Dangerous Games

This sometimes surreal suspense novel features a young American adventurer who gets in over his head in an attempt to best two treasure hunters in the Caribbean. Fleeing the London police, who seek him in connection to an accidental death thought to be murder, young Jim Rush joins a permanent house party at the home of a wealthy, puerile Englishman named Guy on the Caribbean island of St. Elena. On a neighboring island, Jim meets two sailors, Mike and Drew, who are attempting to excavate a sunken Spanish galleon, the Gloriosa. Thinking Jim wealthy, the two try to lure him into the project; he plays along, knowing he's being conned, looking for an angle of his own. Another accidental death and a turn for the worse on St. Elena as Guy's party games become nastier (a la Lord of the Flies) test Jim's wiles to the limit. While Grant-Adamson (Curse the Darkness) turns out a suspenseful thriller, the protagonist and those who surround him lack soul and charm, offering little to interest readers in their story. (Feb.)