I didn't care much for this book in the Doc Ford series. Right from the outset Ford was off, Tomlinson was off, Sally was off, the new random character DeAntoni was a struggle to make sense of him, the Swami and his crew were just paper cutouts. About the only part of this book I found even remotely interesting was the bits about what it takes for a Native American tribe to be recognized by the US government as a tribe, a legal entity. But the Everglades parts weren't all that interesting, the over-development and destruction of Florida and the Everglades was boring, the Tribe of Egret Seminoles, Inc. was ho-hum. The whole story I found pretty flat and it took me forever to plow through it.

Too bad it didn't incorporate the Kalevala and Lemminkäinen Temple and hoard, or some other fantastical story instead of the relative pedestrian TV evangelist and / or everyday, run of the mill megachurch slimeball figure. Randy Wayne White knows how to wrap things and put the finishing touches in place so the ending was good, but far, far, far too much of the book was Ford being mindless... "mushin"... that's a Japanese word. ( )

another "lucky you" if you have not read the series ( )

From Publishers Weekly
This 10th novel in the series featuring ex-CIA spook turned marine biologist Doc Ford (Twelve Mile Limit, etc.), finds Doc wallowing deep in his own doldrums. Out of shape, overweight, depressed and drinking heavily to escape from his turbulent past, Doc gets a surprise visit from Sally Minster, a former lover, whose real estate developer hubby, Geoff, is reported to have been drowned in a boating accident off Bimini six months ago. Soon to inherit his estate, Sally is being followed by an insurance investigator who may have evidence her husband is still alive. Accompanied by his hippie Zen master pal, Sighurdhr Tomlinson, Doc follows the insurance investigator deep into the Everglades, where Geoff turns out to have been in cahoots with a phony guru, Bhagwan Shiva, founder of the International Church of Ashram Meditation Inc. Geoff helped him build one of his new "theme" ashrams to attract rich South Floridians and jet setters, destroying precious Everglades forest in the process. The Bhagwan and his henchman, Izzy Kline, a Mossad-trained former Israeli soldier, are plotting to engineer a series of explosions, enacting the mythic Seminole Chief Tecumseh's earthquake prophecy of 1811. Free-love religious cults, ecological destruction, murder and kidnapping propel Doc and his band of quirky Florida Gulf Coast beach denizens on a dizzying airboat race across the Everglades, where Doc battles his own demons when he's not battling a real live bull shark. The busy plot gets a bit ragged in places, but while it's not White's career best, this satisfying, madcap fare could well go seismic on the regional bestseller lists.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Doc Ford, marine biologist and sometime intelligence agent, is wallowing in depression, drinking too much, not exercising, and doing too much thinking. Then Sally Minster, an old friend comes to him for help; her husband has disappeared, and she refuses to believe he's dead. Thus begins a tale of cult religion, real estate schemes, and murder in the Florida Everglades. Dick Hill's staccato rhythm and tempo give great advantage to the story's action scenes. Using distinguishing voices that are easy to identify, he portrays a spectrum of characters and delivers sighs, laughter, and other emotions naturally. While there are many long introspective passages that Hill could have read more smoothly--his delivery works much better with the dialogue--all in all this is a good performance. S.S.R. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.