THE PORT FEE: A Storm Ketchum Adventure (Storm Ketchum Adventures Book 3)
Storm Ketchum Adventures series
- 4.4 out of 5
- 130 ratings
- 287 pages
Overall Content Rating: Parents Strongly Cautioned PG-13
This coastal adventure follows adults involved in scuba diving, old treasure, criminal plots, and a local ghost legend. Expect moderate profanity among friends and investigators, one isolated strong swear in a confrontation, and action violence including explosions, shooting threats, and detailed but mostly clinical injury care after an accident. Parents weighing suitability should note reviewer descriptions of mild sexual situations alongside the action and language. The tone is often humorous banter, but stakes include harm to a young person, revenge talk, and moral gray choices by the lead. It aligns with a PG-13 action-thriller profile rather than a children’s book.
Reviews first uploaded September 29, 2026 11:38 pm. Revised October 8, 2026 7:37 am. Page updated October 8, 2026 7:37 am.
These summaries are AI-generated from relevant Amazon reviews of this book.
Fbombs Mild
1One strong swear appears in a single tense moment when one man threatens another during a betrayal.
Amazon reviews mentioning swearing
Specific words
- fuck: 1
Profanity Moderate
50Adult characters use mild to medium-strength swearing and name-calling throughout adventure, investigation, and banter. Insults often target criminals, insurance companies, or stress between friends. Rough language also appears when someone is hurt or angry. Restaurant names that share spelling with crude terms are not used that way in context.
Amazon reviews mentioning profanity
Specific words
- hell: 20
- damn: 9
- bastard: 8
- shit: 6
- bitch: 4
- ass: 3
Violence Moderate
14The story includes treasure hunting, escaped convicts, explosions, gun use, and plans to harm wrongdoers. Characters suffer serious harm from a blast; scenes describe rescue, CPR, blood-tinged water, and hospital talk about internal injury. Tension includes hostage risk and the hero crossing lines reviewers describe as less clearly heroic. Injury is present but samples emphasize medical aftermath more than prolonged graphic gore.
Amazon reviews mentioning violence
Specific words
- blood: 9
- bleed: 2
- kick: 2
- punch: 1
Sex Mild
Review notes describe mild romantic or physical situations rather than explicit detail on the page. Sample word matches for body-related terms are absent; those spellings appear only as place names or non-sexual actions.
About this book
MYSTERY, HISTORY, AND ADVENTURE ON THE OUTER BANKS Underwater, everybody can hear you scream, but they can't tell where you are... Ketch is at it again in the magical Outer Banks of North Carolina, in this new adventure from the author of PORT STARBIRD and PORT OF REFUGE. It's a picture-perfect summer afternoon on a pristine beach near a ghost seaport on an uninhabited island. What could go wrong? But things do, when two bodies wash ashore and Ketch stumbles upon clues that lead to the sunken treasure of an old-time buccaneer off Portsmouth Island. Ketch isn't the only one who has an interest in the treasure, and it exposes both him and his adversaries to unexpected obligations and consequences. It seems everyone has to pay the port fee... Good guys and bad guys, boating and diving, a dash of romance, and a mysterious otherworldly presence all come together in THE PORT FEE, Ketch's most challenging adventure to date. If you're pining for John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee, Storm 'Ketch' Ketchum might be your guy. Like Hemingway's Old Man, he reveres his island and the sea; but unlike Santiago, he doesn't fish - and despite his solitary nature, he and his boatyard friends find themselves embroiled in coastal intrigue more often than not. If you read the Hardy Boys series as a kid; if you're a fan of the Outer Banks lore of David Stick, Judge Charles Whedbee, or Ben Dixon MacNeill; or if an ecological and literary juxtaposition of Barbara Kingsolver, Randy Wayne White, Jimmy Buffett, and Carl Hiaasen might float your boat, you should enjoy the Storm Ketchum Adventures. Read more