Black Widow

By: Randy Wayne White

Narrated by: George Guidall

A cult of death.
A weapon of apocalyptic horror.
Juan Cabrillo must stop them both.

THE "FASCINATING" ( BOOKLIST) NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Some women you love.
Some women you hate.
Some women you survive.

Doc Ford is drawn into a deadly battle when his goddaughter Shay is blackmailed. Someone filmed her at an out-of-control bachelorette party?and they want big money to keep it quiet. When Ford investigates, he finds that the woman responsible is an agent of corruption unlike any Ford has ever encountered before. And she may be the last encounter he ever has.

Doc Ford

Excellent adventure. Doc Ford returns to his clandestine life. Well read and a good listen.

Good Plotting, but...

I've always liked RWW. I enjoy the setting, and on the whole I like Doc Ford. After probably 20 years away, I've been hitting the series again, and I've been really struck by the descriptions of women.

I do like that Doc doesn't insist that all women be in their 20s with flat stomachs and jong legs, but wow, there's still a pretty big tendency to evaluate women by their appearance. Breasts in particular come in for an enormous amount of description, to the point where I've begun to wonder about RWW's feeding regimen as a child. Because for a guy who doesn't seem to be obnoxious toward women, Doc sure spends a lot of time covertly reviewing women's breasts. I'm a hardcore sapiosexual, so it's particularly tiresome to me. Meaning, I don't really have a physical "type" - well, not since my early 20s. I'm attracted to people because of who they ARE, how they think, not what they look like. I've found that even the most stunningly attractive man becomes boring very fast when he's got no conversation.

I don't demand that everyone think like me. I don't mind at all that men find women physically attractive. I just get tired of being told, by SO many male novelists, that it's all we have to offer. As if we can check our personalities at the door as long as our tits are present. Usually Doc Ford isn't too bad in this arena - RWW has him looking and mentally commenting in a way that feels a little peeping tom-ish sometimes, but he has women friends, he sees value in brains, be likes a good conversation. But in this book, Doc either sleeps with or comes very close to sleeping with (possibly interrupted by timing, others) a woman who has very few redeeming features beyond looks. Who is downright unpleasant, in fact. It'd be one thing if Doc were puzzling over this, but he isn't. She's present, she's hot, so OBVIOUSLY he's going there. As if it's just normal to always put your, uh, Zamboni (to use RWW's terminology) anywhere it fits.

It's depressing, because it makes men look so stupid - blithely risking any sort of complications, hurting actual relationships that seem to have some value, just to fondle body parts that are slightly different, but not that much, from another set. It's not explained, it's not treated as unusual, it's just there, like he's kinda hungry and is gonna get a burger.

I'm used to this with Tomlinson - and tired of that too, because Tomlinson is quite intelligent (says RWW), has a life of the mind and a quirky personality, cares about people (ditto) and actually seems like he might be fun to know. But he cannot stop chasing p. It's mutual and consensual, and I wouldn't have a problem with it - but often Tomlinson doesn't actually seem to LIKE much about women, beyond their body parts. He seems to think that menses make all of us crazy, that we're mostly just a pain in the ass when he gets to know us. (News flash - we're not. But I've known men with this complaint, and almost every time they're SELECTING crazy women. Not secretly crazy either, but often downright mean, or crazy jealous, or self-centered and selfish, or neurotic to the point of exhaustion. What do you EXPECT from someone waving the absolute- bitch-and-proud-of-it flag 24/7?)

I've also known a few men who, regardless of their appearance, are INCREDIBLY popular with all kinds of women, including me. The thing they all have in common is that they genuinely LOVE women. Not just our bodies, not just sexual sensation, NEVER "conquest," but absolute genuine liking for US. Who we are, how our minds work, ALL our bodies, not just those made in the Playboy image - and they make it clear. We don't feel judged, or tricked, or lied to, or ever, ever demeaned. They're honest, they're straightforward, they're kind, and we are happy to sleep with them because we know it will be fun and drama-free, and we'll grin when we think about it for the rest of our lives. That doesn't describe Tomlinson.

Some men, upon reading this, will think it's a rant - and I'm happy to accept that it has those elements. But smart women who are tired of feeling like most men would happily trade those brains, the presence of personality, for a solid rack? They know how tired we are of men who act like nothing about who we actually ARE, matters.

USUALLY this isn't really an issue with Doc Ford, but this book? I don't know. I don't get it, and I was really tired, by the end of it, of every woman's breasts and hair being evaluated before anything else. Can you imagine the reaction if every male character's package was reviewed to this degree? And yet women are expected to tolerate it, every time. it just gets old.

Great Doc Ford novel

Having read plenty of Randy Wayne Right I will say this is one of his better efforts. You need not worry if you read this out of order with his other books, this book easily stands on its own.

clever and very interesting

doc Ford always helping friends out gets into another tangle with some really bad characters one of which was different from anyone I've ever heard of before

Fascinating read

A real page turner. The author certainly did his research on fish and other topics. It was well written and I was sorry it ended.