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Richard Mariner #14
Wolf Rock
The fourteenth action adventure in the Mariner series In a terrible storm in the English Channel, Richard Mariner receives a Mayday signal. Mariner's SuperCat plunges across the dangerously busy shipping lanes and most of the distressed crew are saved from the deadly shoals of Wolf Rock, though the captain has already abandoned ship and is subsequently declared missing, presumed dead. At the inquiry, Mariner is astonished to find himself being painted as the villain. Being - coincidentally - a member of the board that owned the wrecked ship, he is ultimately arrested and charged with Corporate Killing. Mariner finds he must risk his life yet again to win back both his reputation and his business.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
3 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Peter Tonkin
91 books61 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 of 1 review
February 2, 2026
The winds whirling around it gathered power and speed. Storm force became near-hurricane in an instant. And it all pounced eastward past the Fastnet Rock with most unnerving speed, coming in across the Western Approaches as though set on destroying them all at once…
After a hesitant start and in no certain order, I am working my way through the long-running series of maritime thrillers by Peter Tonkin – featuring husband-and-wife sea captains Richard and Robin Mariner. Wolf Rock is my 7th and has the added bonus for this armchair “yachtie” to showcase Aussie skipper Doc Weary – veteran of several Sydney-Hobarts and Fastnet races – though yet to win either.
“Doc” is in Southampton for the latest challenge when, while crewing aboard the Mariners’ supercat car ferry “Lionhart” during its sea trials, the ship intercepts a mayday call from a 4-masted training vessel floundering in heavy seas off Wolf Rock, in the channel betwixt the English Coast and the Scillies, a storm surging through the Western Approaches of the Atlantic.
From the dramatic edge-of-your-seat rescue, Richard is embroiled in another roller-coaster – this at the Old Bailey. (Pause here: I am not enamoured of courtroom dramas and slippery prosecution lawyers, so I let a lot of this drift over me – aside from the odd murder and arson attack behind the scenes to catch my interest).
As a nominated board member of the charity owning the training ship, Richard is charged with negligence in safety, causing the deaths of several of the ship’s officers, missing presumed dead – set to destroy his reputation and ruin the family. And who benefits from that?
Which brings us to vested interests and back to the Fastnet Race. Here Richard is pitted against an old adversary. In stormy seas, a gamble with the highest stakes and coolest nerve, sees tactics which (when I lived in New Zealand) was termed “underarm yachting”. Loved it.
After a hesitant start and in no certain order, I am working my way through the long-running series of maritime thrillers by Peter Tonkin – featuring husband-and-wife sea captains Richard and Robin Mariner. Wolf Rock is my 7th and has the added bonus for this armchair “yachtie” to showcase Aussie skipper Doc Weary – veteran of several Sydney-Hobarts and Fastnet races – though yet to win either.
“Doc” is in Southampton for the latest challenge when, while crewing aboard the Mariners’ supercat car ferry “Lionhart” during its sea trials, the ship intercepts a mayday call from a 4-masted training vessel floundering in heavy seas off Wolf Rock, in the channel betwixt the English Coast and the Scillies, a storm surging through the Western Approaches of the Atlantic.
From the dramatic edge-of-your-seat rescue, Richard is embroiled in another roller-coaster – this at the Old Bailey. (Pause here: I am not enamoured of courtroom dramas and slippery prosecution lawyers, so I let a lot of this drift over me – aside from the odd murder and arson attack behind the scenes to catch my interest).
As a nominated board member of the charity owning the training ship, Richard is charged with negligence in safety, causing the deaths of several of the ship’s officers, missing presumed dead – set to destroy his reputation and ruin the family. And who benefits from that?
Which brings us to vested interests and back to the Fastnet Race. Here Richard is pitted against an old adversary. In stormy seas, a gamble with the highest stakes and coolest nerve, sees tactics which (when I lived in New Zealand) was termed “underarm yachting”. Loved it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review