Havoc's Sword
An Alan Lewrie naval adventure
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4.2 • 10 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
The loveable but incorrigible rogue Captain Alan Lewrie is back to cut a wide and wicked swathe through the Caribbean in his eleventh adventure.
It’s 1798, and Lewrie and his crew of the frigate Proteus have their work cut out for them. First Lewrie has rashly vowed to uphold a friend’s honour in a duel to the death. Secondly, he faces the horridly unwelcome arrival of HM Government’s Foreign Office Agents (out to use him as their cat’s paw in a scheme against the French). And lastly, he engineers the showdown with his arch foe and nemesis, the hideous ogre of the French Revolution’s Terror, that clever fiend Guillaume Choudas!
We know Lewrie can fight, but can he be a diplomat too? He must deal with the newly reborn US Navy, that uneasy ally, and the stunning surprise they bring. For good or ill, Lewrie’s in the ‘quag’ up to his neck this time. Can sword, pistol and broadsides avail? Or will words, low cunning and Lewrie’s irrepressible wit be the key to his victory and survival, as even the seas cry ‘havoc’?
Eleventh in The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures, Havoc's Sword is perfect for fans of Patrick O'Brian, Julian Stockwin and C.S. Forester.
‘You could get addicted to this series. Easily’ New York Times Book Review
'The best naval series since C. S. Forester… Recommended’ Library Journal
‘Fast-moving… A hugely likeable hero, a huge cast of sharply drawn supporting characters: there's nothing missing. Wonderful stuff’ Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review.HAVOC'S SWORDDewey Lambdin. St. Martin's/Dunne, (384p) In this solid seafaring historical, the 11th in Lambdin's Alan Lewrie series, British Royal Navy Captain Lewrie is tasked with hounding his longtime nemesis, the brutal and cunning French commander Guillaume Choudas. Choudas has been sent to sow discord on the French Caribbean island of Hispaniola, where Toussaint L'Ouverture holds the reins of power after a slave rebellion in 1791. The British have a cockeyed scheme to back L'Ouverture's rival-in-arms, General Rigaud, against the rebellion's leader. Though opposed to the plan, Lewrie is under orders to support it. After harassing the French on his own, and killing one of Choudas's best captains, Lewrie covertly teams up with the newly minted American navy and lures the French Caribbean fleet into a trap. The American navy proves its mettle, badly mauling the French, and, after Lewrie has tricked Choudas once again with false information, the Americans capture the Frenchman. Lewrie and his Foreign Office spy compatriot, the highly competent Peel, go over the head of insipid regional spymaster Grenville Pelham to suggest further alliance with the Americans as a means toward British dominance of the Caribbean and Atlantic. Lambdin's villains are invariably either monsters or weasels, and Lewrie is never believably threatened by them, so there isn't much tension. But Lambdin's customary good humor, well-wrought naval battles and use of every ruse de guerre in the book provide enough moment-to-moment pleasure to keep this long-running adventure series afloat.
