Arrow’s Fall

Canadian author Scott’s stirring sequel to 2018’s Arrow’s Flight finds Jared Kane, the book’s narrator and captain of the wooden sailing ship Arrow, moored at New Zealand’s North Island, along with Danny Maclean, his best friend, who “considers it his mission in life to rescue me from introspection and ensure I have a good time, the definition of which usually involves alcohol, and sometimes, women.” When marine biologist Laura Kennedy approaches Jared about chartering the Arrow for a scientific study, Jared turns her down, though eventually they meet again and he learns what Laura wanted all along: to use the boat as a base to locate a shipwreck reputed to contain a treasure. Also searching for the gold is enormously wealthy Robin Waverly, the owner of the super yacht Golden Dragon, with whom Jared and company come into deadly conflict. Fans of nautical thrillers will enjoy the sailing lingo (“Danny tied the half-inch nylon shock lines onto the rode and then back to the big Samson post”) as they happily ride the waves and dive the seas with the intrepid crew of the Arrow. (May)