Whalers - (Firebird) by Ian Dolby (Paperback)

About the Book

Harry's off on the long voyage to South Africa to pick-up the new boat. Along the way, the perennial trouble-magnet survives encounters with an old friend, a giant crocodile, as well as sundry storms.

Book Synopsis

After a huge and unexpected windfall from a previous operation, Harry Stevens, ex-Australian SAS Major and undercover Commonwealth Police operative, has ordered a new and bigger catamaran to be built in South Africa. When it's ready, together with a diverse and changing crew, he leaves the violence and horror of the Lord Howe Island operation far behind as they first visit peaceful Vanuatu. Then it's off on the long voyage to South Africa to pick-up the new boat. Along the way, the perennial trouble-magnet survives encounters with an old friend, a giant crocodile, as well as sundry storms.

Harry's South African introduction includes a close encounter with thieves, then a deadly boat hi-jacking operation, where violence strikes a bit too close for comfort.

With the new boat finally underfoot, Harry surprises the crew by making a slight detour to the south on the trip back to Oz. On an icy, remote southern island, Harry and crew have the first of several nasty encounters with a flotilla of Japanese whalers plying their foul and illegal trade in Australian waters.

But annoyance turns to puzzlement as the intensity of the encounters escalates to relentless and lethal violence. Why are the whalers so upset with Harry and crew? Could there be a hidden agenda behind their naked aggression? As the body count grows, natural and other forces are brought into play, leading one of the crew to comment, 'Next time you go on holiday, Harry, we'll stay behind.'

Review Quotes

"This new book, Whalers, by Ian Dolby is an exciting, well-executed book full of action, surprises and suspense. It is set around a new larger and more elaborate Firebird catamaran. Harry and Jasper have been confronted by the evil spectre of Japanese whalers off Heard Island to the south of Australia and then on the west coast of Tasmania.

It needs all of Harry's ingenuity, his crew's, and the Australian Prime Minister's help to come out the heroes.

This book tugs at your heart strings, as it deals with the horrors of the Japanese whalers in our own country, and Harry has his readers on side from the get-go. We get to share in the many mystical experiences involving Harry's cat Jasper, as he communes with the many creatures he has connection with - rather large at times.

The pages are filled with great descriptions of sailing - "the westerly squall line howled gleefully across the port, searching with invisible fingers for any weakness in the puny

man-made shelters."

-Judith Flitcroft, Author of Walk back in Time.