Review: Sawyer’s Treasure Book, by Ron Brooks
Russ Chastain 06.22.17
Working-class fishermen in 1950s Key West find themselves in the midst of a deadly hunt for buried pirate treasure that’s already claimed the life of a family friend. Follow the story as it develops and we learn more about the no-nonsense carpenter/fisherman father, his fisherman son, and a number of other characters relatable to most working-class folks.
From Amazon:
For as far back as young Jimmy Sawyer could remember, he heard stories about buried treasure on Sawyer Key. Living in Key West and being a commercial fisherman, he was on the water almost every day, often just a stones throw away from Sawyer Key.
It turns out that there were others interested in the rumored treasure, including Jimmy’s father, Willie and Willie’s best friend, Johnny Albury.
When Johnny turns up dead, things turns ugly as the hunt becomes a much more dangerous affair.
Join Jimmy and the Sawyer family in Key West as they seek out what their family history said was right there for the taking.
Full disclosure: This book was written by a friend of mine, but I’m also brutally honest when I review things. And this book isn’t perfect.
I enjoyed the story, and the characters were interesting. Perhaps most interesting was learning how commercial fishing was done in 1950s Key West, and that a person could sorta-kinda make a living by fishing alone using just a hand line–or a glass-bottom bucket and gig. Cool.
Unfortunately for someone like myself who has a low tolerance for typos and grammatical errors, this book failed to receive a thorough proofing before publication. But the fact that I was able to enjoy the book in spite of the errors is a big plus for Sawyer’s Treasure, because I usually can’t get past such things.
Another bonus was when we readers learn that not everyone was as they seemed. Nobody likes a predictable read, and this one has a jog or two along the way to keep things interesting.
All in all, I can recommend this book to anyone who is interested in: Florida, treasure hunting, fishing (especially salt water fishing), old Key West, rural 1950s, and/or pirate lore.
The full title is “Sawyer’s Treasure: Searching for the spoils of Henry Jennings the British privateer,” and it’s available on Amazon in e-book or paperback.
Details:
- File Size: 809 KB
- Print Length: 247 pages
- Publication Date: April 2, 2017
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B06Y1FX9F1
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
- X-Ray:
- Not Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Enabled
- Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled