Tears of Dark Water by Corban Addison Review

 

Tears of Dark Water by Corban Addison

 

I was really pleased with this book. The author was very good at building the plot, to the point where, about halfway through, I thought the story was coming to an end but there was still half a book to go. I couldn’t imagine how he was going to fill all those extra pages, but he did. And he did it well! Daniel Parker and his son, Quentin are taking a trip around the world in his sailboat- taking the time to rediscover each other and reflect on

problems at home that are taking them to places they don’t want to go. They keep in close contact with David’s wife, Vanessa on their trip, hoping that she will join them at some point in the trip but so far she hasn’t been willing to do so. As they sail the waters of the Indian Ocean, warnings go out that there has been an unsuccessful attempt to pirate a ship ahead of them. The son asks his father if they should cut their trip short and make for land to be on the safe side. Daniel ponders this and then decides that they should not be victimized by the possible threat, but they should continue on their trip- hoping against hope that Vanessa will join them when they reach South Africa.

From the other side, we meet Ismael, a Somali pirate who is onboard one of 3 boats trying to overtake a ship and hold it and its crew hostage for a ransom. Not being able to contact the other boat, Ismael and the men on his boat quickly retreat and try to decide what to do next. The financiers of the pirate crew will want to know why they didn’t succeed and it could cost them their lives if they don’t bring back a reward worth sending them out for. It is then that they decide to find a new target and Daniel’s sailboat provides just the thing.

From here the story moves back and forth from the pirates to the Parkers to Vanessa, who is anxiously trying to raise the money needed to secure her husband and her son’s lives, while, on board an American military ship, hostage negotiators work to bring the ordeal to a successful end and get the Parkers home safely.

The book kept a good pace, used a lot of descriptive language that would impress any hostage negotiator or sailor, and made me feel empathy towards the Parker family and all they had to deal with. I would recommend this book in a heartbeat- very well written!