The Emerald Storm (An Ethan Gage Adventure)
*Starred Review* Ethan Gage, the nineteenth-century adventurer, returns in this fourth novel in the series. Set in 1803, it tells a wildly implausible story: Gage, planning to sell an emerald he came into via a questionable set of circumstances, is taken captive by a renegade French policeman who wants to know all about the Lost Treasure of Montezuma. Gage is rescued by the British, who want to know about the same lost treasure, and blackmailed into breaking into a French prison and liberating Toussaint L’Ouverture, the (real-life) leader of the Haitian Revolution, who (fictionally) knows the secret of the treasure. And that’s just for starters. With the usual mixture of real and made-up characters and historical events, the book is a breathlessly exciting adventure, as fast paced as an Indiana Jones movie and just about as entertaining. Gage is a tremendously appealing character, a world-class adventurer who would, he keeps reminding us, be much happier if he were living a quiet life somewhere back in his home country, America. He doesn’t seek out adventure; it just sort of keeps on finding him. And that’s good news for fans of the series, who will want to read the next installment as soon as they’ve finished this one. --David Pitt