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Tom Williams spends a lot of time on and in the water off Marco Island. Soon he’ll be flying and driving a lot, with a national tour to promote his new novel with a Marco touch, “Lost and Found.”

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“Lost and found”

Think about an accomplished person, someone who is leading an exciting life of adventure, achievement and even a dash of daring-do (also spelled “derring-do.”)

Chances are that person is asked to write a book about his/her feats. Chances also are that the doer will hire a writer to bring the action to life in print.

Rarely does the doer do his own writing. But Tom Williams, a long-time Marco Islander, does. Now his first published novel, “Lost and Found” is about to get found, discovered, by a nationwide public thirsty for a rousing, swashbuckling ride through the world of treasure hunting, sea diving, mystery, intrigue and skullduggery.

Tom hasn’t officially begun his national book promotion tour yet — it’ll start soon, so watch for it — but already some critics have praised “Lost and Found” as a real find. Snatches of their comments:

“Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, there’s a surprise.”

“A fun adventure with all the thrills of an Indiana Jones story.”

“A compelling story, hard to put down.”

“Action packed and full of suspense.”

“This book would make a good movie. I could see the movie in my mind’s eye as I read the book.”

These sound like blurbs for the latest Nelson DeMille novel, or one by Stephen King, Robert North Patterson, Michael Crichton or other novelist superstars.

But these are for our own Tom Williams. He’s an interesting man who loves adventure and loves to write. By day, he’s a sailboat charter captain working at the Marriott Hotel here. He’s been there 30 years. By trade, he’s a master merchant marine officer, specializing in shipwrecks and salvage diving. By night, he’s a prolific writer now poised to become a guy whose picture you may see on the book stacks at Costco or Sam’s, the book racks at Barnes & Noble and Marco’s Sunshine Book Sellers and no doubt splashed across the Web sites of Amazon.com and its online counterparts.

As Tom’s book sells and his prominence swells, he won’t be the only Marco Islander swelling with pride. He has had a lot of help and support in creating “Lost and Found.” One is Ralph Bayer, a local computer engineer who gave Tom a computer after reading five pages of the novel scribbled on a yellow legal pad.

Others include Tarik Ayasun, Monte Lazarus, Mike Christoff, Rick Barnes, Lana and Roger Withers, Jesse at Marco SCUBA Adventures and more.

Tom dedicates the book to his wife Vicki, “my wife and lifelong accomplice,” and to his parents Joyce and Seth, “who were the best storytellers ever.” Tom’s a darned good one too. — Chris

But wait. What’s “Lost and Found” about?”

Oh, that. One reviewer calls Tom Williams’ novel a “modern-day treasure hunt for survival.” It is. A major oil company hires two English ex-patriots to use a geological survey satellite to find oil reserves.

Uh oh. The guys realize that the president of the oil company is corrupt and the satellite doesn’t work in an oil-hunt. So they reconfigure it to find gold instead.

Great chunks of the novel are set in and around Marco Island and Goodland, so you will know the landmarks for sure as you try to spot characters you know too.

The book has aspects of pirates, sea hunts, treasure seekers — all those exciting things that made careers for everybody from Blackbeard to Johnny Depp. But it’s set in present day, in this world beset by oil concerns, oil politics and oil-wars.

Black gold and real gold tangle in a web of intrigue as good as you’ll find in a popular novel these days — a very good novel by a guy who loved to read from childhood.

“After all that reading and reading, about 13 years ago I thought, ‘I can do this.’ So I started writing.”

Easy for him to say. Lots of us think we can and should write a novel. I personally have a drawer full of manuscripts for 1.6 novels that are terrific, as long as I leave them in the drawer.

Tom has broken out with a breakout novel that is his first, but won’t be his last and maybe, as good as it is, not even his best. And I’m guessing the main reason is, he not only said, “I can do this,” but also had the grit to actually do it. Congratulations Tom. — Don

E-mails: chris@chriscurle.com and don@donfarmer.com