BOOK REVIEW | Sea of Profits

The author is a Trieste-born, Sydney-educated and globally “careered” ship broker and financier who has retired to the Algarve. An interesting background to an interesting man. This has helped him to write a fascinating and exciting book, which, despite my normal antipathy towards novels, I read with considerable enjoyment.

It is, in a way, a crime thriller of the “raciest James Bond-ish” kind set against a background of the global shipping industry. There are plenty of murders. The author knows the industry very well and this reviewer came across well-known details of place or procedure on, seemingly, every page.

Much of the action takes place in the familiar streets of Naples, Monaco, Geneva, London and Athens. Even very familiar Singapore and the unfamiliar Bogota rate some mentions. Without giving the game away, the Neopolitan Camorra are key to the story as are the Carabinieri and, even, the Russian mafia.

If, or rather when, we are allowed to travel again and you need some entertainment on a long plane trip, this book would be an excellent companion candidate.

Author: Mauro Formentin

Available from Amazon, appropriately globally.


Neil Baird

Co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Baird Maritime and Work Boat World magazine, Neil has travelled the length and breadth of this planet in over 40 years in the business. He knows the global work boat industry better than anyone.