PRO CONNECT
Michael C. Wootton
Robert Blake Whitehill was born into a Quaker family in Mardela Springs, just outside Salisbury on Maryland’s Eastern Shore peninsula. The family home lay next to the pond that powered a colonial-era relic, the Barren Creek Mill. He grew up sailing the Chesapeake Bay, and one of her most beautiful tributaries, the Chester River.
After graduating from Westtown School Whitehill stayed in Pennsylvania to earn his B.A. in creative writing at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. Later he trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. As with David Mamet, exhaustive studies of the best English language drama for the stage and screen transformed an aspiring actor into a passionate writer.
An early focus on feature screenwriting earned Whitehill film festival wins at the Hudson Valley Film Festival, and the Hamptons International Film Festival where he also received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship for his script U.X.O. (Unexploded Ordnance). His feature script Blue Rinse, co-written with Andrea Shane is currently under option with producer Bill Jarblum (Charley Bartlett, The Little Traitor, Cloudburst), with Olympia Dukakis to star.
While writing many highly rated episodes of Discovery/Times Channel’s The New Detectives, Daring Capers, and The Bureau, he served as the Vice President of Independent Film Acquisitions for the groundbreaking Centerseat.com, developing and managing their Independent Film Channel.
Whitehill settled in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife and son. For a number of years, he has worked with the Montclair Ambulance Unit as an emergency medical technician.
When not sailing, or knocking around the sky in a Cessna 152, Whitehill published several articles about his home waters in Chesapeake Bay Magazine.
Deadrise and Nitro Express are Whitehill’s first two novels in The Ben Blackshaw Series.
- See more at: http://robertblakewhitehill.com/
“A familiar plot that pushes itself above average thanks to a brooding ambiance and a scene-stealing baddie.”
– Kirkus Reviews
In Whitehill’s thriller, an unearthed treasure comes with the promise of wealth—along with covert operatives who will do whatever necessary to retrieve their loot.
While diving for oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, former Navy sniper Ben Blackshaw identifies the body of his father, who abandoned him 15 years ago. The shipwreck nearby bears a fortune in gold, but when Ben and his sole crewman, Knocker Ellis, return under the cover of darkness, the salvaged gold comes with a bonus: a nuke that they’ve inadvertently triggered with a 24-hour timer. Maynard Chalk, working for a corrupt senator, desperately needs the booty and the bomb because his shell company was a go-between for two factions anticipating the delivery of their goods in a couple of days. There is a sense of wariness among the characters that envelops Whitehill’s debut novel. Distrust adds dimension to Ben’s interaction with people on his island home—a boatman’s curiosity may or may not be innocent—as well as Chalk’s knowledge of terrorists actively looking for the device. A hardy action sequence is ignited by multiple villains making their way to the island and the islanders arming themselves to defend their homes. The novel might have benefited from a stronger female presence: Taheer, an Iranian officer, is introduced after being outwitted by Chalk and forced to tend to his wounds; LuAnna, Ben’s fiancée and a natural resources officer, is little more than a victim; and the island women spend their time making coffee and meals for the men. As for the male characters, none are quite as unforgettable as Chalk, an outrageous antagonist whose animosity for nearly everyone but himself is complemented by a stunning amount of charm. He’s a man who’d suggest using the bomb because he’s bored and wants “to put the fun back in dysfunction.” A familiar plot that pushes itself above average thanks to a brooding ambiance and a scene-stealing baddie.
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2012
Page count: 393pp
Publisher: Kurti Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
Day job
Writing
Favorite author
Scott Smith
Favorite book
A Simple Plan
Hometown
Chestertown, Maryland
Passion in life
Flying, Boating,
Unexpected skill or talent
Licensed Pilot, Emergency Medical Technician
DEADRISE: Conversations Book Club Top 100 Books of 2012, 2012
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