JOHN LOCKE

John Locke is an adventurer.

In a useful blurb about Locke on the first recorded adventure, we are told that Locke was "born to danger" and that "he's a roving sailor. Former cop. Veteran of Vietnam and other dirty wars. And the man to turn to when danger simmers to the exploding point". And lastly, "the man that trouble - and women - just can't leave alone". And one that I particularly liked: "the civilian soldier for hire with a hunger to keep moving!"

By roving sailor, the author means that he lives aboard and travels the South Pacific in his forty-four ketch on which he explores a wide range of regions all in the South Pacific, usually just north of Australia. I do mean wide as the first adventure has him initially off the capital of New Caledonia and the second on the island of Bali in Indonesia, a distance of 3500 miles. Considering he tells us that 150 nautical miles would be "a triumphant day of passage making", that some range.

One fascinating aspect to Locke which he shows us immediately in the first recorded adventure is that he might not want trouble but he definitely prepares for it. When he spots some would-be pirates approaching his ship in the wee hours of the morning while sailing off Noumea, he tells us that he had "times such moments before so I know it took me less than five seconds to go below and return to the cockpit with some useful equipment". This shows he not only prepared, he practiced. This attention to detail and anticipation of problems is manifested in most things that Locke does.

While the chronicles of Locke's activities clearly denote him as a 'troubleshooter' and there is definitely much to that, I used the term adventurer because above his propensity for finding situations needing his intervention is his incredible love of just be out there doing something. The adventures we are allowed to join him on, albeit from our safe armchairs, are the types that it would be easy to see a government operative being given; Locke is chosen because he is good at that sort of thing and he is deniable.

At times Locke's narrative is almost a travelogue and an homage to the sea and through it the reader can feel like he/she is behind the helm with Locke as he moves to yet another place that he would love to see again, mindful, of course, that there are likely people there who will try to kill him.

When I first saw the name of author on a trio of books that had the unmistaken feel of adventure fiction, I squinted a bit because I knew I knew it. From where, though, well, that escaped me until sometime later when I learned that it was as the man who helped create the television version of one of my absolute favorite dramas - Perry Mason. What I did not know back then (then being the late 80s and thus a ways before the modern Internet) was that he also created Naked City which my parents enjoyed and Route 66 which we all did. He also wrote the screenplays for movies that I have watched several times and loved, like In The Heat Of The Night and The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure.

Obviously the man knew how to tell stories for both the big and small screens.

These three books show that he also could handle deftly the printed page. These are terrific reads!