a novel about a guy who is a former coast gaurd commander and he has to find a couple who went overboard. this story goes in the laggoons of canada from into bellingham as well. read to see what happens. ( )

Charlie Noble is a retired Commander from the US Coast Guard Intelligence who is now earning a living as a private investigator. Charlie has been hired by the Kulshan Yacht Club to investigate the disappearance of two of the clubs members, William and Rebecca Kinsley who were last heard from when they radioed the Coast Guard with a Mayday because their sailboat was taking on water. Did they hit an rock hidden in the fog? Or did a torpedo hit them? Charlie uses his vast knowledge and resources to find out the truth. I liked this book, but it had to many technical marine terms for me. Although one of my hobbies is boating, I felt there were to many descriptions of the boats, ships, motors etc. It seemed at times to go on and on and I lost interest quickly. So after awhile, I just started skipping over those parts. Plus some of the dialogue seems a bit unnatural. Other than those two things, this is a pretty good book with an interesting storyline. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but those who can take all the information about boats/ships (or skip over it like I did) will have a good time reading Whiskey Gulf. ( )

A Mayday call is received by the Coast Guard, the boaters say that they must have hit a rock and are adrift. Suddenly all contact with the boat ends. There is also a military exercise in the area and boaters were warned to stay clear.
Charlie Noble is a maratime private investigator. He's hired by the club of which the boaters were members. They want Charlie to find out what happened.

Through many false starts Charlie is given the run around. He tries the U.S. Coast Guard, they avoid the issue, Canadian Coast Guard, the same thing.
However, he meets Maya Shimazu and investigative reporter who is writing about the missing boat.

Maya thinks she has info on the boat. She takes Charlie to where the boat went missing and they find pieces of fiberglass with explosive burn marks on the edges. Heavy fog sets in and they are startled to see a torpedo speed through the water 20 yards from their boat.

Charlie keeps at it, with friends and acquaintances, he gets the fiberglass tested and finally gets a lead to what might be happening.

There is extensive technical information given on boating and on the area and even on the history of a mountain. All of which left me wondering what was happening to the plot.

We have much shooting and near misses but somehow I didn't feel much suspense. ( )

First, this disclaimer: when my husband and I took a trip to San Diego last year, and he wanted to tour the U.S.S. Midway, I sat with a book outside and waited.

With that in mind, it's a good bet I’m not going to find a book fascinating that includes passages like this one, part of a conversation between detective Charlie Noble and his old friend Jeff:

"Let’s see. The Etheridge is a Hamilton-class High Endurance Cutter, 378 feet in length. Forty-three feet wide, weighing in close to 3,250 tons. Maybe sixty feet from the deck to the top of her aft tower, with a fifteen to eighteen-foot draft.”

Or how about this conversation between Charlie Noble and his old friend Adam:

"‘Forty-eight-foot custom steel pilothouse trawler,’ I said.

‘Fifty feet. Steel.’

‘Single diesel.’

‘Gardner 6XLB. One twenty-seven horsepower, capable of a hand-crank start.’

‘Stop, you’re killing me.’”

Oh, me too! But it’s not all about the boats. Ships. Whatever. There’s a bit of plain old dialogue as well, that’s so stilted and hackneyed, you almost want to hear about the vessel specs again. Take this exchange between Charlie and his girlfriend Kate. Kate begins:

"…I will be glad when the Etheridge leaves in about a week. Perhaps it will also be good that you’ll be away.

Why’s that?

I need some time away from the man I want, and this man who suddenly wants me, so that I can process the past in order to leave it behind.

Then I look forward to being with you again on the other side of our pasts.”

Is there a plot buried in all this? Yes, and the author sums it up himself (in the voice of Charlie Noble) in one paragraph:

"A couple in a sailboat had gone missing. Two governments [the U.S. and Canada] had covered up the truth. A foreign agent had been dispatched to find and silence them; an agent whose brother I’d killed. Raven [a Native American friend with a knack for dog whispering and drumming] and I needed to find that couple before he did. I feared that our search might also lead him to the couple.”

Evaluation: This is not very good. Sorry, Charlie. ( )