In Brown’s sea thriller, a man who can envision the locations of shipwrecks searches for treasure while dealing with Russians and an oil tycoon. Kyle Dawton has had odd episodes of apparent precognition since childhood, but only a few have turned out to be accurate. He uses his ability to sense the locations of sunken vessels for Argos Salvage, which he owns and runs with his buddy, former SEAL Wayne Chizzick.
Brown keeps the story’s supernatural element ambiguous and sublimely understated; Kyle, for example, isn’t certain whether his vision of a ship going down during a storm is a past or future event—or perhaps both. Furthermore, the book grounds his ability in reality, implying that Kyle might be hallucinating from diving too deeply and experiencing nitrogen narcosis, which he’s endured twice before.
There’s a plethora of characters in the novel, including pirates and hijackers, but thankfully, it’s easy to keep track of them all. There’s a bit of mystery, too: the Russians have to identify Telasnikov first before snatching him, and supposedly have a mole at JJ Oil. Brown sufficiently describes scenes set underwater and onboard vessels, but he shines brightest with his nautical-inspired metaphors; for instance, an irate Wayne “stomped the decks like peg-legged Ahab pacing The Pequod.”
A clever, sprightly tale, whether it’s set in, atop, or near the ocean.
— KIRKUS REVIEWS
Bedeviled Sea grabbed me from the getgo. Brown’s extensive research is obvious and every aspect of the storyline is on-the-spot intelligent; with mystery, suspense, drama, depth, and even some occasional humor to lighten up the thriller’s spookier and more chilling parts.
— L. D. Taylor, PADI Master Diver
Undersea adventure extraordinaire, Bedeviled Sea was indeed a very pleasurable read. Vivid images, lots of excitement and highly creative, the book was captivating. It’s a well-told story of treasure hunters attempting to recover a fortune within a brigantine lost in a Caribbean storm centuries earlier but interrupted by modern-day pirates, befuddled by oil men tampering with undersea nature and threatened by a stealth Russian sub pursuing a defected scientist. Adding to this tale of adventure is the hint of paranormal gifts possessed by the novel’s lead character, Kyle Dawton. This whirlpool of seemingly unrelated forces blends nicely into a fast-paced read. Readers interested in the paranormal will find the way Brown treats the subject fascinating. Five stars.
— Jack Olcott; editor and publisher for McGraw-Hill, etc.
5 Stars:
This is a great read. Jerry Earl Brown’s well-written Caribbean adventure and his focus on underwater scenes are fascinating as he takes us into a world of treasure hunters, Russian commandos, luxury yachts and their varied crews and passengers. Well-drawn characters and technical debacles help us understand the operation of both surface ships and submarines.
The main character has a paranormal talent for finding lost shipwrecks. In the Bahamas, at the edge of the Bermuda Triangle, Kyle Dawton leads his fellow salvage drivers on a hunt that promises to be a discovery of high archeological and monetary value. But on the way, they incur a sinking seabed, human traffickers, and a prowling Russian sub missioned to retrieve a defected scientist. Through it all, Dawton struggles with his fear of becoming lost to that other-worldly realm that leads him to the wreck.
Near the wrecksite is a wellhead owned by a rich Texas oilman and owner of a new megayacht on a maiden voyage with social and political friends. J.J. Harwood has been uninformed about the shady oil exploration that’s been conducted by a P in his own company. Harwood’s crew is also unprepared for the ruthless Haitian pirates who board his yacht, overcome passengers and crew and, in addition to the Russian commandos, threaten the salvors’ work to save their sunken wreck.
Readers will enjoy this story of lost treasure and the dangers and threats endured to save it. The book ends in a tale unique to the Caribbean and its adventurers. Brown has created believable and colorful characters and unexpected discoveries leading us to a tantalizing look into the paranormal and a rich understanding of the history and geology of the northern Bahamas.
— Jeanne Erickson
I just finished your book and posted my review on Amazon. Wow! I felt transported beneath the blue green tropical sea. Great, fascinating details made me slow my usual reading pace to savor this nicely nuanced yarn. Great job, I am very impressed, ok what book next of yours!? I have a deep love for the ocean, thanks to my dad getting me started snorkeling at a young age and his boating skills he passed on as we sailed and canoed all over Boston Harbor.
— Peter Ryan, diver and sailor
Your new book came just as my husband and I were leaving on a road trip. On the road, we began to read it together aloud a couple chapters at a time. We really enjoyed it! It got us so swept away into the energy and excitement as well as suspense, a real page turner. We are both so very impressed with the quality of your writing and the depth of knowledge you possess to have written about all those different elements with such acuity. You must have done a lot of research! We kept wondering – how did he think of all those intriguing, intertwining, convergences of characters and events???!!! What an imagination! So awesome. We haven’t read a book together in a very long time and it was such a nice thing to do and so fun!
— Marjie Petty
“Bedeviled Sea” by Jerry Earl Brown is a must read for adventure lovers
There really aren’t very many adventure-storytellers that really capture their audience and hold them on a roller coaster ride from beginning to end. “Bedeviled Sea” is a creative, wild collision of several different plots and characters that all connect with excitement and humor as well. I enjoyed the characters who doesn’t love a great buried treasure story! I give it a thumbs up!
— Suzi Badrena
As a diver, I find that the research you provide in your book on deep diving for sunken shipwrecks informative and riveting. The paranormal thread was especially fascinating.
— Alex
New book is great! This is a winner.,
Jerry Earl Brown’s previous books have been entertaining and well written. This book tops the list., The writing is descriptive, the characters interesting. I read it quickly and was very impressed. This should be enjoyed for exciting reading by many who are fans of this category.
— Peggie Hudiburg
5 Stars: An Adventurous and Compelling Story
An adventurous and compelling story that I wanted to keep reading and reading! The information and research surrounding the details were fascinating and posed some exciting possibilities for the future. I particularly like the balance between the characters, the science and the adventure. Yearning for more…
— Cynthia Anne Schomberg
5 Stars: Just fun reading
This book is just – fun. With lots of good things to learn about diving and a heavy dose of prescience about the new cold war with Russia.
— Randy Wolfe
5 Stars:
Really enjoyed the intriguing story and learning so much about the scuba world. While reading the book, 60 Minutes had an interview with Robert Ballard called The Unknown America and it provided amazing visual to what I was reading. I was impressed at how on target Jerry’s story is with the reality of the sea. Interesting read!
— Bev Obenchain
Eerie, erotic, and intriguing . . . science fiction at its classical best.
— Clive Cussler
This is, quite simply, the best science fiction novel I have ever read … As a powerful and sweeping work of the imagination, it belittles comparison with all but a very small handful of novels of every stripe that I have encountered in recent years.
— Clarus Backus, The Denver Post
Just want to say I just now finished reading — and enjoyed — your Under the City of Angels. I’m not a regular reader of science fiction. don’t recall what put me on to this book, maybe a photo of the cover, and mention of Los Angeles under water. . .. enjoyed imagining that! Thanks for writing the book. if this drives even one other reader to your novel, it’s good.
— John McVey; Cambridge Massachusetts
5 Stars:
This is a nice thriller story of Vendetta and deadly hide and seek in the submerged ruins of LA. . . which then suddenly gets sucked into an interstellar war on the other side of the known universe. But under it all, what holds you is Jack Kelso as he fights to survive and come out on top in a shark-eat-shark world.
— Caragen87
Jerry Earl Brown tells a great story.
Great story well told. I had not read a sci fi book in ages and this was a real treat. Smart manly ex scientist renegade hero operating his own nuclear sub in the waters above a Los Angeles city that had sunk during a great, mysterious cataclysm. And now the beautiful woman who appears to ask for our hero’s help.. What is her mission? What has she to do with the war going on halfway across the galaxy. Stay tuned and find out! PS I just read a 1934 LA newspaper article about something under the City of Angels. I wonder if the author was aware of it. Strange coincidence.
— Patricia Smith
Hello,
Just want to say I just now finished reading — and enjoyed — your Under the City of Angels. I’m not a regular reader of science fiction. don’t recall what put me on to this book, maybe a photo of the cover, and mention of Los Angeles under water.
I’m from Los Angeles, long-ago transplanted to Tokyo (for a few years) and for the last 26 in Boston. Enjoyed mention of Islip Island — 40+ years ago, hiked that ridge from Islip Saddle all the way to Mt Baden-Powell and every peak between them. and back to camp at Islip Saddle.
Once bicycled up Angeles Crest Hwy all the way beyond there, to the road that heads (headed, closed many years ago) down through Crystal Lake and out around Azusa.
Anyway, I’m rambling, but enjoyed imagining Los Angeles under water!
Thanks for writing the book. I mention it in a post on tumblr, at http://asfaltics.tumblr.com/post/119947809866/exit-2
Good Read!.
I am a fan of this guy read under the city of angels 30 years ago and still read it every couple of years will do the same with this one. The storyline is somewhat perverted if you read it you will see what I’m saying
— woodsyman762
Spellbinding … full of powerful images and a mesmerizing aura of sexuality … an exciting and disturbing book about a future we may already be stumbling into without any idea of the consequences that Brown so chillingly presents.
— Connie Willis; winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards
An unusual clone novel in that it concentrates on characterization and depth rather than stereotypes … a keen eye for detail … subtle skill when it comes to creating meaningful sexual scenes … Highly recommended for those readers who enjoy intellectual science fiction … sexuality and sensuality, reality versus illusion, and ethics. Excellent characterizations!
— Harold Lee Prosser; Fantasy Review
4 Stars: CIA and KGB race to the Himalayans for a mysterious object
A very enjoyable read by Jerry Earl Brown. In much the same vein as Alistair MacLean’s “Ice Station Zebra”, we find KGB/Spetznaz and CIA/Ranger teams racing each other for a downed Soviet space station high in the heart of the Himalayan mountain range. The space station contains a canister that the Soviets want back very much, with the Americans dying of curiosity as to the importance of the object. Both teams of commandos and scientists suffer hugely in their attempt to scale 20K+ heights. The Americans are led by two adventurers; combat fatigue casualties of VietNam, driven by the mostly crazed widow of a professional expedition leader who died in the same area. In addition to the thrilling aspects of this highly readable adventure, it also offers some very interesting insights into existentialism, and the search for clarity as the mists close in. Written in 1990, the only drawback to this otherwise well fleshed out story is the leftover rampant jingoism of! ! the early 1980’s as displayed in the dialogue of both the CIA and KGB agents. A minor amount of coarse language, and some fairly detailed, but not explicit, sexual activity is included in the text. Nicely done, Jerry. Any more?
— anonymous
A very enjoyable read by Jerry Earl Brown. In much the same vein as Alistair MacLean’s “Ice Station Zebra”, we find KGB/Spetznaz and CIA/Ranger teams racing each other for a downed Soviet space station high in the heart of the Himalayan mountain range. The space station contains a canister that the Soviets want back very much, with the Americans dying of curiosity as to the importance of the object. Both teams of commandos and scientists suffer hugely in their attempt to scale 20K+ heights. The Americans are led by two adventurers; combat fatigue casualties of VietNam, driven by the mostly crazed widow of a professional expedition leader who died in the same area. In addition to the thrilling aspects of this highly readable adventure, it also offers some very interesting insights into existentialism, and the search for clarity as the mists close in. Written in 1990, the only drawback to this otherwise well fleshed out story is the leftover rampant jingoism of! ! the early 1980’s as displayed in the dialogue of both the CIA and KGB agents. A minor amount of coarse language, and some fairly detailed, but not explicit, sexual activity is included in the text. Nicely done, Jerry. Any more?
A spellbinding climbing mystery … physical descriptions of the landscape, the complex depth he gives to his characters, and particularly his dialogue, are first-rate … fully believable people caught up in a series of strange events in Thailand and Nepal, all woven into a web of CIA and KGB intrigue.”
— Ed Wilson; Climbing Magazine; Everest Summiteer
Synopsis:
For twenty years a lethal secret has been hidden in the Himalayas above Katmandu. A U.S. biological experiment – using military criminals – went horribly wrong, and the escaped subjects have survived. An elite military unit is sent to wipe them out. As two American mountaineers race to save a woman climber from a catacomb of
death, they uncover the real terror that is behind Operation Snowman – and the
only way out is through the use of skills they learned in combat.
Synopsis:
Few space colonists dared venture back to an Earth that most believed uninhabitable. For its own ends, the EarthWatch authorities forbade and enforced a no-return policy with orbiting sentinels that ringed the planet and were capable of vaporizing any transgressor. Only Chia Swann would brave a secretive mission to a world thrown back to the Stone Age — where the lucid glance of one human inhabitant would tell her all she needed to know: humankind had survived the holocaust. Planet Earth could still sustain life amid the dangers and devastation. And Chia was determined to enlighten and aide what survivors she could despite the lethal and totalitarian eye of EarthWatch.
