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Richard Mariner #29
Mariner's Ark: A Richard Mariner Nautical Adventure
Mother Nature declares war on the West Coast in this "terrifying, suspenseful, and vividly told" action "A must for high-seas-adventure fans" ( Booklist ).Richard and Robin Mariner are in Long Beach, California, overseeing the arrival of their container ship, Sulu Queen . From there, the adventuresome couple plan to join their friend Nic aboard his fifty-million-dollar motor yacht as he races his daughter in an Olympic-standard Katapult multihull down the coast to Mexico.But when a catastrophic once-in-a-thousand-years megastorm known as an ARkStorm overwhelms them, Richard and Robin are forced to turn the S ulu Queen into a real Noah's ark. Richard must guide her into the deadliest weather the Pacific has ever seen as he fights to save those closest to him--as well as countless other lives." Readers who batten down the hatches and keep the Dramamine handy should enjoy the rough but rewarding ride." -- Publishers Weekly on Thunder Bay"Tense, action-packed and authentic-feeling, especially in its welcome attention to maritime detail." -- Kirkus Reviews on Deadly Impact
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2015
4 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Peter Tonkin
92 books62 followersPeter Tonkin's first novel, KILLER, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.
More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."
More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 31, 2022
Sulu Queen fell off the top of a big sea like a base jumper diving off a cliff. She corkscrewed, seeming to go through all of the six degrees of freedoms as she pitched, rolled, yawed, plunged, heaved, swayed and surged.
I am impressed by the amount of action and suspense author Peter Tonkin can fit in, in a little over 200 pages, when many thriller writers take twice that length to deliver less. In this, #29 in the Nautical Adventure series, four vessels are involved – five if you include the opulent luxury of the Queen Mary, now a floating hotel berthed at Long Island, LA – six if you include the airship/dirigible Dragon Dream.
Husband and wife sea captains, Richard and Robin Mariner are in LA when the Sulu Queen, one of the Mariner Heritage vessels with its Chinese crew inbound from Hong Kong, docks with its cargo of containers, for a scheduled unload/reload turnaround. But the docks are at gridlock: heeding a warning from NOAA/USGS that an ARkStorm of biblical proportions is headed their way, the governor has put the Californian National Guard on full alert - at odds with the view of an LA taxi driver. (I liked that bit).
The other vessels are the luxury yacht owned by Mariner’s business partner, billionaire Nic Greenbaum, and the Olympic racing yacht, Katapult8, its sail the size of a jumbo jet wing, with its female crew, captained by Greenbaum’s daughter, Liberty, set to make speed trials south from LA to Puerto Banderas, Mexico, while from there, an aging fishing vessel heads north-west to the fishing grounds off Baja California, its captain and crew desperate to fill the holds to feed their families and stave off the loan sharks. Thus the symbols of wealth, prestige and poverty are set to converge, during one of the biggest storm events of the century. What could possibly go wrong?
Aside from the dramas unfolding at sea, the reader is taken by daunting helicopter flight along the coastline, to witness the destruction on land where the storm front meets the Sierra Madre at 10,000 feet, dry arroyos turned into churning torrents, tearing through bridges, exposing the folly of building lavishly in fragile areas, flotsam from the towns and cities forming a tidal reef offshore. By the end, I felt as battered and drenched as the characters themselves.
Verdict: gifted writing.
I am impressed by the amount of action and suspense author Peter Tonkin can fit in, in a little over 200 pages, when many thriller writers take twice that length to deliver less. In this, #29 in the Nautical Adventure series, four vessels are involved – five if you include the opulent luxury of the Queen Mary, now a floating hotel berthed at Long Island, LA – six if you include the airship/dirigible Dragon Dream.
Husband and wife sea captains, Richard and Robin Mariner are in LA when the Sulu Queen, one of the Mariner Heritage vessels with its Chinese crew inbound from Hong Kong, docks with its cargo of containers, for a scheduled unload/reload turnaround. But the docks are at gridlock: heeding a warning from NOAA/USGS that an ARkStorm of biblical proportions is headed their way, the governor has put the Californian National Guard on full alert - at odds with the view of an LA taxi driver. (I liked that bit).
The other vessels are the luxury yacht owned by Mariner’s business partner, billionaire Nic Greenbaum, and the Olympic racing yacht, Katapult8, its sail the size of a jumbo jet wing, with its female crew, captained by Greenbaum’s daughter, Liberty, set to make speed trials south from LA to Puerto Banderas, Mexico, while from there, an aging fishing vessel heads north-west to the fishing grounds off Baja California, its captain and crew desperate to fill the holds to feed their families and stave off the loan sharks. Thus the symbols of wealth, prestige and poverty are set to converge, during one of the biggest storm events of the century. What could possibly go wrong?
Aside from the dramas unfolding at sea, the reader is taken by daunting helicopter flight along the coastline, to witness the destruction on land where the storm front meets the Sierra Madre at 10,000 feet, dry arroyos turned into churning torrents, tearing through bridges, exposing the folly of building lavishly in fragile areas, flotsam from the towns and cities forming a tidal reef offshore. By the end, I felt as battered and drenched as the characters themselves.
Verdict: gifted writing.
November 10, 2018
I have not read previous installments in this series. I picked this up for two reasons: 1. I'd recently read a book by a different author from the same publisher and enjoyed that one and 2. the word ark in the title reminded me of the Biblical story of Noah's ark and the back cover blurb promised a comparison.
The story was too long on set up in the beginning. It's chapter 12 or 13 before they even get out to sea. By then, I was wondering if the big storm was ever going to come. For me, the characters weren't compelling enough for me to want to keep pushing on with reading, so if I had a chance to read a book I thought I'd like better, I was quick to do that rather than picking up this one.
The story was too long on set up in the beginning. It's chapter 12 or 13 before they even get out to sea. By then, I was wondering if the big storm was ever going to come. For me, the characters weren't compelling enough for me to want to keep pushing on with reading, so if I had a chance to read a book I thought I'd like better, I was quick to do that rather than picking up this one.
April 2, 2015
“Mariner’s Ark” was published in 2015 (May) and was written by Peter Tonkin (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/p...). Mr. Tonkin is a prolific writer with 40 novels published. This is the 29th novel in his “Richard Mariner” series.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘PG’ as there are a very few instances of Mature Language. This Action Thriller novel is set off the western coast of North America. The primary characters are Richard Mariner and his wife Robin.
Richard and Robin are on the west coast to meet their California bound container ship Sulu Queen, observe close friend Nic Greenbaum’s Olympic multihull racing sailboat in action, and to take Nic’s multi-million dollar yacht down to his elaborate new home in Mexico.
The sailboat takes off towards Mexico with Nic’s daughter at the helm and with Nic’s yacht following. An epic Pacific storm, an ARKstorm, is headed towards the west coast. An accident at sea puts the yacht and all aboard her in danger.
Richard, who has flown back to California to take care of issues with his container ship, is soon headed south in the Sulu Queen hopefully to find wife Robin. His ship is also carrying much needed emergency supplies for the storm torn west coast of Mexico.
This was an enjoyable 7 hour Action Thriller read. In typical fashion, there is one disaster after another facing the characters. It did seem to end rather abruptly. I can see another chapter or two easily possible after the point where the book ended. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘PG’ as there are a very few instances of Mature Language. This Action Thriller novel is set off the western coast of North America. The primary characters are Richard Mariner and his wife Robin.
Richard and Robin are on the west coast to meet their California bound container ship Sulu Queen, observe close friend Nic Greenbaum’s Olympic multihull racing sailboat in action, and to take Nic’s multi-million dollar yacht down to his elaborate new home in Mexico.
The sailboat takes off towards Mexico with Nic’s daughter at the helm and with Nic’s yacht following. An epic Pacific storm, an ARKstorm, is headed towards the west coast. An accident at sea puts the yacht and all aboard her in danger.
Richard, who has flown back to California to take care of issues with his container ship, is soon headed south in the Sulu Queen hopefully to find wife Robin. His ship is also carrying much needed emergency supplies for the storm torn west coast of Mexico.
This was an enjoyable 7 hour Action Thriller read. In typical fashion, there is one disaster after another facing the characters. It did seem to end rather abruptly. I can see another chapter or two easily possible after the point where the book ended. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
May 1, 2015
Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get. - Mark Twain
I haven't read any of the other Mariner adventures but I didn't feel that was necessary as I read MARINER'S ARK. It's a complete story in itself.
This is quite an adventure, focusing on the overwhelming power of weather, especially winds and rain.
Richard and Robin Mariner of Heritage Mariner Shipping are in Long Beach, California when they hear a newscast by Dr. Danielle Jones of the USGS National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration division, forewarning of an ARkStorm - over 40 days of rain falling at at least an inch an hour. It's hard to envision that much water.
The Mariners with their cargo carrier Sulu Queen, and their filthy rich friends the Greenbaums with their racing boat Katapult8 and their yacht Maxima, all head to Mexico to escape the worst of the storm and to see the new resort built by Nic Greenbaum.
The power of the ocean and the power (and capriciousness) of Mother Nature are explored in this gripping adventure. Besides ships (or boats) there is a helicopter, the National Guard to the rescue, a dirigible and pages that made me seasick to read them.
The story started out a little slow but was soon moving at breakneck speed. I enjoyed the characters, the story, the dialogue but I did feel the ending was rather abrupt.
If you like tales of the high seas, of Mother Nature at her fiercest, lots of details about shipping and sailing, I recommend this thriller by author Tonkin.
NOTE: I received a free advance copy of this book from Severn House via NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.
I haven't read any of the other Mariner adventures but I didn't feel that was necessary as I read MARINER'S ARK. It's a complete story in itself.
This is quite an adventure, focusing on the overwhelming power of weather, especially winds and rain.
Richard and Robin Mariner of Heritage Mariner Shipping are in Long Beach, California when they hear a newscast by Dr. Danielle Jones of the USGS National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration division, forewarning of an ARkStorm - over 40 days of rain falling at at least an inch an hour. It's hard to envision that much water.
The Mariners with their cargo carrier Sulu Queen, and their filthy rich friends the Greenbaums with their racing boat Katapult8 and their yacht Maxima, all head to Mexico to escape the worst of the storm and to see the new resort built by Nic Greenbaum.
The power of the ocean and the power (and capriciousness) of Mother Nature are explored in this gripping adventure. Besides ships (or boats) there is a helicopter, the National Guard to the rescue, a dirigible and pages that made me seasick to read them.
The story started out a little slow but was soon moving at breakneck speed. I enjoyed the characters, the story, the dialogue but I did feel the ending was rather abrupt.
If you like tales of the high seas, of Mother Nature at her fiercest, lots of details about shipping and sailing, I recommend this thriller by author Tonkin.
NOTE: I received a free advance copy of this book from Severn House via NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.
April 29, 2015
There is a long series of Richard Mariner books however this is my first and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was. After a slow start which included unnecessary meal descriptions and other fillers, and the author started on the main subject of the storyline, things got measurably better. As an adventure story excluding the start it is full of exciting action and written in a way that makes it easy to visualise the experience. Mariner is in Long Beach with his wife when warnings are issued for an Arkstorm that would be bigger and more destructive than all the recent storms and tsunami. As he heads into the storm with emergency supplies aboard his container ship he is unsure of his wife's location or condition. Will she be safe in the luxury yacht Maxima as they go south following a high tech competition yacht?
January 23, 2015
I did enjoy this book but I felt that it was slightly slow to start but it then built up pace and I am really glad I carried on as I loved the pace when it properly got going. The characters are strong and the author tells a vivid exciting tale. I received a copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews