for an anti-anti-hero.
Read this book by Randy Wayne White. It's good entertainment, and you won't be tempted to join the Sierra Club after you've finished.
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