A Long Way from Paradise

Richard Logan, a journalist on assignment, and his friend Chris Hutchinson, adecorated former green beret, and a group of skin divers are headed to a dream vacation on the Sea of Cortez. The group features an overbearing executive, two of his managers, and his wife and sister. A barely-averted bar fight mars their bon voyage gathering, but they soon set sail. They anchor in a small, private cove that features crystal-clear water and beckoning white sand beaches. Chris and his tourists learn the cove has more than one set of visitors but can't leave because of a storm. Logan and Chris see some familiar faces when the group runs afoul of an international criminal cartel. A federal agent involved in an undercover investigation becomes a victim. Hutchinson and his guests find themselves kidnapped, beaten and forced to join a deadly game pitting hunter against hunted. Already one person has disappeared, and Hutchinson has been shot. It's up to Logan - a single man,naked and alone in the uncompromising Baja California desert -- to save them. It's a race against time, and Logan must use all his prowess in the water and skills he honed in the jungles of Vietnam to beat the hunters at their own bloodthirsty game. Writer and photographer Bruce Brown is an avid diver, sailor, surfer and rower. He studied Asian history at University of Southern California and lives in Pebble Beach,Calif. Brown is a former West Coast editor of Sailing World magazine and has written four nonfiction books, including "Open Water Rowing Handbook." This is his first novel.