Dead of Night (Doc Ford Series #12) by Randy Wayne White

From the Publisher

Later, my conscience would play the inevitable game of "What if . . ." What if I had stopped by Jobe's home on Friday morning instead of Sunday night? What if I hadn't interrupted the two people who were alternately interrogating and beating him? Would he have lived? Or would he have died? And what would have happened then?

It started when Doc Ford got the call from his old friend Frieda Matthews - her reclusive biologist brother Jobe wasn't answering the phone. Could Doc check on him? Ford can't think of a reason not to, but soon he will think of a hundred. Not only will it be one of the worst scenes he has ever encountered, but the consequences of that visit will draw him into the heart of a nightmare. A catastrophe is coming to Florida, and just maybe there is something Ford can do about it - but he doesn't know how or where or when . . . or even if he is already too late.

Filled with the remarkable prose and rich atmosphere that have won White so many fans, and featuring some of the best suspense characters in fiction, Dead of Night is White's biggest thriller yet - "like strapping yourself onto the exposed bow of a South Florida airboat" (The Miami Herald).

Publishers Weekly

The past 11 adventures featuring Marion "Doc" Ford have found the marine biologist/ex-black ops specialist placed in more than his fair share of dangerous situations, and this entry is no exception. When old friend Frieda Matthews asks Ford to visit her eccentric brother, he reluctantly agrees-and soon finds himself wrapped up in an insidious real estate scam with bioterrorism at its core. Having narrated two previous Doc Ford audiobooks, Hill possesses an excellent grasp of White's prose and his diverse cast of characters. He supplies Doc with an appropriately earnest, world-weary voice and nicely captures the heavy Russian accent of the sadistic assassin, Dasha. His pi ce de r sistance, however, is his portrayal of Ford's burned-out hipster sidekick, Tomlinson. A quintessential non-materialistic/antiestablishment throwback to the '60s who finds himself incredibly wealthy, Tomlinson is the one source of levity in this dark thriller, and Hill delivers his confused musings with the finesse of a professional comedian. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 28). (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

This time out, Doc Ford must cope with a wicked plot to kill off practically everybody. Marion "Doc" Ford, the marine biologist with the brain of a nerd and the heart of Rambo, begins his 12th (Tampa Burn, 2004, etc.) reluctantly. Frieda Matthews, a friend of long standing, asks Doc to check on her "identical twin" brother, reclusive world-class biologist Jobe Applebee, who's been even more reclusive than usual. To Doc, the invasion of another's privacy amounts to venial sin, yet Frieda has never been one to fret over nothing. So Doc checks-too late, as it turns out. Bad guys have gotten at poor Jobe in indescribable ways. Wherefore? Since Jobe can't tell him-and soon Frieda can't either-Doc must begin his investigation from square one. Almost at once he learns disquieting truths about the life cycle of the Guinea worm and the terrible things that can happen when parasites are pressed to serve as weapons of mass destruction. Are fanatical ecoterrorists at work here? Or something older, like a murderously greedy wolf in another wolf's clothing?Not much story, but Doc's fans are used to that. What might bother a few, though, is a certain lack of engagement, as if even Doc can't take the goings-on all that seriously. First printing of 75,000; author tour

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