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A slow start to a great series.

Vibrant!

Sea-going adventure mysteryHellspout is a classic seventies thriller concerning the adventures of the fishery protection vessel Marlin and its rough and ready crew. The Marlin arrives at remote Scottish island to pick up some wildlife experts who have been cut off from the mainland for a few days because of a storm. When they arrive the camp is abandoned and the island deserted. Webb Carrick and the crew of the Marlin set out to solve the mystery of the disappearing naturalists.
The title refers to a tidal cave which explosively spouts water out of a hole in the cliffs during storms. The deserted island and the booming Hellspout set the foreboding atmosphere to this novel.
While this book won't win any literary prizes it's a well written page turner in the "boys-own adventure" mode. Knox handles the action well and successfully creates suspense and mystery.
A big highlight of this book is the seventies tone (ie not politically correct!). There's not much feminism going on here, all the characters chain-smoke and very often start the day with a large whisky.
I love this book -but then given the dedication I would. I thoroughly recommend it if you like well written, un-taxing thrillers.


Rona

good for the right reader

There are better Fair Isle books

UNSCIENTIFIC SELF-AGGRANDIZEMENT1. "Doctor" Knox is actually an UNLICENSED chiropractor, not a "Physician."
2. The favorable reviews by "Sharon" are really Knox's self-promotion. He frequently uses that identity to say wonderful things about himself and his book. There is even a "Sharon" website that contains only links to Knox's website, and stories that are instantly identifiable as Knox's undisguisable style.
3. The "information" in the book is backed up by only Knoxian anecdotes, speculation and citing of other medically discredited sources.
4. Much of the book is overlaid with Knox's own personal version of spirituality. While this is not itself inappropriate in a "personal" medical book, I found his belief system to range from sickeningly sweet, through offensive, all the way up to blasphemous (to mainstream Christianity, at least).
QUACKERY, PURE AND SIMPLEThe author of this compendium of quackery is well known in the on-line enema-interest community. He has constantly invaded chatrooms and message boards, where I have personally caught him misusing and misspelling medical terms, as he promoted this book of pseudoscience. If a layman can catch that, how is he qualified as a "physician" (as he terms himself)? I cannot see how anyone with such thin knowledge would dare to set himself up as an "expert," but this "author" has proven himself a legend in his own mind.
The book also has a number of religious ideas as loopy as his medical beliefs. Need I add that his knowledge of theology is matched only by his medical "expertise"? I would be more specific, but the more interesting bits seem actually blasphemous to me, and might well offend many others. Suffice it to say that the author is happy to fill us in on those Biblical sidelights about enemas that somehow got left out of the Bible.
One last point here. I notice that the customer reviews average as rather favorable, which is what moved me to add my two bits. The very first review by "Sharon" is (SURPRISE) written by the author himself. "Sister Sharon" is one of the female characters he uses for supportive posting about himself. "She" is the author of several drearily boring stories on "her" website, which, oddly is rife with links to Knox's website! I would therefore be suspicious of any overly sycophantic review here.
Love Thine Enemas & Heal ThyselfI know Dr. Knox, he is an excellent physician and writer. This book is not a research book, but Dr Knox references all the authors who have written on the subject and handles it very well.
The previous poster, never read the book, nor any of Dr. Knox's work. It is all available on line including two sample chapters from the book at his site for your review, http://www.lifeknox.com for those who would know what Dr Knox wrote about enemas and childbirth, colds and flu, candida, irritable bowel syndrome or cancer. It is all there in print, and useful, as is his book.
It helped me.
hugs
Sharon


Poor and incompleteThe original book is 5 (possibly 6) volumes, this edition only includes quick glances at each one and the last two volumes are introduced briefly. For anyone truly interested in seeing what the History of the Reformation is about this book is certainly not helpful.


Some useful info, but...

Jaw-droppingly bad
A Rush To Ignorance
This book is so bad it doesn't deserve a review title!
Another necessary aspect of this book that makes it less interesting than others in the series is that antisubmarine operations are necessarily small unit actions, unlike the great battles fought in the Pacific. It was a war of attrition, and was eventually won by improved tactics and equipment that caused the Germans to take unacceptable losses.
Having made these criticisms, Morison's series is essential for anyone interested in the details of the U.S. Navy's role in World War II. While later historians have questioned some of his judgments, no one will ever assemble so much so source material on the subject again.