Death Surge

by Pauline Rowson

Overview

A telephone call from a frantic Sergeant Cantelli to say that his nephew, Johnnie Oslow, is missing cuts short Detective Inspector Horton’s sailing trip to France. Summoned back to the Isle of Wight, Horton learns that Johnnie has not shown up for racing during Cowes Week, as previously arranged. The investigation is ranked low priority by Horton’s boss, Detective Chief Inspector Lorraine Bliss, who like others believes Johnnie has probably gone off with a woman.

But events take a very different turn when the charred remains of a body are discovered in one of the disused tunnels at the Hilsea Lines in Portsmouth. With the arrival of Detective Chief Superintendent Sawyer of the Intelligence Directorate and Agent Harriet Eames of Europol, what began as the hunt for a missing man becomes the search for a ruthless killer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727893796
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	08/31/2018
Series:	An Andy Horton Marine Mystery , #10
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.74(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pauline Rowson is the author of the critically-acclaimed marine mystery series featuring DI Andy Horton, as well as several stand-alone thrillers. Pauline’s novels are set in the area in which she lives, Hayling Island and Portsmouth. Before becoming a full-time writer she ran a Marketing and Training company.

Editorial Reviews

A crisply written, cleverly plotted procedural with a nice twist.

Booklist

A crisply written, cleverly plotted procedural with a nice twist.

Booklist

11/04/2013
Rowson plunges readers into the midst of the series’ intricate backstory in her 10th Det. Insp. Andy Horton mystery (after 2013’s Undercurrent). Two paragraphs in, the reader learns that Horton’s mother disappeared in 1978, and that he believes a covert member of the British intelligence services, Lord Eames, may know what happened to her. His search for answers is temporarily placed on hold when he’s asked to help an old friend, Sergeant Cantelli, whose 23-year-old nephew, Johnnie Oslow, has gone missing. There, too, the history is complex (“Horton had steered Oslow away from a path of criminality seven years ago, when he’d been sixteen and in trouble with the law, following an arson attack”). So within three pages, a newcomer may feel as if he or she is already catching up. The fast-paced narrative, which focuses on the Oslow case, with its multiple theories, will draw readers along, and does a lot to overcome the awkward start. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

The fast paced narrative, with its multiple theories, will draw readers along”
Publishers Weekly on Death Surge

From the Publisher

01/01/2014
DI Andy Horton pays attention when his partner, Sgt. Barney Cantelli, reports his nephew, Johnnie Oslow, is missing. Johnnie had a run-in with the law as a juvenile, but now he sails competitively for Greek magnate Xander Andreadis. It turns out that Xander has been on Europol's radar for possible international jewel theft. Johnnie, by all accounts, has been clean for a few years, but suddenly his old criminal buddies are being murdered systematically. Andy suspects that Johnnie is being held hostage, but it's a mad rush to figure out where and why. Meanwhile, Andy's long-running quest to learn the truth about his mother (she disappeared when he was a boy) gnaws at him continuously. VERDICT Case number ten in Rowson's marine mystery series (after Undercurrent) would be stronger if Andy were out on the water more—that's the series's strong suit. The search for his mother's fate is wearing thin, and little progress is made this time.

Library Journal

2013-12-19
The disappearance of a young yachtsman sends shock waves through the Portsmouth CID. DI Andy Horton (Death Lies Beneath, 2012, etc.) isn't even out of sight of St. Boniface Down on the Isle of Wight when a frantic phone call from his partner, Barney Cantelli, summons him back from his sailing trip to France. Barney's nephew, Johnnie Oslow, is missing. Johnnie left Sardinia as scheduled to join Scott Masefield aboard the Calista, getting Xander Andreadis' yacht ready for the Cowes Week races. Masefield's crew is made up of ex-servicemen in their 30s, all recovering from post-traumatic stress through therapeutic sailing. Masefield isn't at all sure that Johnnie, in his mid-20s, will fit in. But the youngster has his own baggage. As a teenager, Johnnie was involved in an arson at a local marina, an offense for which he drew probation, though some of his co-defendants served time. Frantic for a lead, Horton asks yachting photographer Sarah Conway for a recent photo of Johnnie, which he shows up and down the waterfront from Gosport to Chichester until he finds a cabbie who says Johnnie asked the fare to Hayling Island but then set off on foot. Horton interviews Johnnie's former partners in crime but turns up nothing. Then DS Uckfield reveals that the crew of the Calista may be the target of an investigation into a string of high-end jewel heists. Is Johnnie's disappearance part of a plot to cover up an international crime? Or does it stem from a more pedestrian juvenile misdeed? Although distracted by his never-ending search for the reason for his mother's disappearance and by his uncomfortable attraction to fellow cop Harriet Eames, Horton puts his all into the search for his colleague's nephew. Readers with a love of yachting and a keen sense of maritime geography will enjoy Rowson's latest. Everyone else will be pretty much confused.

Kirkus Reviews