The salt spray flies in this ocean-soaked adventure thriller by a writer (Red Sky at Morning) who really knows the sea. Physical training expert Jim Leighton knows nothing about sailing boats, but signs on for what should be a pleasant and profitable body-conditioning six-week ocean voyage to Rio as the personal trainer of an elderly and eccentric capitalist, Will Spark. They will sail alone on Spark's new diesel-powered sailboat, the Hustle. But Jim soon finds himself on a wilder ride than he had expected, forced to crisscross the Atlantic to escape Will's implacable enemies. Garrison paints a somber picture of rampaging capitalism, with financial predators stopping at nothing to acquire power. In Nigeria, one of Will's former lovers is hired to murder Will; he kills her, but is seriously hurt. With Will sidelined, Jim learns much about sailing as they recross the Atlantic to Brazil. Meanwhile, Jim keeps getting e-mail updates from Shannon Riley, the woman he loves back in Connecticut, who researches the checkered past of his likable but devious employer. A man of many aliases, Spark is being pursued by the ruthless and powerful McVay Humane Foundation, whose directors want the microprocessors he has invented, which may be inserted into the bloodstream to detect and counteract a number of physical problems, so are worth a fortune. There are surprising revelations as the trip gets deadlier and the harried sailors flee to the Falklands and skirt Antarctica. Garrison ratchets up the suspense in deft segments, and his portrait of an angry sea is fully alive, from nights of star-filled beauty to tornadolike waterspouts and hazardous ice floes. (Feb.)
