Point of Honor

Set in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, this disappointing debut thriller puts a young U.S. Navy officer at the helm of a disabled freighter and at the heart of high-stakes battle. While serving as a Naval engineer on an antiquated destroyer that has been pulled out of retirement to participate in a much publicized joint U.S.-Colombian drug patrol, Lieut. (j.g.) Daniel Blake and eight crewmen check out an abandoned merchant ship, the Latin Star. On board they find six corpses with their tongues cut out. In the midst of this grim discovery, the destroyer is crippled by a fire and all communication is lost. As Blake struggles to get the freighter running again, he discovers 30 tons of cocaine and $3.5 million in cash. Meanwhile, Jorge Corboda, a Harvard-trained financial adviser to the Gallardo cartel, is racing to recapture the ship in order to placate his godfather, Don Gallardo. The blatantly cinematic climax includes Blake's confrontations with various would-be assassins, a sinking Star, a crashing helicopter and a double explosion. Medland also takes pains to include a spark of romance between Blake and a female radio operator. Alas, all of this action is imitative and perfunctory. (Sept.)