Surface Tension

Literature & Fiction

Kling, Christine

Contemporary

Ballantine Books

In a stunning debut novel featuring a resourceful female amateur P.I., Christine Kling establishes herself as a major voice in suspense fiction. Surface Tension depicts a world as deceptive as a Florida land deal, as electrifying as the hottest Miami nightclub, and as dangerous as the tug of an invisible riptide. . . . SURFACE TENSION Years ago Seychelle Sullivan had the chance to save a person’s life. But on that summer night in Florida, lost in a world of teenage resentment and loneliness, Sychelle was not able to feel any pain but her own. Today Seychelle captains her father’s forty-six-foot salvage boat out of Fort Lauderdale’s New River. She’s seen change sweep through South Florida, and witnessed friends and lovers come and go. But she’s never escaped that one moment when she could have made a difference and didn’t. Now each time she rescues a ship in distress, a little hope is born in her again. On a steamy Florida morning Seychelle is answering a Mayday call launched from the five-million-dollar Broward yacht called Top Ten. Racing her fiercest competitor for salvage rights, Seychelle has a personal stake in this rescue: Her former lover, Neal Garrett, is the yacht’s hired skipper. But being the first to reach Top Ten will lead Seychelle to a bloody payday. A beautiful woman has been stabbed to death onboard. And Garrett is nowhere to be found. Even on shore, the pressures are mounting–Seychelle owes money on her boat, and her love life is in shambles. Within twenty-four hours of finding the dead woman and towing Top Ten out of the surf, Sychelle realizes that she has stepped into a lethal business involving some of South Florida’s sleaziest criminals. While the police treat her as the prime suspect, Seychelle begins to unravel a tangled plot centered on a strip club where “all the girls are tens on top.” Discovering the sordid secrets of the owner of the yacht she rescued and the fate of the man she had once loved, Seychelle is connecting human predators with innocent victims, and a mystery on land with a mystery buried deep beneath the sea. Now, to find out what really happened to Neal Garrett, Seychelle must retrace his last steps, through two murders and a horrific crime wave, to a final confrontation with someone who may want to kill her . . . or be her salvation.

A swamped boat in the Gulf Stream. A bloated corpse aboard. And a child clinging to life. When Seychelle rescues a traumatized Haitian girl, she promises to help the child find her American father. Determined to protect Solange, and prevent the authorities from deporting her, Seychelle must explore Florida's hidden world of voodoo in search of the forces that nearly killed the girl-and left her speechless with terror. With a murderer stalking the child, Seychelle races to unravel dangerous truths. But to do so, she must take to the sea, back to where it all started: in the waters of the Gulf Stream, where people died for their dreams of freedom- and a man with a machete did the work of the devil himself. If you like adventures on the high seas, strong women characters, and exploring the dark side of paradise, then you're going to love Christine Kling's Cross Current. Start reading now and get ready for a wild ride. Editorial reviews "Kling's prose is strong and authoritative... Cross Current is a taut, fast-paced thriller." -The Miami Herald "Exciting . . . Kling is an author who bears watching. She clearly knows how to add texture and color to her narrative... Cross Current is a keeper."-Tampa Tribune "We'll go on a boat ride with Seychelle anytime."-South Florida Sun-Sentinel "Christine rocks! Makes me love Florida more. Take a fun-loving writer, give her a pen or a tablet to key in, and you have magic in the air." -Amazon reader

Cross Current

1 AUTOGRAPHED, POCKET-SIZE SOFTCOVER BOOK

In her acclaimed novels of suspense, Christine Kling gives readers good reason to believe that if Travis McGee and Kinsey Millhone had ever hooked up, their child would have grown up to be Seychelle Sullivan: a beautiful, savvy heroine with a knack for steering her salvage tugboat into South Florida’s most troubled waters. In Seychelle’s new caper, she may just be in over her head when murder and corruption come bobbing to the surface. Since kindergarten, Seychelle and her best friend, Molly, had been as close as sisters. Molly even dated Seychelle’s brother. But it all ended suddenly when Nick Pontus, a slick, older, up-and-coming entrepreneur, came along. A smitten Molly quit school, married her new beau, and never spoke to Seychelle again. After thirteen years, it still stings. Seychelle didn’t see the sniper who picked Nick off at the helm of his yacht, but she knows that there are plenty of people in South Florida who wanted to see the gambling-boat tycoon dead: the Russian mobsters looking for a piece of his casino action, the Indian gamers who resent his competition, and the ecological activists fighting his plans to develop Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront. But it’s Molly whom the cops zero in on. And despite her bitter feelings and against her better judgment, when her back-from-the-blue friend asks for help, Seychelle can’t just weigh anchor and cruise. She’s got to dive in. What she finds is a money-skimming scam aboard Nick’s flagship gambling boat, Nick’s new trophy wife turned merry rich widow, and Nick and Molly’s teenage son, a scared kid with a big secret . . . and a killer on his trail. Protecting the boy, proving Molly’s innocence, and navigating between squalls of gunfire add up to a tall order as salvage jobs go. But like any good captain, Seychelle will never abandon ship. Even if it means risking her life.

Bitter End: A Novel of Suspense

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

In her Seychelle Sullivan novels, Christine Kling has brilliantly rendered the world of South Florida, as seen from the teeming waters around it. From harbors of Key West to the wilds of Biscayne Bay to the night lights of Miami, Kling’s tough-minded heroine has carved out a life that is uniquely her own. Now, this fiercely independent woman is at a turning point . . . and in a dangerous duel with an unseen enemy. In the 1800s, Key West was built by wrecking skippers who in feats of derring-do raced to shipping disasters to save valuable cargos from the ocean depths. Today, as too many boats chase too few wrecks, salvage has turned into a cutthroat corporate enterprise. Seychelle Sullivan, who pilots a tug her father built by hand, is unable and unwilling to compete. She is overwhelmed by issues of love, trust, motherhood, career, and family. But when a friend is killed, Seychelle begins to suspect a chilling scenario: that modern-day wreckers are causing yachts to crash onto the reefs–and killing off whoever gets in the way. Nestor Frias was piloting a billionaire’s luxury power yacht on its maiden voyage when it ran aground. A few days later, Frias was dead. His eight-months-pregnant widow is distraught, and a host of questions surround both Frias’s death and the ship’s accident. When another man dies while asking questions, Seychelle navigates the dangerous shoals and channels of the case and her life, unaware that a greater danger is looming: a murderous human storm designed perfectly for her. With its vivid, colorful characters and rich sense of sea and land, Wreckers’ Key is a brilliant addition to Christine Kling's fascinating, entertaining, and thrilling Florida mystery series.

Wreckers' Key: A Novel of Suspense

SURFACE TENSION is the first in this suspense series featuring Florida tug and salvage captain Seychelle Sullivan. As a woman in a man's world, Seychelle has to work twice as hard just to compete. Some have even called her reckless. In her view, she's just doing her job, salvaging boats and people's lives.On a steamy Florida morning Seychelle answers a Mayday call launched from the five-million-dollar Broward yacht, the Top Ten. Racing her fiercest competitor for salvage rights, Seychelle has a personal stake in this rescue. Her former lover, Neal Garrett, is the yacht’s hired skipper. But being the first to reach Top Ten leads to a bloody payday when Seychelle finds a beautiful woman with a knife in her back — and Garrett is nowhere to be found.While the police treat her as the prime suspect, Seychelle begins to unravel a tangled plot connecting human predators with innocent victims, and a mystery on land with a mystery buried deep beneath the sea. Now, to find out what really happened to Neal, Seychelle must retrace his last steps through two murders and a horrific crime wave, to a final confrontation beneath the surface of the sea with someone who may want to kill her . . . or be her salvation.

Surface Tension (South Florida Adventure Series)

Genre Fiction

Tell-Tale Press

Seychelle's life takes a turn when her tug intercepts a swamped fishing boat in the Gulf Stream. Inside the boat is a little girl in a bloodied white dress. When Seychelle returns to shore with the traumatized Haitian girl, she is faced with the border patrol, the police, and an unraveling love affair. Determined to protect the child, and somehow keep her from being sent back to Haiti, Seychelle becomes obsessed with the forces that nearly killed the girl–and left her speechless with terror. All Seychelle knows for sure is that the girl's father was an American . . . and that somehow she slipped through a murderer's hands.With a murderer stalking the child, Seychelle is racing to unravel dangerous truths. But to get the answers she needs, she must return to the waters of the Gulf Stream, where people died for a hope and prayer– and a man with a machete did the work of the devil himself.Taut, suspenseful, and filled with remarkable descriptions of Florida's many moods and guises–from million-dollar waterfront homes to haunted, backwater mangrove swamps and secret Voodoo rituals–Cross Current is alive with personalities and passion and the work of an author boldly staking out territory all her own.

Cross Current (South Florida Adventure Series)

Bitter End is loosely based on the real South Florida murder of Greek immigrant tycoon Gus Boolis, once the owner of South Florida's Sun Cruz Casino Gambling boats. In this new caper, Seychelle may just be in over her head when murder and corruption come bobbing to the surface.Seychelle didn’t see the sniper who picked Nick Pontus, her ex-best-friend’s husband off at the helm of his yacht, but she knows that there are plenty of people in South Florida who wanted to see the gambling-boat tycoon dead: the Russian mobsters looking for a piece of his casino action, the Indian gamers who resent his competition, and the ecological activists fighting his plans to develop Fort Lauderdale’s waterfront. But it’s Molly whom the cops zero in on. And despite her bitter feelings and against her better judgment, when her back-from-the-blue friend asks for help, Seychelle can’t just weigh anchor and cruise. She’s got to dive in.What she finds is a money-skimming scam aboard Nick’s flagship gambling boat, Nick’s new trophy wife turned merry rich widow, and Nick and Molly’s teenage son, a scared kid with a big secret . . . and a killer on his trail. Protecting the boy, proving Molly’s innocence, and navigating between squalls of gunfire add up to a tall order as salvage jobs go. But like any good captain, Seychelle will never abandon ship. Even if it means risking her life.

Bitter End (South Florida Adventure Series)

From harbors of Key West to the wilds of Biscayne Bay to the night lights of Miami, Kling’s tough-minded heroine has carved out a life that is uniquely her own. Now, in WRECKERS' KEY, the fourth book in the series, this fiercely independent woman is at a turning point . . . and in a dangerous duel with an unseen enemy.Before Key West was the party capital of the Florida Keys, it was built by wrecking skippers who in feats of derring-do raced to shipping disasters to save valuable cargos from the ocean depths. But when a friend is killed, Seychelle begins to suspect a chilling scenario: that modern-day wreckers are causing yachts to crash onto the reefs–and killing off whoever gets in the way.Seychelle's dear friend Nestor Frias was piloting a billionaire’s luxury power yacht on its maiden voyage when it ran up on a reef. A few days later, Frias was dead. His eight-months-pregnant widow Catalina is distraught, and a host of questions surround both Frias’s death and the ship’s accident. When Cat turns to Seychelle for help in proving Nestor was murdered, Seychelle embarks on a dangerous course through the shoals and channels of the case and her life, unaware that a greater danger is looming: a murderous human storm designed perfectly for her.

Wreckers' Key (South Florida Adventure Series)

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Books by Kling, Christine

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kling, Christine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Surface Tension

Surface Tension

Cross Current

Cross Current

Bitter End: A Novel of Suspense

Wreckers' Key: A Novel of Suspense

Surface Tension (South Florida Adventure Series)

Cross Current (South Florida Adventure Series)

Bitter End (South Florida Adventure Series)

Wreckers' Key (South Florida Adventure Series)