Mettle

Michelsen (Hard Bottom) pits a commercial sea captain against a broken ship and an insubordinate crew in his disappointing new novel. Lorenzo Fuller captains the Pacific Debenture, a grain freighter, off the coast of southeast Africa and tries to get the wayward and ailing ship back on track. But the memories of the woman he has loved and lost haunt him. Michelsen awkwardly switches back and forth between the story of the ship's voyage and the memories of how Lorenzo came to know and love Grace Winslow, who has mysteriously disappeared. Between on-shore run-ins with mobs and ineffectual local law enforcement and the ship's own secrets, Lorenzo tries to pilot his damaged ship and rebellious crew to safety. Michelsen overwrites long passages of banal material-even the ""air is thick and humid as minestrone""-which obscures his story and makes it difficult to connect with his characters. Fans of nautical tales will enjoy the climactic scene, but anyone not enamored of salty dog stories will have a tough time getting their sea legs here.