Raiders

Even if I hadn't read his two previous novels of the Hank Crawford "trilogy", William McCloskey's Raiders would still rate as an excellent story. Any mentions of events from the other two books were bonuses as far as I was concered. They added depth to a novel that was already way beyond the 200 mile limit on its own strengths. Mr. McCloskey writes with an expertice of the fishing industry that also has a soul, allowing us to feel the ice cold Alaskan water as it trickles down our oilskins, or get a sense of the exhaustion that one would feel after spending hard hours either on the deck of the vessel or in the wheelhouse. As we read, we become familiar with both levels of shipboard responsibility, and we are drawn to the characters with which McCloskey has populated this beautiful yet potentially deadly world. A world where a deckhand's misstep can send him overboard to a watery grave, a captain's mistake can send his ship to the bottom of sea, and where an error in judgement can cost a man everything he has worked for. Whether onboard a ship, or in the corporate offices of international fishing consortiums, William McCloskey's skill as a writer puts us in the center of the action, standing next to Hank Crawford as an invisible, but far from disengaged observer in this excellent book.

I came upon this book while reading book reviews concerning the U. S. Coast Guard. The author, being a former Coast Guard Officer who served in Alaska, writes with interesting narrative and detail. The book's hero, Hank Crawford, engages in commercial fishing and in telling his story the author also describes the life, politics and business decisions made by people in that industry. The author uses Hank's life to explain many facets of commercial fishing that would otherwise be left unknown to those outside the industry. This is a good read, but should be read only after reading the first two books in the trilogy. McCloskey's first book, Highliners, sets the stage for Breakers, the second book, and ultimately Raiders. If you have watched the Discovery Channel series "The Deadliest Catch"; McCloskey's first book, Highliners, will seem like the screenplay for that series. Each episode of that series begins with a view of Dutch Harbor and the Russian Orthodox Church in the foreground. The "Deadliest Catch" series brings visualization to McCloskey's books.

This book is an excellent read--a page-turning story--and good history to boot. It looks at changes occurring in the Alaskan fishery business in the 1980s and is full of exciting twists and turns. It is very accurate in its portrayal of people and events in America and Japan. I loved it. I teach western American history at the Ohio State University and have written on this topic myself.

Let me start first with if you have not red Highliners or Breakers you need to read these first to get all the background Hank Crawford is a fisherman in Alaska and a captain of his own boat who has fished for many species and now that the king crabs have seem to disappeared from the height and amount in the glory days.At the start of this book Hank has just buried his best friend Jones Henry after his boat is capsized.Hank himself is recovering from injurys he got trying to rescue Jones but he can still guide is boat while the crew he has been with for the last few years are bringing the fish. Hank faces many new struggles in this book as you remeber in the last book Hank much to the dismay of his fellow fisherman and friends had sign an exclusive contract with the japanese to bring the fish. This arrangement seems to be working pretty good for hank as he is going to be set up with a new and larger fishing boat hank goes back to japan and even ends up with a japanese crew which does not go over well with his crew.And his wife jody has got her on boat to captain another hit with the boys.In this book they fish mostly for salmon and black cod which is a new market for them. I should have stated that this along with the other two books are works of fiction but the author being a former fisherman and in the coast gaurd has done a brilliant job with the desrcibtion it makes you feel like you are right there fishing with them you can feel the cold air smell the salt and fish i highly recommend these three books