Rip Converse

In Part III Ryan, Tory and Jan return to Massachusetts shattered from their losses. Tory is a mess, Jan is suicidal and Ryan is desperately trying to hold everything together. They form an unlikely alliance with a MA State Trooper named Chris who lost his wife to drug addiction. He's a complicated and lethal character who doesn't seem to care whether he lives or dies but who's determined to avenge his wife's death. Ryan had always been a 'live and let live' kind of guy. Chris is more of a 'kill every last one of the cockroaches' kind of guy and he has the skills, training and means of doing so.After Edward the smuggler makes yet another attempt on their lives Ryan finally realizes that the only way justice is ever going to be served is if he and Chris become waiters and put Edward down, like the rabid dog he is. Tory enters treatment and tries hard to get back into recovery while Ryan and Chris work a dangerous and elaborate plan to start a drug war in Miami and to capture or kill Edward and the drug kingpins he works for. They both put everything on the line and risk death or a lifetime in prison if their plan fails. The plot follows them from New England to Miami and then to the Florida Keys where the story explosively ends. Rip Converse is a licensed sea captain who has made over 20 trips between New England, Bermuda and The Caribbean. He has also run larger ships in the oil fields, charter boats in the Florida Keys and a ferry in Boston Harbor. He's lived aboard a classic wooden sloop in the Caribbean and also cruised in the South Pacific and Mediterranean. He currently resides in Sarasota, FL with his wife and two Black Labradors.

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.