April 3, 2023
Sears’s exciting sequel to Sunniland, set in Venezuela, again follows Jerry MacDonald and wife Maria during the second World War, this time on a mission to the Orinoco delta in search of petroleum deposits for Pride Oil. At camp near the mouth of the Orinoco, Jerry’s colleague Debbie Borowski discovers radioactivity from the rusty freighter Estrella Blanca, anchored nearby. What they don’t know: it comes from uranium sent to Argentina by a fleeing German physicist. Washington dispatches FBI agents disguised as members of the geological team to seize the uranium. Jerry gets unwittingly involved and soon finds himself shipwrecked and stranded on the coast of a tropical jungle.
Sears’s experience as a geologist for a petroleum firm lends authenticity to the activities of the Pride Oil team, and even landlubbers will find passages concerning troubles with rudders, cables, and propellers clear and compelling. The happenings on the Oso Negro and the Estrella Blanca also ring true for the same reason. The prose is crisp and concise, with bursts of sharp action described with welcome attention to real-world physics. That doesn't diminish the excitement, though. The characters are interesting and varied, especially former priest Sergio, an ingenious rapscallion, and Hans, who loves his comforts to a comical extent. Jerry, though, might prove more compelling if he were less assuredly a good boy and exhibited some hints of gray, and a little more attention given to Debbie, the woman scientist determined to survive in a male dominated world, would have lent more depth to the story.
The pace is steady throughout, driven by the question of who will finally get the uranium. Sears mines from that the kind of suspense that keeps readers guessing—and turning pages. This is a skillfully told narrative that will grip lovers of historical maritime action, with an ending that both satisfies and jolts, especially a final connection to history.
Takeaway: A powerfully told WWII thriller centered on the search for a freighter’s lost cargo of uranium.
Great for fans of: TaraShea Nesbit’s The Wives of Los Alamos, Jennie Fields’s Atomic Love.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B