Black Water Transit
Author: Carsten Stroud
Publisher: Dell
First released: 2001
Genre: Suspense/Crime
Format: Fiction/Paperback

----- Introduction -----

Check any newsstand or bookstore and you will find a preponderance of crime novels. Many of these books are merely filling sales space on the rack, and are lacking both an engaging story and characters that are memorable in any way. I hadn’t heard of Carsten Stroud until I picked up Black Water Transit (BWT). Since I would be taking a trip soon, I needed a book to occupy my time. As I browsed the muddle of books available at the newsstand, the cover was unique enough to grab my attention.

After reading the first few pages I decided I liked Stroud’s writing style and consequently purchased the book. I hate to sound cliché, but I didn’t stop reading until I finished the whole book. At just over 400 pages, BWT is a well-endowed book for the $7 Dell asks you to pay. I haven’t seen any other books written by Stroud since I first read BWT. His previous work includes Close Pursuit (NY Times Best seller), Sniper’s Moon, and Iron Bravo. I can only hope his other novels have the same blend of intense action scenes, intricate plot, narrative energy, and sardonic humor that makes BWT shine.

----- Laaaadies and Gentlemen… Earl V. Pike vs Jack Vermillion! -----

Black Water opens with Earl V. Pike driving his Mercedes down a stretch of the Taconic parkway in New York. He’s on his way to a meeting with Jack Vermillion, the co-owner of Black Water Transit shipping company. Earl is a former military man who now works for Crisis Control Systems. CCS is a company that employs ex-military heavyweights to enforce and offer security for various international locations. With global tensions climbing and many corporations working in various third world countries, there is a high demand for Crisis Control’s brand of “security”. Earl is attempting to make contact with Jack in order to secretly ship a large container of federally banned firearms.

His attention is drawn back to the road when an angry driver begins to tailgate him and drive aggressively. Earl exits the Taconic and attempts to forget about the black GMC that is still following him. After a mile or two the GMC pulls out to pass Earl’s Mercedes even as a blue pickup is rounding the corner in the oncoming lane. The GMC barely makes the pass, and suddenly brake lights flash as he abruptly pulls over. Earl follows the GMC to the shoulder as the driver boils out of his truck and starts running towards his Mercedes. After the driver of the GMC uses every word he can think of from his extensive gangster vocabulary, he struts away and roars off down the highway. Earl has this little problem stemming from his years in combat; he doesn’t deal well with anger. As he watches the GMC fade into the distance, he decides on a dangerous course of action. Gravel sprays as the powerful Mercedes roars onto the road and starts to reel in the GMC. The fallout from Earl’s choice of action only becomes apparent as you near the middle of the book.

Jack Vermillion is a hard working lower-middle class guy who managed to build his company into an organization worth over 200-million. His friend, business partner, and fellow Vietnam veteran is Creek Johnson. Creek is the quintessential playboy with a taste for expensive things and a debt problem. The feds have always been suspicious of Black Water Transit for several reasons: Jack was a nobody who made it big in a relatively short time, he managed to get several lucrative contracts from under the noses of larger companies, and he defused a labor union takeover attempt without violence. Jack still maintains friendships with his childhood friends that are midlevel mob figures now, and this only increases FBI suspicion.

As Jack walks outside after a meeting with some financial consultants he is approached by Mr. Pike. Earl proceeds to ask Jack if he will transport the illegal weapons for a substantial “administrative” fee, $250K to be exact. Jack becomes quite defensive after hearing what is obviously a bribe, but doesn’t turn Pike down either. He tells him to wait for a day or two, and Jack will call him with a decision. His decision will change the course of his life forever, and affect many other people as well. He decides to turn Earl in to the A.T.F. for illegal weapons distribution. Jack’s son Danny is cooling his heels at Lompac prison in California for various weapons and narcotics violations. Jack has pleaded with the attorney to move Danny to a safer medium security facility, but no deal. Unless Jack can offer them something, a tip, maybe a bust or two, no deal can be made. In a moment of fatherly love, he finds himself explaining the details of the weapons shipment to a cold, calculating snake named Valeriana Greco that happens to be Assistant U.S. Attorney for the state of New York. She agrees to do the sting against Pike, but has a lot of conditions Jack must agree to. He will soon find out he messed with the wrong guy, and the feds are no help at all. His only help will come from NYPD officer Casey Spandau and Highway Patrol officer Nicky Cicero. Making a deal with Pike was a big mistake, but making him angry has turned into a nightmare…

----- Final Comments -----

Carsten Stroud has a unique writing style that I really enjoy reading. Black Water is written from a least 3 different perspectives, which makes it feel like a movie at times. In the beginning, scenes unfold as though they have a narrator describing the events that happen. Then it will switch into a first person mode, with the main character’s actions flowing right from the page. Stroud’s third style is an objective third person point of view, which differs from the narrator’s in that various characters have input on the situation, but the feeling is that of an observer, not a participant.

Stroud also injects sardonic and sometimes downright dark humor into almost every page, much like Stephen Hunter who is another of my favorite authors. His written dialogue and character interaction is alive and snappy, with each person breathing a unique personality. This book is about cops, crime, and justice, but Stroud doesn’t feed us the typical predictable stereotypes we’ve come to expect. The story bounces in all directions, fueled by the unpredictable characters at its core. Betrayals and allies in surprising places will keep you guessing until the last page is turned.

Here's a sample of his humorous character descriptions: "Officer Zargosa was huge, thick necked, and heavy shouldered, with a nose that took the long way down his face and made two lane changes on the way."

Unique descriptions and expressions appear on each page, and this makes BWT unlike any fiction paperback I’ve read before. If you like fiction based on crime and the legal system, you should enjoy BWT. Only steer clear if you prefer a more casual book with low stress levels. A final word about Carsten Stroud, any author that includes the phrase “by neddie-jingo” as an exclamation is okay by me.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment!
Openroad


Recommended: Yes