1929. Young newlyweds pursue an ambitious dream: building a family amusement park atop a derelict WWI oil tanker, the SS Palo Alto, grounded off the shore of Monterey Bay. But when bootleggers secretly install a speakeasy in the heart of their ship, open warfare erupts between rival crime syndicates. Thrust into a deadly crossfire, the couple must reckon with a savage underworld to hold onto their lives—and each other.
Fans of gritty noir fiction—populated by cutthroat mob bosses, cunning femme fatales, and doomed innocents—and afficionados of atmospheric period films like L.A. Confidential, The Godfather, and Chinatown
will be transported to the shadowy world of Seacliff Park.
MARK MARINOVICH
I once fished off the SS Palo Alto, a WWI concrete oil tanker that now lies in ruins off Seacliff State Beach on Monterey Bay, California. Fascinated by legend and lore surrounding the old ship, a story gradually took form in my imagination. As an avid reader of thriller and suspense novels, I dove into Seacliff Park feet first, following the story where it led me.
I'm a former journalist and have written for top Silicon Valley technology companies. I hope you enjoy reading Seacliff Park as much as I enjoyed writing it.
OTHER WORKS
The White Boats tells the story of a young boy named Cesar who, like Santiago in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, dreams of catching a big marlin. Cesar ventures far out to sea in a tiny skiff to realize his ambition.
Unlike Santiago, Cesar must overcome a very different obstacle—a humpback whale entangled in plastic debris that he will risk life and limb to save.
On his next African safari, trophy hunter Paul Hudson wants to be "inside the zoo," close to the animals he brings home to display on his walls. He engages hunting guide Nigel Drum to deliver the intimate safari experience he craves—just Paul, Drum, and the animals.
But when Drum goes missing, Paul finds himself closer to the animals than he ever imagined—and animals aren't the only predators with bad intentions.