Waiting for Gordo by Sue Knight

In Waiting for Gordo, Sue Knight’s eco-thriller, Miranda arrives in an ocean paradise with husband Jim and most of the usual group for their annual dive holiday. Their daughter is grown up and living on the other side of the world. She and Jim have no special ties after a lifetime of travel. As she observes her companions she reflects on how the island is shaped to accommodate the tourist trade that is the region’s life’s blood. This year’s Bathroom Cockroach seems particularly watchful; the low bushes rustle oddly as though they too are watching. She senses something incongruous from the moment she sets foot on the soft white sand.

The antidote to her disquiet is Jim’s supreme matter-of-factness. When there’s an accident, he organises help; when someone goes missing, he leads the search party. But Miranda continues to worry. Jim can’t handle everything. He needs his dive buddy, Gordo. An unstoppable pragmatic duo, Jim and Gordo can grab any situation by the scruff and unscramble it with minimum fuss. But a tropical storm has delayed the arrival of the rest of the group. While they bask in a bubble of perfect weather, the boat bringing Gordo from far-off Airport Island cannot put to sea. Miranda knows that everything will be fine, just as soon as they arrive. Meanwhile she can only gaze on to horizons of a deceptively calm ocean below distant roiling clouds ...

... waiting for Gordo