New
AcquisitionsDeath Roll; Sam Llewellyn; House of Stratus; paperback edition, 2000; 0-7551-0004-2; £6.99; CA 15848
The narrator, Martin Devereux,, is "among the top sixteen match racers in the world" and his tough competitive sailing takes him to shark-infested waters off Australia, to the Solent and along the coast of Spain, where he survives Storm Force 10 off Vigo on his way to the Mediterrenean. Evocation of place and action are excellent.
But there is a tougher world out there as well. The good old-fashioned boatyard in SE England, among the mudflats with oyster-catchers and cormorants, has valuable development potential and becomes the target of a bunch of financial scoundrels who are ruthless, treacherous and murderous. Devereux becomes deeply involved and investigates the series of "accidents" that mysteriously result in deaths or unexplained sinkings. The climax of this fast-moving tense story takes place among the Margate Sands. Do the villains drown? Will Devereux find happiness with the beautiful, enigmatic Helen?
The novel was first published in 1989. Navigational technology is pre-GPS;. In the Storm Force 10 off Vigo, in a severely-damaged and leaking sailing boat, Devereux uses Decca to reach Bayona through the off-lying islands with rocks awash. On three cruises in pre-GPS days I found Decca positions in this area to be either unobtainable or dangerously inaccurate. But, as his enemies maintain, Devereux is always a "Lucky Anglo-Irish bastard". - MWE
Page prepared 14 May 2001
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