More than the pesty younger sister of Tim’s best friend Henry, Pearl is a downright bratty and manipulative little girl. Tim and Harry decide to scare her by playing pirate on Tim’s mother’s yacht. They make Pearl walk the plank, but things go wrong and young Pearl ends up being dragged under the water and drowns.

Tim and Henry claim a giant jellyfish dragged Pearl under the water, but despite other reports of a strange sea creature, all fingers point at Tim. Now Venus sets aside her recovery to help prove Tim’s innocence and try and uncover what the boys think they saw.

Before she can take her next breath, Venus is embroiled with kidnappers, the Russian Mafia, child pornography, Chinese herbal cures, including poached bear organs and mutated marine life. The various, multiple subplots make the pace dizzying and the parts never seem to fit together. The end comes without any sort of satisfactory resolution and just stops dead.

There is a lot of action with boats blowing up, chases and many dead bodies, including, disturbingly, some children. Motives don’t seem to be necessary and just about every character is doing or has done something wrong. Venus is not at the top of her game physically or mentally, either because of her previous injuries, or perhaps there is just too much going on. Pearl is difficult to see as a sympathetic victim and since Tim and Henry admit their prank got out of hand, it is also hard to empathize with Tim’s situation.

Even fans of high drama action will notice the absence of a cohesive plot. Venus is like a fish out of water in this outing and might have done better had she finished her recuperation in Hawaii.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry