ARA Review by mtnlvr71 of Adrift
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ARA Review by mtnlvr71 of Adrift
Adrift by Charlie Sheldon
Four stars out of five.
In the tradition of all good disaster movies, the novel, Adrift, by Charlie Sheldon opens with the scene of a calamity at sea. It is a dark, stormy night and a container ship, the Seattle Express, has caught fire. We are treated to a graphic description of desperate attempts to locate and fight the fire as monster waves crash over the deck, driving rain falls in sheets and raging winds fan the flames.
It isn’t long until the captain has no choice but to declare an “abandon ship.” The twenty souls aboard divide into two lifeboats. What follows is no simple launch, as there is no guarantee the lifeboats will be cast-off without being crushed against the rolling steel flank of the seven-hundred-foot vessel.
Author Sheldon’s dramatic writing style continues with terrifying scenes within the lifeboats, so striking that one wonders if Mr. Sheldon had actually ever been shipwrecked, himself.
Soon the novel settles down into a less fearsome writing style in which the point-of-view changes, chapter by chapter among at least a half dozen main characters, each with some connection to the ship or the people involved in either the disaster or the rescue attempts to follow and each with unrelated life problems of their own.
I hesitate to criticize a good book but will offer this explanation as to why I gave four, not five stars. In my humble opinion, some of these side-stories, while interesting and well-written, did not add to the book and could have been omitted or shortened, thus tightening the story and keeping focus on the drama.
At this point, I became somewhat lost as to who was who and what was what. Could that be my fault? Was I paying attention? At times I thought I may have missed or forgotten something. Nevertheless, rather than going back and trying to figure it out, I plowed on. Soon I was able to make the connections, as the chapters returned again and again to each one of the same six, picking up their personal stories.
The novel takes place in the Pacific Northwest, the Olympic National Park, the Queen Charlotte Islands and the dangerous nearby waters. Some of the side-issues have to do with the Native American tribal disputes, culture and practices. Some of this was quite interesting, for example the scene in the sweat lodge. Other parts were somewhat hard to follow as mentioned above.
After “The End” the author’s biography offered the explanation of my confusion. For, in it I learned that Adrift is the second novel in the Strong Heart Series, following the opening novel, Strong Heart. I had, indeed, missed something. There may be a brief prelude, or backstory, printed elsewhere what wasn’t shown in my version of the book. Also, since it is a series, perhaps the author has plans to continue future novels which pick up and magnify the minor characters in Adrift.
A great deal of the action takes place in perfectly awful December weather, which the author describes masterfully. Indeed, I became so engrossed in his vivid accounts that I finished the book in front of the fireplace wrapped in a cozy blanket.
***
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