RIPTIDE, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Warner Books, 417 pages, $25.

Ever since “Treasure Island,” readers have been fascinated by tales of treasure and pirates. Add a pirates’ curse, a Maine locale, and place it all in current time, and you have the basic ingredients of “Riptide,” the new thriller by the authors of “The Relic,” Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

In this fourth collaboration by the two, we are introduced to Dr. Malin Hatch, owner of Ragged Island, which the authors have located 10 miles south of Campobello Island. While there is a real Ragged Island, the authors are quick to point out that theirs is a mythical one.

The island for centuries has been the subject of periodic searches for the buried treasure of the pirate Red Ned Ockham. It supposedly is buried in a water pit on the island, but every expedition to try to locate it has resulted in failure and death. It surely seems to bear the pirates’ curse.

The curse is vividly illustrated, first at the opening of the novel in 1971, wherein youngsters Malin and his brother Johnny decide to explore the island while their parents are away; in one of the tunnels, Johnny is swept away, but Malin escapes.

Jump to the present day and Malin Hatch, now a Boston doctor and researcher, is approached by an ascetic sea captain, Gerard Neidelman, a “recovery specialist” who heads a well-financed salvage company. Neidelman gets Hatch’s permission to dig for the treasure, and Hatch becomes a partner in the expedition.

With all kinds of high-tech gizmos and a large crew of experts, the plans get under way. Almost from the beginning, there are injuries and, soon, death. The pit they must search has been booby-trapped by a 17th century architect, who was captured by Ockham and made to design the secret hiding place for the treasure, reputedly worth billions.

Preston and Child present a graphic and gripping account of the search for the treasure. There are old maps and writings, some in “invisible ink” and code, that fuel the search. All types of modern pieces of equipment, especially computers, are brought in to the diggings.

A number of subplots heighten the tension. First, there is Hatch’s guilt over the death of his brother and the hope — and dread — of finding his bones. There is romance — an old flame still living in Stormhaven, the mainland town nearest the island. She is unhappily married to a bitter, humorless minister. There is a French archaeologist, Isobel Bonterre, a vibrant, outgoing young woman who promptly sets her cap for Hatch.

The authors have populated the novel with a host of intriguing characters, from plump-faced historian Christopher St. John to slovenly computer expert Kerry Wopner. The foreman and right-hand man to Neidelman is Lyle Streeter, who is capable of murder.

But it is the tension and action that carry the plot along. Mysterious cave-ins result in injuries and death; computer programs, which work fine on the nearby ship that serves as headquarters, produce glitches and changes when used on the island.

Then the archaeology crew uncovers the pirate camp and, with it, a mass grave of people who died from a variety of ailments. That goes with the story of the pirate, whose ship was found drifting at sea with everyone aboard dead. The pirates must have rushed to leave the island, but mysteriously died aboard their ship. Why did they leave so hurriedly?

As the expedition probes the shafts and the booby traps, the historian and computer expert rush to break the code in the secret writing of the architect, hoping it will reveal the secret to the ingenious construction of the water pit.

As injuries mount and the weather worsens, Hatch tries to call off the expedition until the code is broken and a fierce nor’easter is over. Neidelman, who has become a driven taskmaster, calls Hatch a saboteur, and a private war is on.

Preston, who has Maine connections, and Child have crafted a high-pitched, fast-paced plot with vivid description, intriguing characters and vibrant scenes. There are taut twists and turns as the action flashes along. They pit man against elements, man against man, man against evil, man against himself — in other words, plenty of conflict. The suspense never lets up and the smashing ending, with its unexpected symbolism, grabs the reader.

Bill Roach is a free-lance writer with Maine roots who now lives in Florida.