Read My Review of "Swimming with Manatees: An Eco-Thriller of Justice and Redemption" by Bill Bennett
Swimming with Manatees:
An Eco-Thriller of Justice and Redemption
(Martinez Mysteries)
Bill Bennett
359 pages, Hardcover
$19.99
Reviewed: February 2026
Published: October 2026
When April Seagram, a BioSphere pharmaceuticals
employee, is found dead wearing a life vest and wading on the shoreline in
Crystal Cove, expert police detective Ava Martinez suspects April was murdered,
and the crime scene was staged. April’s demise draws Martinez into a
labyrinthian search for truth— no matter how dangerous it is, who it exposes,
or what it demands from her personal life. Intrepid and dutiful with a veiled
vulnerability, Ava, alongside Chief of Police Ben Crenshaw and other police
officials, uncovers evidence of a far-reaching conspiracy to bury a marine
biologist’s research despite its potential to revolutionize the treatment of
illness.
As more characters are murdered and pressure on
Ava to solve the case mounts, elements of a police procedural emerge. Suspects
are plentiful, including BioSphere executives; an in-the-know townie; a Marine
Institute senior researcher; a biker gang; a sculptor; and a fellow detective.
Many mask their motivations, yet their centrality to the story isn’t always
convincing. While this obscurity strives for narrative intrigue, convoluted
details and erroneous exposition proves baffling rather than inventive. The
character of Mavis Leigh comes to mind: is she a conniving villain or an
“unexpected ally?” It’s murky business tackling Mavis’s dubious
characterizations.
The novel offers a passable storyline rendered in confident and expressive prose, providing key descriptions of pharmaceutical corporate greed, manatee and environmental exploitation, and the Floridian climate. Additionally, the story is grounded in plot-driven, pragmatic dialogue.
However, perplexing plot points, repetitive
words and phrases, nebulous techno-jargon, and superfluous characters overwhelm
the narrative’s successes, resulting in a frustrating reading experience. For
example, Ava reflects on her confrontation with Crystal Cove’s mayor (who’s
misidentified as “town manager”), yet the scene isn’t in the book. “BioSphere”
is sporadically spelled “Biosphere,” and an overreliance on “flicker” and “like
a warning” limits creative impact.
A muddled conclusion establishes the
characters’ return in a future series, but ultimately Swimming with Manatees requires thorough revision to entice readers.
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