Deep in the rocky cliffs of the Pacific Northwest you find the Sea Lion Caves. Even though Doc and Bianca are cruising along 1 in California in my latest thriller, my model for the cave comes from just outside Florence, Oregon on the Central Oregon Coast in Lincoln County. I use the same big interior space cast into half darkness with a smaller opening to the sea at one end. It is also the end where the sea crashes into the cave. On a rocky island in the middle of the green waters, the sea lions stare at the human intruders into their private domain.
In my novel Dark 3, the last novel in the YA Dark Series and the concluding work in the Edward Ware Thriller Series, the Sea Lion Caves is where the climactic battle goes on for the possession of Little Katie Shipley, the heiress with the big fortune who attracts kidnappers the way food attracts flies. But this time Katie has attracted a world famous band of Neo-Nazis sworn to take her back to Germany and use her in their movement. Bainca, Katie’s babysitter, must prevent this at all costs. She and Doc are up against an international team of thugs and criminals who will stop at nothing to get their way.
Listen to the sound of sea lions. This is what Bianca confronts when she first enters the cave. The honking sound drowns out Katie’s cries, and Bianca must try to find her charge anyway. The sea lions add to the suspense, the threat, and the complications of the plot.They make you appreciate Bianca as a person and what she will endure for the little girl that she loves. They make you root for Bianca all the more and make you cross your fingers that she will prevail in the end.