Tampa Burn by Randy Wayne White

 

"In the human brain is a tiny region called the 'amygdala,' a section of cerebral matter so ancient that scientists refer to it as our 'lizard brain,' or 'reptilian core.' It's here, in this ancient, isolated cellular place, that the killer that is in us all resides. It is from here that a million years of genetic memory encodes us with a horror of spiders, snakes, and tight, black places that might rob the air from our land-breathing lungs. Rage resides in that dark area, as well."          

               -Doc Ford, from the novel

This is the February selection for our Page Turners book club. I have read Randy Wayne White before but not in a long time. As I expected it was a page turner! 

In this installment of Doc Ford's adventures, he must take the crime VERY seriously as it involves the kidnapping of his son, whom he barely knows, the result of an affair with a woman in Central America. The abductor is Práxedes Lourdes, the vilest sort of sadist who has earned the nickname "Incendiary" or Man Burner. Need I say more?

A huge ransom is demanded of the kid's mother, Pilar Fuentes, former lover of Marion "Doc" Ford. Doc and friend Tomlinson with some help from Pilar search out the place where Prax is holding Lake, Doc and Pilar's son. The hunt takes them from Miami all the way to Tampa, the home of Tampa General Hospital, famous for its burn center---not surprisingly pointing to the book title. Later in the novel a noted plastic surgeon is kidnapped from the hospital.

Secondary characters include a nasty female boat captain; Ransom, a Bahamian "cousin" of Doc's who seems very wise and likeable; Harris Lily, a (former?) naval intelligence officer; and a tattooed giant and a clairvoyant dwarf. And I mustn't forget Doc's girlfriend, Dewey Nye, who is furious at what she views as infidelity. Sound crazy? Yep, but MOST of it makes sense. Interesting that Dewey was a tennis pro at the South Seas Plantation on Captiva Island where my husband and I vacationed years ago.

The novel was definitely hard to put down toward the end, but I found the ending confusing. Maybe someone in our book club can clue me in. I'll rate the book a 3, liked it, didn't love it. We'll see what the others think soon.

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A very large group of Page Turners attended our meeting today. I predicted we would have a fiery discussion (pun intended) and, in a sense, it was! The average rating with 19 voting was 2.8----with NO 5's and 2 1's. Most people found Tampa Burn a page turner even though there were some who found elements of the plot unbelievable, and some were confused by many characters and an unsatisfying ending. We Floridians found the settings of South and Southwest Florida interesting because of having lived in or visited some of the places mentioned. Many appreciated White's writing while some members didn't like his overuse of raw language and/or what they felt was gratuitous violence. A few attendees didn't even finish the book. Perhaps not many will look for another novel by this author.