Published 2003 in hardcover

The dust jacked blurb says "A chilling novel of murder and suspense inspired by a true life-and-death drama" I don't often believe dust jacket blurbs but in this case it came real close.

Set at Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, this story is based on the real life incident. In December 1979, Tom Campbell of Santa Barbara led a group of divers into a cave at Santa Cruz Island and they got lost. The story of the rescue is pretty dramatic involving the Ventura County Sheriff's Dive Rescue Team. I recall Charlie the owner of a now defunct dive shop in Camarillo and spark plug behind the Team giving me the lowdown many years ago. I also was acquainted with Tom Campbell and his then-wife Cindy who invited me to join their upscale dive group in Santa Barbara in the early 1980s that seemed to center around gorgeous dive models, exotic dive locations, and underwater photography. But I was more the UCSB dive club type, so I declined, but I digress.

The story is actually pretty good as it describes the life of an aging ex-Navy Seal who with the life beginning to pass him by plots to bump off his socialite wife, Cathy, during a trip to Santa Cruz Island. It is a pretty good read until the closing chapters of the book when the bodies start pilling up faster than the last act of a Shakespeare tragedy. Its like the author got tired of writing or was coming up to a publisher imposed page limit and accelerated the action just to end it.

I met the author, Margaret Hoffman, a few years ago when I was in Portsmouth, VA and she was at the local bookseller autographing copies of a book she had just written about Blackbeard. She was quite engaging.