The Narragansett Files

Taking a vacation on the yacht you bought 6 months ago with your wife sounded like a good idea. Maybe it was a good idea. The Pinafore is a sloop. Eventually it becomes clear that the Pinafore belonged to a man who was an accountant for the president of Venezuela. The events that start happening have to do with oil and OPEC. Something is on the boat that too many people want. Soon the President of the US is involved and hard to tell who is on what side. Great read.

The author takes a great deal of time and space to describe the mechanics of navigation, sailing, and other technical topics, as well as to provide a detailed description of government agencies and national entities. Such a penchant seems a bit overdone for an action novel. The plot is fairly reasonably crafted, except at such points as positing that the action is personally and minutely directed by the President of the United States. That greatly strains credulity.

The Narragansett Files is a spy and action novel that includes a lot of sailing action too. The story takes the characters from the Eastern seaboard to Venezuela to Nicaragua and back to the US. Along the way, they meet the president and are recruited into clandestine services.

The beginning two chapters seemed to move slowly to me. It was more introduction to the narrator and his sailing yacht, the Pinafore, a recent purchase. He tells of the features on the ship and some special ‘anti-piracy’ features he installed himself. It’s not until toward the end of the second chapter when the real action begins, as he is attacked by some trespassers on his boat.

We don’t learn the narrator’s name right away, but eventually another character calls him by name and we learn he is Bud. His wife, Liz, is a violinist and joins him for a sailing trip. Before they even leave port, things begin to happen. At a party, they meet a Venezuelan man named Reynaldo Vicente. He and his sister, Adel, seem very interested in the couple. A friend of Bud’s, named Ed, joins them for the sailing trip and they are on their way. They are followed in town, and once they are offshore, their ship is attacked by armed men. What is going on? Why are they being targeted?

Bud finds a flash drive hidden in the shower drain and then they begin to try to piece together the puzzle. Is this what the men who attacked were after? The rest of the story is full of action as they are followed, just about run aground by a big yacht, and Liz is kidnapped. Without giving too many spoilers, the reader learns that Ed is not just a retired guy on vacation. And that the flash drive contains information that can affect the balance of power in the world and the influence of certain countries in economic ways.

I found some of the sequences too long, such as the detailed dialog between pilot and tower. Some of the radio chatter wasn’t necessary or germane to the story and could have been left out. But, on the other hand, it does give detail and lends believability to the story. So, take your pick.

The dialog seemed well written and appropriate to the story. It moves along well. As mentioned before, the detailed descriptions of the boat were OK, but that part seemed to drag for me. Maybe because I have no familiarity with boats and wasn’t excited about that part. So, if you love sea-going vessels you may really love those parts of the story. Disclosure: I get extremely seasick, so I don’t often go on boats and don’t understand the appeal. Another reader might find it fascinating. It’s just my opinion.

The story is complicated, but the reader is able to follow along well. The plot is crafted well and there is a twist with one of the characters that you won’t see coming. The suspense builds as you get farther along in the story and begin to see what is happening and what is at stake for these characters.

The length of the novel was just long enough. Settings were described quite well. I learned more about sailing vessels than I knew before, so that was cool. I think this story would appeal to anyone who loves a good spy story, or an adventure and action novel. If you like suspense, this novel has elements of suspense as well. There is a sense of humor worked into the narrative as well, such as the narrator’s lack of ability to fly a plane and him being given a pilot’s license and offering to give it back. So, watch for the humorous parts because they are subtly worked in by the author, but they are good ones. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more by this author.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest review.

A sailing holiday in a newly acquired boat turns into an escape from piracy, the discovery of information that could bring down a government and work for the US President. A rocketing good read with witty banter to match the best Sam Spade novels.

This felt like a Clive Cussler story. There were a lot of things in this book that were also found in a Clive Cussler story. The suspense, the mission-impossible task, the main character's love for boats and the ocean, an ex-marine, a threat to the US and the clever ways to outwit the enemy. Wow! I wonder if Robert Shemeld is friends with Clive Cussler. Their stories are alike in a lot of ways but also very different. One very obvious difference is that the main character is not working for the government. He is a private citizen. A businessman.

The reason why this story felt like a Cussler is because the intensity and the level of the suspense and excitement is the same feeling I feel every time I am on a Cussler adventure. The writing is also very good. There is no telling what is going to happen next. And since I am a big fan of Cussler, it's always a good thing to find another author that is into the same genre and with the same impeccable talent. I am so glad I signed up for this book through Netgalley. Told you, I have a talent of picking really talented authors just by the book's title and blurb. Most of the time, those catchy and sometimes obscure titles are really great stories. I am always happy to be surprised and blown. All the time.

This story definitely could hold its own. This is my first time to read of this author yet I am so impressed and would want to read more of his stories. Shemeld has a good chance of ending on my favorite authors' list. This story alone has me hooked, line and sinker. I ate it all. The story was fast-paced but it wasn't hard to keep up. It was narrated with extreme clarity. There was no mistaking who was what and everything. Very well done! This absolutely deserves 5/5 USB flash drives. I wonder why I never heard of Robert Shemeld before?

One of the things about this author that stood out for me is his ability to include some trivia and very important tidbits of information about a fact that was mentioned just in passing in the story. Some examples of these trivia are the rooms in the White House like the Green Room, about guns like the AK-47, the Colt and the Kalashnikov. I also liked that the main character, whose name was never mentioned in the whole story, has a penchant for using unique words like atwitter, fortnight and purloined. This is one distinguishing characteristic of his. The main character, who is also the narrator of this tale, Liz' husband, was never named. I had to scan the book once again to double check but he never ever gave out his name. It seemed that when introductions are happening, Liz' husband is almost always already known by the other party. So oftentimes, the other party was introduced but his name never came up in any of the conversations. This is the first time that I have really enjoyed the story yet never gotten to know the name of the hero. The author has done a very good job because even nameless, his character is very unforgettable.

I am looking forward to more adventures of Liz and his husband. What other sticky and deadly situations are they going to be forced to handle and how will he (the husband) cleverly get out of them alive?

Thanks again, Netgalley for the copy.

Warfare is born of ruthless opportunism, [one must] paralyze and confound [the enemy] by quickly and aggressively exploiting his vulnerabilities and strike him in a way that will hurt him most. In short, strike your enemy with such ferocity and lethality that he is dead before he even knows you're on the field of battle.
- Robert Shemeld, The Narragansett Files -

I put off reading this book and then could not put it down. Absolutely loved the characters, and Liz and Steele are a formidable team. Not sure about Ed yet but willing to give him a pass until the next book. Excellent character portrayal and plot development. Exciting probably accurate description of various government agencies. I will read whatever this author puts out!