Review: Dartboard

Dartboard by J.D. Gordon (The Little Things Publishing, 2011) is available at Amazon.com and bn.com

Review by Randy Richardson

During the long, cold winter months, when the icy winds whip at my face, burning my dry, Midwest-pale skin, when I’ve trudged home through knee-high snowdrifts, I want nothing more than to plop down on the sofa recliner with a cup of hot cocoa, a wool blanket and a book. Not just any book, though. I crave a book that lifts me out of the winter doldrums and drops me in a place that might inspire a Jimmy Buffett song.  

Thankfully, J.D. Gordon has come to my rescue once again. Gordon, who penned the Eddie Gilbert tropical adventure series featuring Island Bound and Caribbean Calling, is back with a new protagonist but the same winning formula.

Gordon’s latest, Dartboard (The Little Things Publishing), begins in 1776, when a British payroll ship, the HMS Lorraine, goes down in a Caribbean storm. The story quickly jumps forward to present day, when small-town sheriff Jimmy Quigley inherits Dartboard, a classic motor yacht moored in the Florida Keys, from an uncle he barely knew.

From there the adventure sets sail, with Jimmy soon discovering that his Uncle Jackson, a real-life Indiana Jones working for the Field Museum in Chicago, has passed on to him a treasure map that leads to the gold that went down with the HMS Lorraine.  But Jimmy also comes to learn that he has inherited plenty of trouble as well. As it turns out, he’s not the only one on the hunt for the lost treasure. A modern-day pirate adventure ensues, filled with danger, exotic locales and colorful characters. 

If you’re looking to escape the winter blues, set your target on Dartboard.

Unlike most of those spinning tropical tales, Gordon doesn’t hail from Florida or similar warm, sunny climes, he resides in Chicago – and he brings into his writing plenty of Midwestern charm.  If you’re looking to escape the winter blues, set your target on Dartboard.