This was my first time reading a Doc Ford book.

I normally don't say this about a book, but my goodness, as someone who is new to the Doc Ford series, the author really needed to give the reader some background. I still don't know what Doc Ford does, who he works for, how he got to be the way that he is, who is Hannah, who is Isaac?

There was so much backstory that needed to be filled in that it was hard to understand what was going on at times.

Further, the author constantly begins to get into the heart of a matter and then suddenly stops and says well you can imagine what happened. NO I CAN"T that is why I am a reader!

The saving grace for this book was when the hurricane hit, the Russians coming out and looting houses and Doc and Weatherby trying to prevent them from doing so, was so compelling. It made me super interested in the plot line.

Overall, going forward, I hope that the author will put in some background into Doc Ford and what all the characters mean to each other.

The author has some good ideas that need to be flushed out.

One Deadly Eye is the 27th (!!!) Doc Ford adventure thriller by Randy Wayne White. Released 4th June 2024 by Harlequin on their Hanover Square Press imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a very very well written thriller with an impressively palpable sense of dread throughout which the author ratchets up to a white-knuckle crescendo. The threats of a huge hurricane hitting his home area alongside trying to protect his family and friends from a vicious gang of paramilitary killers has Doc pressed to the limit.

Apart from saving his corner of the world from Eastern European thugs and assassins, he's got loads of personal troubles explaining to his fiance Hannah that he might just be a fixer and spy and *not* just a mild-mannered ecology minded professor of biology.

It's very well researched and the author does a fantastic job of scenery and settings, with hair-raising descriptions of the wildness and brutality of a raging hurricane.

Four and a half stars. This would be a good choice for fans of mystery thrillers, for public library acquisition, or for a binge/buddy read. Very high quality fiction.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Great story line
The suspense had me on the edge of my seat. If you like action and history doc ford novels are for you. I have read all in series as well as Hannah Smith series by same author and find this one as good if not better. Can read this one without having read others but be prepared to want to go back and follow doc ford's tales from the begining. Living and owning #annettes book nook in the area and seeing hurricane aftermath first hand I was a little hesitant to read at first but was so glad I did. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a good suspenseful Florida read. By Oct. 2024 Annette's beach book nook on fort Myers beach will finally reopen after being devastated from Hurricane Ian and I'm thrilled to be able to to share Randy Wayne White's books with everyone again.

I'm sure I read at least an instalment in this series or it's a sort of delusion to to justify why I never read anything before and I missed well developed and intriguing characters, solid plots and surpring and well plotted mysteries.
This is a good one, it kept reading and guessing and made me understand I want to read the other 26 instalment.
It can be read as a stand alone but i'm sure you will enjoyed it more after reading the series
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A wild, sometimes very violent addition to the long running series that will be fine as a standalone. Fans should know that Hannah and Tomlinson are more or less absent thanks to the Cat 5 hurricane bearing down on and then attacking Florida as Doc Ford finds himself battling a group of ruthless Russian mercenaries who have come to rob the mansions. Whew. This is almost all action as Doc and his new ally Dr. Max Weatherby first defend against and then go on the offensive toward the psychopath Pavlo. It's atmospheric (hurricane), filled with weapons both real and experimental (watch out for Weatherby). Just when you think it's turned into a chaotic chase over the top tale, there's Mrs Lazlo. And Pete the dog. And a gator. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A page turner.

After a few years of anticipation Doc Ford is back! In One Deadly Eye by Randy Wayne White, Doc and the locals on Dinkins Bay are tracking a hurricane and beginning preparations. Throw in some shady Russians with a Cat 5 storm and the action is nonstop. Fast paced mystery which I couldn’t put down!

Brutal And Effective Violence That Jack Reacher Would Be Proud Of. Admittedly I stepped into this book not realizing when I signed up for the blog tour that this was number 27 in a series, so there are likely elements to this tale that I completely missed out on.

That noted, the tale as told works within itself to tell a complete tale + a couple of open ended teasers (not really "cliffhangers" as at least one other reviewer described them) such that it *is* possible to enjoy this book for itself, but obviously if you are an "absolutely no spoilers of any minute kind" type of reader... eh, start all the way back at book 1 here. :)

As for the story told... I wasn't joking in the title of this review. I've read more graphic violence than this (hello, Code Alpha by Joseph Massucci and Without Remorse by Tom Clancy), but this is certainly up there. Hell, even the modern Mortal Kombat games with their ultra-realism and X-ray moves sometimes seem less graphic than some of the violence White gives us here. And yet the expected quippy banter is still present as well, providing just enough smiles to keep this from going to near slasher level action.

Set during a Cat 5 hurricane, some of the stuff described seems a bit implausible... but then, this is an action book, so meh, already suspending disbelief for the rest of the plot, might as well suspend it a bit more there. Otherwise, the hurricane doesn't provide much "atmosphere" to the book, but *does* provide quite a few set pieces for the action sequences to look that much cooler.

Ultimately, this is one of those books that as long as you approach it as you would say WWE or the Fast and Furious franchise - ie, just go with the flow and enjoy the spectacle - it absolutely works. If you're looking for anything more serious than that, you're going to be disappointed.

Very much recommended.

I initially was reading through the series and, only now notice, I hadn't marked those in Goodreads. A bunch I don't remember which I read. I do recall I read the series out of order as I found the books. I was having a problem with the politics and other issues in content and I wasn't nutty of White's writing style.

That didn't stop me from gathering the entire series over the decades. I just hadn't read one in a long time and wasn't sure if I'd go back to reading the series.

When this became available through NetGalley.com, I thought it's time to read white again. It's the 27th entry. Authors lose a lot of steam at this point after 30 years of the dame character in novels. Starting the book, there were headwinds of still another Florida book shrouding a lousy book idea in a hurricane. Ugh!

I was wrong. The plot under it all is the standard bad guy thieves and the hero out to be the hero. It's the very involved plotting and storytelling that separates this as the very many before it.

Firs, the hurricane narrative: There are lots and lots and lots of Media that dip a tale in a Florida hurricane. Most do a poor to OK to good descriptions. The most portrayed narratives are of the storm coming and are usually the best of the coverage. The impact of storm is done next best. It's the aftermath that is nearly always a failure. That includes John D. MacDonald.

White does an outstanding job of depicting the entire storm, but goes beyond that involving the aftermath. As one who, like White, that has been through many a hurricane in Florida, the author goes above and beyond in his writing. I find it funny those reviewers who are taken aback by the dismal, violent writing White writes. What White has done is to have TWO adversaries in this book. The hurricane and the bad guys. The question should be which were the REAL bad guys and most violent? The mercenaries or the hurricane? White's narrative is brilliant in the reader considering the two.

Realize White doesn't leave a hurricane death toll. That is something hard to ever figure out in reality anyway. White also points to the likelihood that all dead, killed however, will be hurricane dead. Also, would one happen without the other?

There are a lot of characters strewn through the book. There's a needless side story of character Sammy and family, seemingly for emotional purposes. An unneeded distraction that impedes the flow of the book. Otherwise, the characters are quite a collection from all over the spectrum. One complaint I had with earlier books, I find here, too. The women are mostly all written the same. All tough broads to one degree or another that have very similar dialogue, though from different worlds.

It's the characters that I found of similar vein of Jame Hall's Thorn series. White's writing in certain ways is better and the story is far more far reaching. The cat and mouse chase spans chapters and well done. One complaint is a next to final encounter of good and bad, where the good could have pretty easily be sure bad is really gone. That's the biggest sloppiness I found.

Overall, this is the best of the series I've read and...

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 9 out of ten points.

What a thrilling book! It is non-stop action from beginning to end, as Doc Ford battles both a dangerous hurricane and a band of paramilitary, murderous thugs determined to wreak havoc and steal as much as possible while the hurricane rages. Doc Ford has remained on the island, despite the impending hurricane, concerned for those who were unable to evacuate, including an MI6 scientist. Randy Wayne White has vividly described the hurricane's wrath and its damage in chilling and realistic detail, based on the hurricane that devastated Sanibel and the entire gulf coast in 2022. The book is a brilliant combination of a chilling crime spree that pits Doc Ford against some of the most heinous criminals he has ever encountered, as well as a relentless hurricane on its own path of destruction. Although the violence is graphic at times, it is a book that I just could not put down, with exciting and unexpected plot twists throughout. This is one of my favorite book series, and this is an excellent addition to the series! Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for my advance copy. The opinions of this review are my own.

Marion “Doc” Ford returns to his Dinkin’s Bay Marina home near Captiva Island after conflicts with bad guys in South Africa. Russian mercenaries also converge in the area intent on revenge for Doc Ford’s work in South Africa. There’s also a strange physician/inventor on the island with a weapon that incapacitates his enemies. All these things make up for an espionage thriller but Mother Nature is bearing down as a cat five hurricane. Local residents with recognize the storm as Ian with massive flood surges and 150 mph winds. The thriller aspect can be viewed with a skeptical eye as medical and boating supplies are in seemingly unlimited supply but desperate struggles to survive the storm of the century is spot-on.

It’s been a few years since the last Doc Ford book, but Randy Wayne White returns with “One Deadly Eye,” the twenty-eighth book in his acclaimed Doc Ford series.

In this installment, White plunges Ford into the aftermath of the century’s most devastating hurricane on Sanibel Island. The storm not only disrupts life but also sets the stage for a thrilling narrative filled with danger and mystery. As Ford receives a mysterious warning about paramilitary contractors using the chaos to commit crimes, the plot thickens, transforming the hurricane from a natural disaster into a formidable antagonist.

White excels in weaving atmospheric tension and suspense throughout the novel. The hurricane, personified as an unstoppable force, reshapes lives and unveils hidden sins. Amidst this turmoil, Ford confronts both external threats and introspective challenges concerning his vulnerabilities and loyalties.

The character development is robust. Ford, a retired NSA agent, is portrayed with compelling depth, engaging readers with his determination and moral integrity as a protagonist. The supporting cast, including a British inventor, an NSA director, and members of the Russian mob, provide a dynamic backdrop, adding complexity and intrigue to the storyline.

The dialogues are sharp, particularly the banter among characters, which injects lightness into the otherwise tense narrative. The detailed descriptions of the hurricane’s impact are particularly striking, offering vivid imagery that enhances the novel’s gritty realism.

Randy Wayne White’s “One Deadly Eye” is a gritty crime thriller that stands out in the Doc Ford series. With its blend of suspense, character depth, and the relentless force of nature, the book is a must-read, delivering all the thrills fans have come to expect and enjoy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

Randy Wayne White's "One Deadly Eye" is a gripping mystery novel that immerses readers in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane on Florida's Gulf Coast. As the tempest subsides, chaos ensues, and our protagonist, Doc Ford, finds himself entangled in a web of danger, deception, and dark secrets.

After the deadliest hurricane in a century ravages Sanibel Island, Doc Ford receives a cryptic warning from a state department contact. Paramilitary contractors have exploited post-storm chaos to commit crimes—stealing and killing with impunity. Doc dismisses the warning until the night the hurricane strikes. Alone in a deserted marina, he faces a twelve-hour window of vulnerability. No law enforcement, no first responders—just a ticking clock before help arrives.

But there's more at stake than survival. A British physician, an enigmatic inventor, and a possible MI-6 asset reside nearby. Their presence isn't coincidental. As the storm rages, Doc grapples with questions: Will other visitors emerge? What secrets lie hidden in the hurricane's wake?

White masterfully weaves suspense, intrigue, and atmospheric tension. The hurricane becomes a character—an unstoppable force that reshapes lives, unearths buried sins, and tests human resilience. Amid the chaos, Doc Ford confronts not only external threats but also his own vulnerabilities and loyalties.

Doc Ford, a retired NSA agent and marine biologist, is a compelling lead. His determination, resourcefulness, and moral compass drive the narrative. Supporting characters—each with their own agendas—add depth and complexity. The British inventor, the N.S.A. Director, and the criminal brotherhood known as Bratva collide in a high-stakes game where survival hangs in the balance.

White's prose is crisp, evocative, and unpretentious. He captures the raw beauty of Florida's coast, juxtaposing it with the storm's fury. Dialogue crackles with authenticity, and the pacing keeps readers on edge.

"One Deadly Eye" is a hurricane of suspense—a page-turner that explores human nature when pushed to its limits. Randy Wayne White delivers a thrilling mystery that lingers long after the final chapter. Whether you're a Doc Ford fan or a newcomer, this novel is a must-read for lovers of atmospheric thriller.

Intense and thrilling, the author has described a real hurricane scenario with a plethora of really bad guys that are so heinous that you almost want to put the book down ,but you can't! This is a fabulous read! Non-stop action, danger, fear inducing terror as Doc Ford and other familiar characters face a tremendous hurricane and a gang of Russian killer/thieves who are there to rob the millionaire's houses of art and jewels but also to kill Doc and his "family".
The author is an accomplished writer on this topic because he actually lives and owns an establishment in the Sanibel area. This area of Florida was devastated by Hurricane Ian in 2003. This is the 27th book in the Doc Ford series, and they are all excellent, but this might be the best one yet.

I had been an avid reader of this series, but skipped some of the recent ones (and started his YA series, but only read a couple; both decent).

It was nice to catch back up, and there were a few developments I hadn't been aware of, in Ford's life.
I particularly enjoyed the hurricane description, and the focus on Sammy and his group and their attempts to deal with the horrible storm

I also enjoyed the banter between Ford and other characters.

I didn't care for the level of brutality described that dealt with the human antagonists though, and while I thought the idea of awful people targeting hurricaine victims, and know this takes place, this aspect in the novel was a bit too much and a bit too unbelievable.

I also didn't care for the ending in terms of Tomlinson, Hannah and the choice Ford makes, but guess it makes a decent cliff hanger, and I will more than likely read the next book

I was excited to read the latest thriller by Randy Wayne White after a recent visit to Sanibel island, where the damage from the 2022 hurricane was quite visible. The premise of White’s new “Doc Ford” novel involves gang of thieves and mercenaries who stalk the island during the storm, looting and killing while law enforcement is otherwise occupied. The descriptions of the island—before, during, and after the storm—are detailed and enveloping. White has employed very real details of this event to construct the setting for this book, and it is an incredibly vivid account—and the perfect environment for the events that take place. Doc Ford is a great protagonist, and his relationships with many islanders fill out the narrative here. The storm causes a lot of damage, which can be difficult to read, but the humans create much more, and the details are often gruesome. Overall, One Deadly Eye is a great addition to this series. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a fan of Randy Wayne White for many years and have followed his hero Doc Ford through hell and back. But never has the danger been so close and personal as a category 5 hurricane in your front yard.
One Deadly Eye captures many of White’s true experiences when Hurricane Ida visited South Florida and Sanibel Island in 2022. White road the storm out and was incommunicado for several weeks.
In the fictional Dinkin's Bay marina where Doc Ford and friends live, residents are fearful of the approaching storm. Doc's stoner/guru pal Tomlinson sails out early as many others leave., including Doc's fiance Hanna Smith and their young son.
But more than a hurricane is headed Doc's way. Due to some clandestine espionage out of the country, the Russians are coming. A crew of mercenaries, led by a serial killer called the Vulture Monk, are sailing in to rob, pillage and kill. Millioaires Row, a quarter mile of mansions, is their prime target. Doc Ford is top of their kill list.
Strap in tight for a very bumpy ride. White pulls no punches as Doc, a doctor/inventor and a an elderly survivor fight for their lives against raging winds, giant alligators and fully automatic weapons.
The Vulture Monk is the author's most heinous villain ever, as cruel and unkillable as his distant relative Rasputin.
Who will survive the assault and aftermath of this killer hurricane combined with merciless mercs? Open One Deadly Eye and enjoy Randy Wayne White's nightmare up close and personal.

Another intensely griping novel by White. A thrilling adventure in to hurricanes and intrigue. Each book outdoes the last. The characters and setting are amazing as always. A must read!

My Florida library patrons have been clamoring for a new Doc Ford book from Randy Wayne White, and One Deadly Eye won't disappoint. Ford is up to his old tricks in this fast-paced adventure set in the middle of Hurricane Ian as it pummeled Sanibel Island and the Florida coast. Thanks to the publisher for providing this advanced copy.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

I have been a huge fan of White's Doc Ford and Captain Hannah novels, and normally love reading them, but this one goes a step too far making sadistic crooks/killers the focus of the story. I did myself go keep reading but had to repeatedly skip entire sections or chapters of this novel. I love mystery and suspense books but this Russian-convict-career-criminal plot was just horrific and not something I wanted to read about. Too twisted for me. I actually skipped the majority of the last third.