A Deadly Silver Sea (Zack Chasteen Series) » (First Edition)

Bob Morris, a former newspaper columnist and magazine editor, contributes to a number of publications and teaches writing at Rollins College and the University of Central Florida. He lives in Winter Park, Florida.

From the Edgar-nominated, bestselling author comes the explosive tale of a cruise gone horribly wrong...

The world’s most exclusive cruise ship, The Royal Star, has just set sail from Miami on its inaugural voyage. For the hundred or so well-heeled passengers, including Zack Chasteen and his wife, the itinerary is a secret and the week ahead promises to be the ultimate tropical sojourn…

“Cruise A Deadly Silver Sea for the time of your life.”—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

But just an hour out of port, gunmen take over the Royal Star, killing most of the officers and sequestering passengers throughout the ship. Not only is Zack separated from his wife, he has another worry: She is eight months pregnant, and could go into labor at any moment…

“A rip-roaring mystery…a swashbuckling adventure.”—Miami Herald

As Zack and his fellow captives struggle to get an upper hand, the hijackers offer few clues to their motives. Maybe it’s a simple kidnap/extortion plot. Or maybe they’re bent on more devious ends—using the Royal Star as a giant torpedo to blow up another cruise ship. Either way, Zack must figure out a way to stop them—while keeping himself, and his family, alive.

“A treat for series fans, and also for newcomers who like a mix of suspense and blackish comedy.”—Booklist

Publishers Weekly

A luxury cruise runs afoul of a terrorist plot in the less than stellar fourth entry in Morris's Edgar-nominated series featuring jack-of-all-trades Zack Chasteen (after Bermuda Schwartz). Chasteen, a former pro football player and ex-con who now runs a Florida palm tree nursery, and his eight-month pregnant significant other, travel magazine owner Barbara Pickering, are among the high-class crowd aboard the Royal Star, making its inaugural voyage to an unknown destination. Soon after the ship leaves Miami, gunmen mow down most of the crew, then separate the men and the women. Chasteen rallies his colleagues to fight back, but ends up overboard, where he draws on his Boy Scout training to survive. Morris ratchets up the tension by having Barbara go into labor amid the gunfire and explosions. Hollywood films like Speed 2 have effectively used analogous story lines, but Morris fails to replicate their tension and pacing.(Dec.)

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