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Plenty has been written about the quest for the perfect wave and the almost transcendental state that can be achieved by surfers lucky enough to achieve one. In The Voodoo Wave Mark Kreidler tackles the subject from a different angle though. There are profiles of surfers, descriptions of big breaks and huge wipeouts and the breathtaking power of the ocean and all are done perfectly well. The real heart of the book though is what happens when big business crashes into a sport based on camaraderie, mutual respect and fraternity. Can building a big money event, complete with clothing brands and corporate sponsors co-exist with the supposed spiritual purity embodied by the big wave? It's this contradiction that lies at the heart of The Voodoo Wave. Kreidling's snappy style is ideally suited to the subject matter and his profiles of the main protagonists are spot on. The implicit contradictions between big money and the supposed Corinthian values can be witnessed in many sports. They are all the more acute in surfing though given the almost religious reverence awarded to the ocean. In The Voodoo Wave, Kreidling tells a fine tale of how major wipeouts can occur when unfettered commerce and competition collide.

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