volcano roads by peter tonkin
Mix together some murder, scuba diving, luxury yachts and pirates and you have the basis of an entertaining crime novel that’s got an environmental and wildlife theme. Why has a famous marine biologist been dispatched and his assistant left just clinging to life. As for their police body guard – well there’s no need for a pension there. Volcano Roads is a great crime romp from Peter Tonkin.
The action is set around the Indonesian Island of ‘Pulau Buya’ and it’s tropical reefs and rare fishes. This is the first crime novel I’ve read by Peter Tonkin and evidently the stars of the book Richard Mariner and his wife have been in 20 previous books! It would seem evident that this is not the first time that the Mariners have been involved with one of the villains of the novel which – without giving too much away – is an international logging company. But what does logging have to do with rare reef fish? Well you’ll have to read the book to find out.
Tonkin’s narrative is well written and build up the suspense as the book progresses. It’s good to see that in the middle of a global credit crunch the super rich are still able to enjoy the more refined luxuries of life. The plot bounces from a luxury eco yacht to luxury seven star beach front hotel and back to the yacht with a smattering of private helicopters at the beck and call of the investigators. But when you’re guests of honour at a local royal wedding what more do you expect – and being co-owner of the hotel also helps.
I had to fight through the opening few paragraphs which described the scene of the biologists who had been diving at the time of their demise. It was a bit slow for my tastes but once I was through that page and a half the pace picked up and by half way through the book it turned into one of those novels which you just don’t want to put down.
The plot twisted and turned though out the length of the book and you were never quite sure where the plot was going to go to next. Crime novels tend to be dialogue driven but with Volcano Roads it is much more descriptive in style and characters of the main players come to the fore.
Much of the book flowed smoothly and did not stretch the realms of believability too much – including the main guests and bridegroom disappearing from the wedding reception to tackle a gang of pirates. I really do know people who would do exactly that just for the fun of it, ex-pats are a strange bunch of people. Geology students though may want to remember that this is a novel and not a science book.
There’s another Richard Mariner escapade by Peter Tonkin due out next month – this time it looks like he’s off to one of the polar regions. I might take the next few weeks to catch up on one or two of the previous books in the series before the new one is published.
