Caribbean Rim

Bestseller White’s diverting, if sluggish, 25th Doc Ford novel (after 2017’s Mangrove Lightning) focuses on an unlikely couple. A chance meeting in Ocala National Forest between unhappily married Leonard Nickelby, a college professor working for a Florida state agency that monitors treasure hunters, and much younger Lydia Johnson, a former student of his who’s illegally looking for treasure in the park, leads to an affair. Eight months later, the two set off for the Bahamas in search of treasure. On their trail is marine biologist and sometime government operative Doc, who’s worried that the pair might get into trouble, as they soon do. The diminutive Leonard proves surprisingly brave in various perilous situations, but he can’t prevent Efren Donner, a nasty Hollywood mogul in cahoots with Salvadorian drug dealers, from taking him and Lydia captive. In a tense chapter, Lydia must try hard to keep Efren from doing further violence. Many readers will enjoy the boating and fishing lore, but others will wish that Doc and friends had done less talking in between the action scenes. Author tour. Agent, Esther Newberg, ICM. (Mar.)