His Bones are Coral

His Bones are Coral follows Howard Smith, a pilot who crashes in the desert near the Red Sea while smuggling drugs. After the crash, he joins a marine expedition searching for coral in dangerous waters, seeking an escape from his predicament. The novel takes place across Egypt and Sudan, moving from the stark desert landscape to treacherous underwater environments. The story combines elements of both crime thriller and adventure, with scenes of diving among sharks and coral reefs. This 1955 thriller by Victor Canning, later adapted into the film Shark!, draws its title from Shakespeare's The Tempest. The narrative explores themes of redemption and survival, examining how desperate circumstances can push people toward both danger and opportunity.

Not enough reader reviews exist online to draw meaningful conclusions about general reception of His Bones are Coral. Only 7 ratings appear on Goodreads, with an average of 3.29 stars. Amazon shows no current customer reviews. From the limited reviews available: Readers appreciated: - The vivid Caribbean setting - The tense underwater diving sequences - The building suspense in the second half Readers criticized: - Slow pacing in the first half - Dated portrayals of female characters - Some unrealistic plot elements One Goodreads reviewer noted the book "picks up momentum after a sluggish start," while another praised "Canning's expert handling of the diving scenes." Due to the book's obscurity and age (published 1954), comprehensive reader sentiment is difficult to determine. Most online discussion appears in vintage mystery forums and diving-themed book lists rather than review sites.

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The Silent World by Jacques-Yves Cousteau This first-hand account chronicles diving expeditions and underwater discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea during the early days of scuba diving.

🦈 The Red Sea, where this novel is set, hosts over 44 species of sharks, making the diving dangers depicted highly authentic 🌊 Victor Canning wrote this book in 1954, during the golden age of diving exploration, just as SCUBA equipment was becoming available to civilians 🏊‍♂️ The novel's diving scenes were informed by real advances in marine biology of the 1950s, when coral reef research was first becoming systematic ✈️ Before becoming an author, Canning served in the Royal Artillery during WWII, lending authenticity to his military and aviation details 💎 Red coral, central to the plot, was historically more valuable than gold in many cultures and was nicknamed "red gold" by Mediterranean traders