Tomlinson's Wake

By: Randy Wayne White

Narrated by: George Guidall

Doc Ford returns for a perilous journey into Mesoamerica after a world-shattering earthquake threatens his family's safety—and all of their lives

In the wake of a killer hurricane, Doc Ford heads to Honduras, where his best friend, Tomlinson, crashed his beloved sailboat into a reef off the Mosquito Coast. Tomlinson swears he died in the shipwreck and was brought back to life by a runaway orphan—the direct descendant of the last king of the ancient Mayan people.

Corrupt politicians want the child out of the picture before he catalyzes a revolution among the Indigenous population. But the boy, a charismatic twelve-year-old, has gone underground with the help of Tomlinson and a network of street urchins. They're all on the run and in the crosshairs when Ford arrives and picks up his friend’s trail.

The Marina family has already suffered the death of one key member, and Ford is determined not to burden his homeless friends with yet another funeral wake. What no one is prepared for, however, is a cataclysmic earthquake that hits the area with the impact of a meteor that nearly destroyed all life on earth more than sixty million years ago.

Narrator is too old

I’ve read these books for years, but since the first audiobook I’ve been distracted by how old the narrator sounds. This one seems worse. But at least this book isn’t set in Florida, where he mispronounces so many names of places.

Not nearly as good

It was a big disappointment when compared to his previous books. Not occurring in the usual place was very disappointing. Not including the previous characters in the story made it less fun and monotonous.

Convoluted

RWW is one of my favorite authors and GG is one of my all time favorite narrators. This book was a bit convoluted and all over the place. I miss Dinken’s Bay Marina. This one just didn’t do it for me. The characters got jumbled up at times and the story seemed to produce more questions than answers. It seemed like the plot was complicated for the sake of being complicated. I hope the ending leads to another book where this left off, but gets back to the basics of why we love the characters, the story telling and the historical references.

Best of all 28 Doc Ford series

Over 25 years, I have read all 28 Doc Ford books written since 1990. Granted they are enhanced by depth of characters and plots and enthralling descriptions of tropical settings and readers’ attachment to all over time. That said, I think Randy Wayne White has only honed his writing and researched deeper for plots and simultaneously kept up with cultural, political, geographical, scientific changes and brings the reader a compelling story.
Please write another Mr.White.💙

Dissatisfied

I am a big Doc Ford fan but this was my very least favorite attempt