Ride the Volcano
Ride the Volcano is a 1960 novel by Peter Pinney. It was Pinney's second novel, and followed Road in the Wilderness although he had written several well-regarded travel books in between.
Pinney called the book "fiction, but it has drawn much of its colour from my own experiences."
Premise
Kappick, owner of a schooner, impulsively takes an American girl, Little Bit, with him on a trip to Panama. He has contraband on his boat.Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald wrote Pinney's "descriptions of scenes are always vivid but his descriptions are contrived and his two main characters never quite gel."The Australian Woman's Weekly wrote "Intriguing background, pace, and unusual situations make this book highly readable."
The Bulletin wrote "there is too much descriptive fact for it to be a novel and too much fiction for one to be able to call it a travelogue. He must carry on with his usual factual writing or completely escape from a world of smugglers, primitive Indians, ruthless criminals, strong seas and the violence of the elements. That is, if he wishes to be a novelist."