In this entertaining sequel to No Quarter, the debut installment of Campbell's Matty Graves series of historical novels, the intrepid nautical hero, newly promoted to acting lieutenant aboard the navy schooner Rattle-Snake, finds himself out of his depth on terra firma. It's 1826, and Commodore Cyrus Gaswell, a family friend and patron to the 17-year-old Graves, dispatches the lieutenant to Saint-Domingue to investigate a rumored plot by Toussaint L'Ouverture to expand his successful slave rebellion to the United States. Once on shore, Graves hooks up with a colorful cast of shady characters: Alonzo Connor, "a gentleman of color" who claims to represent the U.S. War Department; Connor's black secretary, George Franklin; the Parson, a shadowy figure identified with "the White Hand," a racist society committed to removing all nonwhites from America; and Juge, a soldier in Toussaint's army who serves as Graves's guide. None are whom they claim, and they're all soon caught up in a deadly local struggle—the War of Knives. With only a bare-bones historical foundation, Campbell constructs an elaborate swashbuckling tale that will appeal especially to fans of high historical adventure.
Description
When Matty Graves, acting lieutenant in the newly formed U.S. Navy, agrees to become a spy in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, he plunges headlong into a brutal world of betrayal and double-cross beyond anything he’s ever known. At first the bloody civil war between former slaves and their mixed-race overseers simply offers a way to test himself and a means to purge his guilt over the death of his former captain. But soon Matty is drawn into the heart of the conflict when he meets the flamboyant Juge and the mysterious Grandfather Chatterbox—and faces an interrogation by the brutal colonel known as “The Whip.” White supremacists, cutthroat patriots, and desperate rebels vie for control in the Colonial world’s richest island. No one is what he seems, and Matty must sort out the twisted lies from the cold, hard truth—and keep himself alive long enough to learn from his mistakes.
Reviews
The seafaring saga of American naval lieutenant Matty Graves moves into a third readable volume with Graves recovering from his ordeal during the Saint-Domingue rebellion. Now he must join in the investigation of the relief from command of his previous captain, in which he played a somewhat equivocal part. At the same time, romance beckons, and so does the prospect of a sea command of his own that could make him a fortune in prize money, though at the price of grossly violating his principles. Graves is an entirely plausible character for this era of the American navy—between the Revolution and the War of 1812—when it faced many tasks and a shoestring budget. Campbell, an erstwhile crew member on a contemporary tall ship, the restored Lady Washington, writes a seawise prose and compensates in skilled characterization his tendency toward slow pacing.
