ICE BRINE

A diving pro and part owner of a Canadian undersea salvage company tangles with international criminals and multiple intelligence agencies.

In Eshleman’s second installment of a thriller series, Peter Case returns home to Canada after completing his doctorate in zoology in Jamaica, where he also got involved in an international conspiracy with a CIA connection. Now, he and his buddy Hal operate their maritime salvage business out of a former fish factory that is half a kilometer up the inlet from the vacation cabin of redheaded widow Kathleen and her precocious young daughter, Amy. Case, a swaggering, 6-foot-3-inch (in cowboy boots), sculpted-thighed, deep-chested, long-haired heavy smoker, is smitten with Kathleen, but imminent danger demands more of his attention. On a mission to kill him are crime ring members he encountered in Jamaica, a pair of whom Case outmaneuvers on a twisty mountain road. Humor adds flavor to the story; for example, when examining a sunken wreck, Case encounters a shark that turns out to be a dead specimen Hal released in the ship to freak out his friend (mission accomplished). Car chases, kidnappings, fights, killings, and proposed torture, such as a “foot tenderized with a ball-peen hammer,” saturate the book. Case is so cocky and so often in danger that someone says to him, “Everyone you meet seems to want you dead. I believe I’m beginning to understand why.” Case’s mind whirls as he realizes some of the players—“CIA, CSIS, MI6, KGB”—in the crime drama surrounding him. The backstory of the Jamaica escapade is revealed organically, as is Case’s past as a bullied, chubby kid who transformed his body and built his confidence by engaging in martial arts and weight training. Underwater sequences are handled particularly well, and scenes of the stunning Rockies are travelogue perfect. But Kathleen’s inability to keep tabs on her daughter is bothersome, and the spunky kid often comes off as more annoying than charming (remember what Lou Grant said about spunk).

An exhilarating thriller; Clive Cussler fans will find that Peter Case floats their boat.