Title – Wet Dreams – Author – Douglas Danielson – Book Reviews

Untie the moorings, cast off and climb aboard Douglas Danielson’s book, ‘Wet Dreams’, also the name of a posh 70ft Hatteras yacht adorned with girls and booze, partying just offshore Los Angeles on Catalina Island. The reader’s journey will take one on the turbulent waters of a young woman missing her “dirty rich” daddy, as Jake Mortensen and Buddy Wright seek to find the answers to the questions of her whereabouts. Along the way, the story goes against the grain as Buddy receives a death threat from what appears to be a former Vietnamese vet. Place a cop figure in the bow with a memorable name, Virgil Klean. Add the undercurrent of Jake’s exotically attractive and explosive Chinese-American girlfriend, Toey Wong, losing her temper by unjustifiably doubting her relationship. What you get is an extraordinarily entertainingly buoyant crime novel floating in your mind. Remembering, as some of the characters are also real surfers, all landlubbing questions end when the awesome loops snap and “surf”.

Packed with vernacular from the yachting world, Douglas Danielson writes in a very relaxed conversational style, as if you were having lunch with him at a Yacht Club and he told you the story first hand. His in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of sea-shy ships and his familiarity with the way of life and the people who command the wheelhouse and sleep in his cabins go far beyond what an average reader might know. Doug Danielson’s writing skill is demonstrated when he takes this information, which interests him deeply, and makes it easily digestible and certainly very enjoyable for others as well. His book follows a steady course building on some of his interesting characters from his previous work, Shore Loser, but Wet Dreams stands on its own sea feet as a novel in the form of a ship.

The years of experience and knowledge that Doug Danielson has accumulated in the boating industry shines through in his work, giving his characters a rather wise and expert analytical quality. Knowing more about boating details than any reader, he respects his audience’s intelligence by filling in sentence structures to become very educational. Basically, I learned a lot about yachting by reading the descriptions that Douglas Danielson blends wonderfully into its history. Aside from the boating jargon, its use of scene structure is also quite admirable, allowing for amazing efficiency in descriptions resulting in a clear picture for the reader.

“Wet Dreams” would make a great movie. The quaint sets of luxury yachts, the scantily clad tanned eye candy characters, and Jake and Buddy’s laid-back lifestyle in shorts and t-shirts would no doubt be fun to watch. Plus, filming just off Los Angeles would be fun for the cast and crew. The only detail I see that might need to be changed is the title of “Wet Dreams” because people might get the wrong idea walking past the cinema marquee, not knowing that’s just the name of the movie. a yacht. At least on the cover of the book is a picture of a surfer tearing up the pipe being chased by an avalanche wave, as any surfer knows, “Wet Dreams” waves.