On a Caribbean dive vacation, five friends discover a centuries old shipwreck – and a karmic debt past due. Wall Eddington has always done the correct thing. It’s part of being British, part of family tradition. Yet somehow someone drowned. Now, half a world away, he’s diving off an old sailboat with four American friends. As a vacation it’s a bit primitive, but just what his soul craves. Until … soul craves. Until they find a shipwreck.
Untouched and impossibly preserved, the thing bewitches with promises of gold. Their rush to claim it bogs down with odd accidents and petty arguments – and Wall is not the only one with dark dreams of pain and torture. Dreams of a captain called Sadico.
In fleeing his personal demon, Wall has run straight to its lair.
This trap was laid centuries ago, for five souls moved on to new lives and new loves. Set by the one soul they left behind.
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This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Wake of the Sadico
Author: Jo Sparkes
Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 17
Stats
Editing: 9/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 10/10
Cover: 9/10
Of the 17 readers:
17 would read another book by this author.
16 thought the cover was good or excellent.
14 felt it was easy to follow.
17 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 9 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 8 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
17 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
17 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘Loved all the diving. I’m a diver myself and the author did a superb job of describing the feelings and, also, the technical elements. This is a clever thriller with plenty happening to keep the handful of central characters busy. The characters develop well and the ending is superb.’ Male reader, aged 51
‘We all dream of finding a treasure. But, just like in Hemingway’s The Pearl, be careful what you wish for. Ghostly fun, exciting with lots of suspense.’ Female reader, aged 38
‘Scary read, always exciting and with a stunning setting. I got a little confusing here and there but keep with it. It’s worth it.’ Male reader, aged 41
‘Clever premise with a strong paranormal element to the story. The characters always act individually and the plot is complex but, for the most part, is well-constructed. A shifting perspective will present problems for a few readers. Strong cover image and a well-written blurb.’ Male reader (publisher), aged 54
To Sum It Up:
‘A ghostly thriller with a clever plot and a host of memorable characters. A BRONZE MEDAL WINNER and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
A Scary Read; Just Watch Out for the Sudden Changes in Point of View
Wake of the Sadico is the story of five friends sharing a vacation scuba diving in the Caribbean. There is Melanie, the adult version of a kid in a candy store—she always wants the man she doesn’t have and has the physical beauty to make it happen. Jill is the coming of age tomboy who is as anxious to prove herself as she is confused about men’s attraction to her. Through most of the book, I would have said these two are our main characters, as we spend much of our time inside their heads. But Wall, the gangly, always polite and proper Brit comes to play a larger role by the end. Initially, our cast of five has some troubling experiences—fleeting images, bad dreams—but nothing most of us haven’t had. Then, the author turns up the tension with them seeing people who are here one moment, gone the next. Or they recall a past life of pain and brutality that feels too real to ignore (reincarnation is a central theme of the novel). By the end, our protagonists are facing off against a paranormal evil come to claim, as the author puts it, “a karmic debt past due.” You’ll want to keep the lights on for this one.
In addition to managing the story’s tension expertly, the author crafts some outstanding diving scenes. In particular, she helps us non-divers understand some of the perils of the sport. It looks so easy in the movies; author Sparkes shows us why that’s not always the case. The feel of the tropics, its sun-drenched days and balmy nights, is also well depicted.
There are two things that detract from the story. One is the frequent, sudden shifts in point of view. The book is written third person from the perspective of one of our characters. One minute, we are seeing the world through the eyes of Jill, the next it is Wall or Mike. And besides these five in the present day, we’re transported in time to their previous lives. We also see the world from the eyes of some of the secondary characters. We even get a glimpse of the reality of a paranormal evil. And these perspectives change dozens of times in a single chapter, marked only by a slightly wider gap between paragraphs. The style makes it tough to keep up. The second problem is that the story is a tale of a trap “… laid centuries ago, for five souls moved on to new lives and new loves. Set by the one soul they left behind.” (author’s synopsis). But when the scenes from the past end, the last individual standing is owed nothing. In fact, it seems the other five would owe this person a debt for the brutality they were shown at his hands. I ended up quite confused about the book’s basic premise.
Even though the shifts in POV can be disorienting, the characters are interesting, the setting is well developed, and the tension is palpable. If horror is your genre, you’ll enjoy the read.