Thrillers set in tropical locales seem to be the hot ticket in new fiction. It’s a crowded field with a lot of great competition. I’ve read most of them and will continue to grab up each new one that comes out. It’s hard to stand out in such a busy market, but John H. Cunningham has managed to do so with his Buck Reilly series. 

  Buck flies a float plane, so Cunningham has developed a sure-fire method to insert his hero into almost any tropical scene with ease. It’s also reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett’s early tales. There are three books in the series and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

First up is Red, Right, Return:

Buck Reilly’s a lot like the rest of us–trying to make ends meet and hoping for better times. He’s living in a Key West hotel and operates Last Resort Charter and Salvage aboard a 1946 Grumman Widgeon flying boat, hunting for sunken treasure and taking on an occasional passenger, no questions asked. But when he delivers a mysterious woman to a mission boat destined for Cuba, things start going downhill quick. He faces down the dark forces of Santeria priests, Cuban Secret Police, and an FBI agent with a grudge. Buck has nothing but ingenuity to save his skin and the lives he put in peril … and prevent a war with America’s longest-running enemy … When you see the world through Buck Reilly’s eyes, the view will never be the same.

Next in the series is Green To Go:

Buck Reilly went to hell and back in Red Right Return. In Green To Go, it’s a one-way trip. Good news turns bad fast, and the bad just keeps coming in this thrilling new Buck Reilly adventure. The unexpected contents of his parent’s Swiss bank account offer Buck a chance to dig himself out of the hole he’s been in since the recession hit, but first he must recover the treasure maps and clues he lost at sea. Those plans get put on hold when a friend is accused of orchestrating the biggest theft in Key West’s sordid history, and the FBI uses Buck’s past against him to demand that he search for the thieves who fled aboard a hundred year-old schooner.

I just finished reading his recently released Crystal Blue:

Paid trip to the Caribbean sound good? Buck Reilly thinks so–flying rock stars and celebrities to a remote island for a charity concert seems a breeze–until all hell breaks loose when the promoter disappears and one of the A-list stars is kidnapped. The charity’s vision to revolutionize women’s Choice collides with a collection of threats that sends Buck on a wild race through the Virgin Islands fighting forbidden lust and multiple crazed killers determined to derail the event. When the facts are turned upside down and all seems lost, Buck’s motley network of smugglers, arms merchants, and island eccentrics steer him to a full moon showdown to save not only the victims but the charity’s mission and the woman he’s falling for. Crystal Blue is a white knuckle ride from Key West to the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. A thrilling addition to the Buck Reilly series that includes Red Right Return and Green to Go.

I gave it Five Stars in my Amazon review:  Action, Action, and More Action

I’ve got to give this to Cunningham, he knows how to keep a story moving, and moving fast. There is no downtime in this fast paced adventure. Good old Buck is like an old friend. The supporting characters area interesting in their own right and superbly described. Loved that the settings are mostly places I’ve been to and would love to return to. Right near the end, some might find the rescuer implausible, but it was all in good fun and certainly fit into the plot. Well worth the read.

Visit John’s Amazon Author page here: http://www.amazon.com/John-H.-Cunningham/e/B005ZF3CHS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Green To Go is FREE today. Green To Go is FREE today.