Review: Set sail with adventure
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 21, 2013
The Sapphire Sea by David Andrews is a tale of the high seas, with action, suspense. and romance at its heart.  Reading the description of the novel, one might think it is the story of a ship on its last voyage—and we start out with the demise of the ship, the Sapphire Sea.  The ship itself is a nice bit of symbolism for the cast of characters and their lives.We start out with Allen Shortland, (though we don't know it yet) in a precarious situation, his ship has just sunk after an explosion, he is alone at sea, but not very much afraid.  He stays level headed as he goes through a well-practiced routine, thinking clearly about what he must do to survive and be rescued.  Finding another survivor, he rethinks his situation when he remembers that there are sharks in the water.The author takes us back before the ship sinks and into the life of Allen, his ex-wife and his daughter whom he hadn’t had much contact with in the last while.  The pot is stirred nicely, with a diverse cast of characters that we meet one at a time as they come aboard the Sapphire Sea.  The descriptions are simple, not heavy handed, but paint an instant picture of the character—the red veined nose of a drinker —the sour smell of flatulence that surrounded like a cloak – not a lot of time is spent describing a person’s physical self, but yet the pictures are clear.  As are the glimpses into Australian life.Unfamiliar nautical, shipping and sailor’s terms abound, but rather than distract from the story they belong, there isn’t an apparent dumbing down to the reader, no explanations of terms the characters would readily know.  The story is not really about the ship, it is a character driven story, but the terms and practices belong just as the characters do.Going along, we are drawn into Allen’s life and his regrets and his desire for second chances, and yet in the back of the reader’s mind we know he is the one in the water and expect a bitter sweet ending.  I won’t give away the ending, or the outcome.I love books written from a different nationality’s POV.  While they are instantly familiar, love, regrets, the desire to put things right that went wrong, the viewpoint is almost always fascinating—The Sapphire Sea doesn’t disappoint.  It moves along nicely, drawing you to turn the page to see what comes next, and whay new bit you can discover.This reader will be looking for more books by David Andrews.