| Publisher | Severn House |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 04 May 2016 |
| ISBN-10 | 0727886266 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0727886262 |
| Format | hardcover |
| Pages | 224 |
| Price | £ 20.99 |
Dangerous Cargo
by
Former marine Art Marvik is roped in by the intelligence services to investigate the recent death of a man – who was supposed to have died 55 years previously.
Review
Dangerous Cargo is the sort of book where you can’t look away for a second, or you’ll be sunk, so to speak. Pauline Rowson is the queen of misdirection in this outing for former marine Art Marvik.
Art and his mate Shaun Strathen, who’s also been invalided out of the services, are roped in by the National Intelligence Marine Squad to get to the bottom of a mystery that’s half a century old. In true thriller fashion, they’re pretty much left to their own devices and given a minimum of information to help them on their way.
Art’s at the funeral of Bradley Pulford, whose body was washed up on an Isle of Wight beach. Except, he was officially declared dead 55 years previously. So our heroes need to find out who it was hooked up with a Dorset fishing family in 1989, then was declared missing after fathering a child. Another death brings links to Art’s faintly mysterious past and his dead parents. Cue much scuttling between London and the coast.
Rowson is a tad prone to information dumps, particularly at the beginning and the end, and the dreaded ‘as you know …’ between two characters doesn’t help. On a number of occasions I muttered “tell me news, not history!” And the action does sag occasionally in the middle of the book as Art runs round in ever-decreasing circles. Most of the characters are pretty unmemorable - at times I was reduced to scrolling back to double-check who someone was.
That said, I’m growing rather fond of this series. Art is a stiff upper lip hero, but the scenes at sea are what makes the tale worth sticking with. And I live in hope that Rowson will dole out a little more information about our hero next time out.
She’s given herself an intriguing angle for the next book concerning Art’s past. And I haven’t forgotten Helen of the purple hair, who had attitude in bucketloads in Silent Running, the first book in the series! A strong female character who’s not instantly disposable would help matters along no end …
Art and his mate Shaun Strathen, who’s also been invalided out of the services, are roped in by the National Intelligence Marine Squad to get to the bottom of a mystery that’s half a century old. In true thriller fashion, they’re pretty much left to their own devices and given a minimum of information to help them on their way.
Art’s at the funeral of Bradley Pulford, whose body was washed up on an Isle of Wight beach. Except, he was officially declared dead 55 years previously. So our heroes need to find out who it was hooked up with a Dorset fishing family in 1989, then was declared missing after fathering a child. Another death brings links to Art’s faintly mysterious past and his dead parents. Cue much scuttling between London and the coast.
Rowson is a tad prone to information dumps, particularly at the beginning and the end, and the dreaded ‘as you know …’ between two characters doesn’t help. On a number of occasions I muttered “tell me news, not history!” And the action does sag occasionally in the middle of the book as Art runs round in ever-decreasing circles. Most of the characters are pretty unmemorable - at times I was reduced to scrolling back to double-check who someone was.
That said, I’m growing rather fond of this series. Art is a stiff upper lip hero, but the scenes at sea are what makes the tale worth sticking with. And I live in hope that Rowson will dole out a little more information about our hero next time out.
She’s given herself an intriguing angle for the next book concerning Art’s past. And I haven’t forgotten Helen of the purple hair, who had attitude in bucketloads in Silent Running, the first book in the series! A strong female character who’s not instantly disposable would help matters along no end …
Reviewed 25 June 2016 by Sharon Wheeler
