Choppy Water

Stone Barrington, #54

by Stuart Woods

Stone Barrington and president-elect Holly Barker try to enjoy themselves on an island getaway, but an attempt on Holly's life leaves the pair struggling to keep one step ahead of a conspiracy by a group of white supremacists.

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I'm going to start off this review by saying I had no idea this was a series until I went to add it on Goodreads. By then I was a good four or five chapters in. I was still able to easily follow the story and the characters are such that they require little elaboration. Still, I'm sure I've missed things and this has likely colored my opinion of the book, be it for better or worse (I notice a lot of the reviewers who are long-time fans of the series seem disappointed by this one, but see, I don't know any different.)

I know one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I'll admit to feeling deeply misled by the whole package here, from the blurb on the back of the book to the title to the cover, which clearly features a boat amid stormy weather. This book has nothing to do with high seas adventure, nor does much of it take place on an island. Not even a quarter of it.

I'm actually surprised how much I have to say about this book. I conclude I must have enjoyed it because I read it in about 3 days . The writing style is simple, straight-forward, and easy to read. The chapters are short to begin with (most not more than 5 pages, some a great deal less) and most are sub-divided even further down within the chapter, with some sections being as short as a single paragraph. This makes for quick, easy reading, and (to Woods credit) there were only a few times (mainly in the middle) where I felt my attention waning heavily. Luckily, due to the style, if you're bored with a section, you don't really have to wait long for something better to come along.

I found this book to be a rather even mix of tropes I really liked and tropes I really disliked.

~ ~ SPOILERS AHEAD ~ ~

Stone and Holly both seem like fun characters, but even as a new member of the audience, I can tell I've joined them rather past their heyday. They have very little to do and spend almost all of their scenes having breakfast together and fucking. Which... good for them, I guess.

The secondary cast fares a little better. My favorite character was probably Elizabeth/Bess, an undercover agent who is stationed amongst the baddies, trying to earn the trust of their leader. But I have to dock her a few points for using lesbianism as a cover on her undercover mission into a White Supremacist group. The author could have just made her an actual lesbian, of course, but instead, he chose to use it as her cover story which... Doesn't even make sense? It's a pretty bad cover for infiltrating a radical right-wing organization cuz... well, do I even have to explain it? C'mon.

The antagonist is a White Surpremacist named Sykes, who might as well be made of straw but who at least puts up a fair challenge for the heroes of the piece. He does get more menacing the longer the story goes on.

There's about 50 pages near the middle-end of the book, which are just characters all repeating the same information over and over to one another in an endless line. I understand the trials of a large cast and obviously, all the characters need to know what's going on, but I think this section could have been condensed to half the length and nothing would have been lost.

The last 50 pages or so seem to showcase what Woods is actually capable of and do make me interested in perhaps checking out some of his other stories. With that being said, I felt the climax itself fell a little flat and there's practically nothing after the final action scene.

All in all, this is a middle-of-the-road read with a few solid scenes and concepts and enough of a lure to keep you reading, good for passing time on a lunch break or with your morning coffee. I'd recommend it for people who (like me) are suckers for these undercover cop stories or who are fans of the author.