“The Orinoco Uranium offers a continuation of the intriguing career of Pride Oil Company employee Jerry MacDonald, whom author Stephen Sears introduced in his first novel, Sunniland…In the hands of a less-skillful storyteller, The Orinoco Uranium might get bogged down with its presentation of many minor characters and plot details. Sears, though, presents a varied cast of characters in quickly drawn vignettes that offer brief physical sketches as well insights into their characters…In addition to a gripping plot and well-drawn characters, the novel offers economical tutorials on a wide array of topics: “seismic shoots” and other technical aspects of the petroleum industry; the failed German nuclear weapons program; nautical terminology and the mechanics of floatplanes, U-boats, sailboats, and freighters; deep-sea diving equipment (if she thought she ever would, this reader will now never don a diving helmet); the geography of South America and topography of Venezuela; and the destructive power of whales, crocodiles, piranhas, and curare-poisoned arrows. All this Stephen Sears offers in an efficient and engaging way—in the manner of the best instructors we’ve known: those who wear their learning lightly and who prompt their students to keep reading.”

– Emma G.B. Richardson (Ret.), English Department, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science

“Using the final months of WWII, and the collapse of the Third Reich, as the backdrop, the author creates an exciting tale rife with intrigue, adventure, and mystery. The author expertly uses the oil fields of Venezuela, a region vital to the Allied war effort, and a cast of well-defined characters to support a story based on real-world events. A series of events, which portend the possibilities of exported atomic material and technology ending up in the hands of South American governments on the eve of the Atomic Age. I am happy to state that this novel will always have a home on my own library shelves.”

– Wayne Abrahamson (US Navy, retired). Author of Black Silver and Sergeant Dooley and the Submarine Raiders.

"A captivating thriller both historically instructive and dramatically engrossing."

– Kirkus Review

“Sears’s exciting sequel to Sunniland, set in Venezuela, again follows Jerry MacDonald and wife Maria during the second World War, this time on a mission to the Orinoco delta in search of petroleum deposits for Pride Oil…The pace is steady throughout, driven by the question of who will finally get the uranium. Sears mines from that the kind of suspense that keeps readers guessing—and turning pages. This is a skillfully told narrative that will grip lovers of historical maritime action, with an ending that both satisfies and jolts, especially a final connection to history…A powerfully told WWII thriller centered on the search for a freighter’s lost cargo of uranium.”

– BookLife

“... the story flowed effortlessly, I did not feel like the plot was artificially pushed one way or the other…I was very surprised on how much of an action packed story it ended up being.”

– Ana Riquer, Geophysicist