Part of Doc Ford, book 17
First published 2010
Doc Ford surfaces from a collapsed underwater cave in a remote Florida lake, leaving two friends trapped below. Armed men wait on the shore. These killers and former convicts force Ford into their scheme to recover Cuban treasury gold from a legendary plane wreck at the lake's bottom. They need his diving skills. Ford's choice is simple: help them or watch his friends die. The criminals make their threat immediate. Ford can refuse and die himself, or his trapped companions can suffocate right now in the collapsed cave. Time runs out as two life and death battles happen at once. Above the surface, Ford fights the criminals controlling his fate. Below, his friends struggle against drowning in the cave's debris. Ford must find a way to save his friends while surviving the gold hunters who see human life as disposable. The lake holds more than sunken treasure. It becomes a trap where Ford faces killers who will murder anyone standing between them and their prize.
Genres: adventure, mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, high-stakes, suspenseful
Tropes: forced-cooperation, life-or-death
Setting: Florida, Cuba
353 pages · Hardcover · G. P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence