By: J.D. Gordon Publisher: Red Engine Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Red Engine Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: August 01, 2006
Product Description: Chicago-area firefighter Eddie Gilbert is headed back to the Florida Keys and the open seas of the Caribbean. A beautiful woman and an interesting job offer are waiting. He is tasked to find a young doctor who has gone missing. What happens next will ikeep you glued to the pages of Caribbean Calling.
Reviewed by Sabrina Williams Eddie Gilbert returns for another tropical adventure in Caribbean Calling, the second novel for J. D. Gordon. Gordon mimics his own unusual career shift from firefighter to author when he delivers firefighter Eddie Gilbert to Tampa for an assignment in the field of security. Gilbert is not interchanging careers blindly. His new employer is business tycoon Bruce Klein, who was so impressed by Eddie's heroic efforts in rescuing his daughter in the first installment of the series that he invites the fireman to work for him. The assignment turns out to be a glorified delivery boy, to Eddie's dismay.
Eddie settles into his new position reluctantly, but he's determined to see if the job has more to offer. It doesn't take long for him to find the excitement he's looking for. A friend of Klein is concerned that his daughter, who was doing humanitarian work as a doctor, has stopped checking in with him daily and he cannot contact her via the aid station she was working at. Ed and an associate must venture to the island where the doctor was stationed and find her to reassure her father.
Gordon's first book, Island Bound, was Eddie Gilbert's first escapade as an amateur detective. In Caribbean Calling, Gilbert seems to have found his calling in the realm of mystery and adventure and returns for more excitement. Gordon creates an incredibly plausible scenario in which a down-to-earth, regular "man's man" like Ed Gilbert can be right at home fighting seedy criminals on the high seas and enjoying a life of luxury. The author successfully weaves together the storylines of Mafia-style criminals, brainwashed cult members, humanitarian aid workers, wealthy socialites, and dedicated firemen. Caribbean Calling would definitely make a fun vacation read. Hopefully, Gordon will continue the Eddie Gilbert saga, as he seems to have found his calling as an author as Gilbert finds his calling as a hero.
The Perfect Escape Eddie Gilbert is a Chicago native and firefighter/paramedic with a knack for finding trouble in paradise. In Caribbean Calling (Red Engine Press, August 2006), author J.D. Gordon's reluctant hero returns to a world that keeps pulling him back, a place where sunny tropical breezes mask a dark underbelly.
This is Gordon's second book in his series featuring Eddie Gilbert, a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan and Parrothead (a commonly used nickname for fans of singer Jimmy Buffett). He doesn't stray far from the formula that made his first effort, Island Bound (1stBooks Library, May 2002), strike a chord with many of the same Hawaiian shirt- and grass skirt-wearing loyalists who flock to outdoor music venues every summer in search of that elusive lost shaker of salt.
This time around, Eddie is not just away on vacation from his job as a firefighter/paramedic for the fictional Salt Creek Fire Department but is down in Tampa, Florida, testing the waters a bit. He's taken a trial job in the employment of Bruce Klein, the influential shipping tycoon and ex-Congressman whose daughter Eddie had rescued from the hands of some modern-day pirates in Island Bound.
Asked by a fellow firefighter why'd he'd go back south after all the trouble his last vacation had brought him, Eddie simply shrugs and says, "I don't know, for some reason the Caribbean calls to me."
At first, Eddie is disappointed when he finds that his new job seems nothing more than that of a "high-priced courier," but, not surprisingly, there's much more to his assignment than first meets the eye. Soon, Eddie finds himself once again in the position of trying to save a damsel in distress. This time, it's Dr. Elaine Keller, a recent medical school graduate who's been taken prisoner by a Caribbean island drug lord.
Caribbean Calling is classic escapist fiction, filled with adventure, colorful characters and exotic locales.
If you like pina coladas and getting caught up in a good story, Caribbean Calling is the perfect escape for you.
"Caribbean Calling" Is Awesome . . . J. D. Gordon had his thinking cap on when he wrote "Caribbean Calling." Or maybe it was his fireman's hat for the ex-firefighter, paramedic-turned-author has worn them all. Caribbean Calling is a gem of an adventure, with the Caribbean as the playground. Eddie Gilbert wants to change jobs and latches onto an outfit where wearing a weapon is not optional. First assignment: Find Dr. Elaine Keller, a recent medical school graduate, hoping to earn her stethoscope in a small island in the Caribbean. Instead, she finds herself held against her will, then sold to a drug lord. Eddie and his new buddy Mario are sent to bring her out of her hell. This they do, with some of the finest action-packed pages I have read recently. I wholeheartedly recommend "Caribbean Calling" to those looking to escape into a good book.
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