Even though the skeletal framework of Hammond Innes' novels vary, as do., their sites, essentially they re-work a popularly approved formula-- namely a search pursued in some farflung, fifth corner of the world and danger compounded by the backlash of the elements, in this new book, Geoffrey Bailey who tells the story and who is an interested intermediary, records the marginal activities of Strode & Company, responsible for his father's bankruptcy and now facing a possible takeover. Most determined to prevent this is Peter Strode, a half brother of the ruling members of the firm, a quixotic adventurer whose lifetime spent in outlandish places has now taken him to the Maldives, coral atolls running south from Ceylon into to the Indian Ocean. There he has discovered a lode of manganese WhiCh promises to revive the sagging shipping firm. Bailey is Sent to find him, not only once but a second time, after Peter has disappeared along with his island following a seismic storm and violent VolcAnic activity... A strapping adventure story with high colored scenic effects-- the Innes name has an automatic, axiomatic readership.