The Shallow Sea

Science journalist and novelist Ruzic ( Where the Winds Sleep ) draws on events from his own life to create a hefty adventure thriller about the `` fin de siecle Narco-Wars'' replete with natural, physical and emotional disasters. Biophysicist Grant North establishes an ``Island for Science'' in the Bahamas in order to develop a seaweed-shrimp farm, desalination projects and pharmaceuticals. He encounters government opposition to his obtaining necessary permits after the Bahamian Defense Force destroys one of his boats and slaughters its entire crew: unbeknownst to North, the crew was smuggling cocaine--and his teenage daughter may even have been on board. The prime minister, his daughter, his deputy, the president of the Bahamian senate and several of North's closest friends become fatally embroiled in bribery and modern-day piracy. Ruzic's encyclopedic knowledge of science, engineering and technology, combined with his interests in the moon, chess and scuba diving, sometimes overwhelms the reader. On the whole, however, he provides a solid read that closes with a heart-stopping assault on the PM's mansion during a gutsy and ingenious revenge plot, devised even as North suffers from dengue fever. 25,000 first printing; author tour. (Sept.)