Reefs and Shoals: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure (Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures)
In the latest Alan Lewrie adventure, set in 1805, the British naval captain is issued new orders: take his ship, HMS Reliant, to the Bahamas, there to engage French and Spanish privateers that are preying on friendly convoys. The novel, as with previous entries in the series, is a hugely entertaining naval adventure (á la Forester and O’Brian) with a different kind of protagonist. Lewrie isn’t your typical career navy man but rather a bit of a gadabout, a womanizer, a lover of fine foods and warm clothes, whose naval career is based more on a love of adventure than any sense of patriotic duty to his country. The novel is written as though it were a contemporary account, with era-appropriate word spellings (“damme,” “fourty”), slang, and dialogue (“Cap’um’s on deck!”). Not merely a worthy entry in the very popular Lewrie series but a top-of-the-line naval adventure that can be thoroughly enjoyed by readers who’ve never met Captain Lewrie until now. --David Pitt