Free Spirit

Ian Cook

Amazon

£11.30

The only real story in this novel is the story of a race – the inaugural running of the Hong-Kong to Vietnam race in 1996. There are a couple of unresolved (almost unnecessary?) sexual relationships for the hero, Robbie, on land and a few mentions of forthcoming changes as Hong Kong prepares for its transfer to China in 1997. Disappointingly these are not followed up. The real action takes place on board the 52’ cruiser/racer Free Spirit with her bantering, grunting, musclebound crew. This is the only place that Robbie feels fully alive. Nothing else matters as long as he can keep racing.  Robbie is an energetic and believable character, if not appealing.

Despite some punctuation glitches and the lack of plot, this held my attention.