This should have been titled: Ford Needlessly Gets a Bunch More People Killed Volume 17.

For whatever reason this book was all about Doc overthinking everything every millisecond of the entire book, and 85% or more of the words were related to Doc overthinking. He's figuring and surmising and remembering and deliberating and speculating and cogitating and pondering... and he's mostly wrong about Every. Single. Thing. I mean, he could have just stopped, looked around, figured out the quickest way to keep things from spiraling out of control, but nope, Ford just figured the best plan of action was to sit there figuring and then engineer a situation that repeatedly goes from bad to worse to much, much worse etc.

Towards the end of the book is this line (page 290 out of 315): "But it was something I couldn’t think about now." Huh? Why not? That's all you’ve been doing the entire book, thinking and mulling nonessential matters. The entire story takes place over 12 or 18 hours, and it didn't have to be horrible except it was because it all took place up inside Doc’s head.

The story is like one of those kids movies where the preteen juvenile delinquent outfoxes and runs circles around the adult. I lost track of how many times Ford got himself captured and killed solely because he was being a dumbass. ( )

At a reception hosted by a notorious Russian black marketeer, Doc Ford uses darkness, and his friend Tomlinson, as cover to get an underwater look at the billionaire's yacht. By the time Ford surfaces, everything has changed. Environmental extremists have taken control of the island and electronic jammers make communications with the outside world impossible. ( )

Synopsis: Harvesting caviar is a multi-billion dollar business that is slowly going belly-up. Removing the eggs kills the fish, thereby cutting off the revenue source. doc and Tomlinson snag invitations to a caviar tasting reception given by a scientist who says he has developed a strain of sturgeon that can be, metaphorically, 'milked like a cow'. Great news, except it brings together vicious business men and attracts party-crashing eco-extremists. Murder and mayhem result.
Review: The entire book covers a few hours of intense action near Captiva Island and examines the motivations of people allowing obsessions to control their actions. Fast-paced and none to subtle, the book is just shy of the fatalism that typifies John D. McDonald's later novels. ( )

I used to love these books. . I have read everyone of them over the years. But, they are not what they were. I felt like I was reading a tech manual for guerilla warfare at times. The story line jumps all over the place. And it went on and on and on. ( )

I, like other readers, felt somewhat letdown by this book. ( )