DRAGON SEA

Johnny Heller's narration of this true tale of sunken treasure is a fine fit for Frank Pope's story of Mensun Bound, host of Discovery channel's Lost Ships series. Heller's voice reflects the excitement, energy, and irresistible allure to understand the past that draw the "Indiana Jones of the Deep" into the field of underwater archaeology. Pope's story presents the historical background of the rivalry between China and Vietnam, piracy on the South China Seas, and the project to salvage the Hoi An, a fifteenth-century wreck loaded to the gunwales with priceless blue-and-white porcelain. Heller makes nonfiction as thrilling as any action-adventure, presenting Pope and Bound as men with scruples, sincerely concerned about greedy treasure- seekers who destroy "the time capsules" so valuable to archaeologists and historians. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]