MAELSTROM: Part I (Ryan Cunningham)

A sailing adventure turns into a nightmare. Ryan Cunningham wakes up one day and realizes that the dreams and values he’s pursued and emulated for 37 years are those of his parents and grandparents. There’s nothing wrong with them, they simply aren't his. He sells his house, moves onto his sailboat and decides to go on an aquatic walkabout; sailing first from New England to the Caribbean and then wherever the wind blows him.

Just prior to his departure he meets a beautiful, younger, mother of two in recovery, who is trying to put her life back together. When he leaves the dock several weeks later his crew has grown by three to include Tory McCane, her 12-year-old daughter, Jan, and her 5-year-old son, Willy. On the first leg of their trip they survive a two-day storm of hurricane force winds on the way to Bermuda.

In Bermuda, they run afoul of an amoral, international drug smuggler named Edward and his mega-yacht full of misfits. Edward is transporting over 180 kilos of premium blow and Ryan vocalizes his suspicions about them to a customs inspector who attempts to take down them down. Edward gets a serious resentment and decides to make their lives a living hell; something he excels at. It will take everything they have to survive his attentions.

Maelstrom is a breathtaking, epic thriller, offered in three parts. Both a sea story and a love story, it also delves into loss, addiction, recovery, moral quandaries, evil, revenge, and retribution. It takes place in coastal New England, Bermuda, The Atlantic Ocean, Miami, and Key West. The reader will ride an emotional roller coaster exploring good and evil, weakness and strength, right and wrong. Sometimes the only way to survive is to reach deep inside to a dark and primitive place that resides in all of us.

The author is a licensed sea captain who has made over 20 sailing trips between New England, Bermuda and the Caribbean. He has also run larger ships in the oil fields, charter boats in the FL Keys, a ferry in Boston Harbor and sailed in the Mediterranean and South Pacific. He currently resides in Sarasota, FL with his wife Louise and their two black labs. His newest book Callie Awakens just received a 1st Place CLUE Award. The second book in the Callie series will be released early Fall 2022. Follow the author for notification.