Undertow

by Tom Foote

In the stormy seas of Galway Bay, Jim Predergast and his treasured yacht Larinita are doing their best to compete in a local race. After a boating accident that kills his wife and daughter, Jim embarks on a personal quest for revenge which leads him on a dark journey involving IRA gun-running and an international terrorist plot of major proportions aimed at destroying the peace talks once and for all. Foote's highly literate and tightly plotted debut...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802313205
• ISBN13: 9780802313201
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Dufour Editions
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Fast paced and exotic page-turner!

Undertow will quickly draw you in with a cast of interesting characters, wonderfully vivid exotic locations, and a fast-paced yet thought-provoking plot.The book is set in Ireland and around the Med (with a number of other locations thrown in) and follows a yachtsman who finds himself drawn into a terrorist plot. As a sailor myself, I have cruised to a number of the ports Tom describes in the book (and actually met Tom at one of them!?!) and find his descriptions to be accurate and vivid portrayals of the locations. The author lives on a boat, travelling to these places himself and sees them as a mariner does - not a tourist. You could not hope for a more realistic description of the exotic ports in Ireland and the Mediterranean as well as life at sea on ships and yachts. Undertow is a great read for anyone interested in adventure and the sea - I hope he will write more for us!

From The IE Book Review of July 1997

From a personal experience of coming into close contact with a large ship while sailing in Galway Bay, first time author Tom Foote has created a fast-paced tale of arms-running intrigue, involving the IRA and Middle Eastern arms dealers, which holds the attention from start to finish. In "Undertow", the encounter with a large vessel in the bay which rams the yacht piloted by Jim Prendergast, killing his wife and daughter in the process, marks the beginning of a saga which leads from the border counties of Ireland to Malta and beyond, with much of the action also centring in Galway. The many strands of the plot draw in the British Ambassador to Ireland, MI6, northern members of the IRA, Middle Eastern arms suppliers and the evil Foster, whose shadowy figure is present from beginning to end.. While being a devotee of neither thriller nor sailing-based stories, I found "Undertow" to be a compelling narrative which does not blind with too much nautical detail. The action moves along smoothly and interest is maintained, though one needs a fairly strong stomach for some of the more violent passages.