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Book
Reviews
Falcon's
Revenge
Review by Lydia Filzen,
Correspondent
It’s
1803. Alarmed over Napoleon Bonaparte’s buildup of French forces
after a period of uneasy peace, Great Britain has declared war on
France.
Young
British navy Lieutenant Nathan Beauchamp has just received his
orders to leave his station in Jamaica and report to Portsmouth,
England. He sets off in the Sampson, a leaky ship captained by an
ailing skipper through pirate-infested waters.
A violent storm cripples the aging ship and the captain is felled
by an accident, leaving
the inexperienced lieutenant in charge. After the storm abates,
the floundering Sampson encounters a French privateer in the act
of looting a British merchantman. Using stealth and strategy,
Nathan overwhelms the pirates, rescues his countrymen, and saves
his crew from their sinking craft
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After yet another capture of pirates on a nearby
island, Nathan must abandon his mission to
England and return the ships, prisoners and
passengers to Jamaica. Upon arriving, he finds
his reputation soaring from his triumph and his
fortunes enriched by the bounty from his captures.
His superiors defer Nathan’s original assignment
to report to Portsmouth and send him on a mission
to continue to hunt down the gangs of pirates who
have been plaguing British shipping. They make
him captain of a captured pirate ship, the Vipere,
after discovering it was once in the British Kings
navy. Thus Nathan restores the ship’s honor and
her original name, HMS Falcon.
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This adventure story follows
Nathan’s further escapades as he seeks out the pirates with
intent to break their grip on the Caribbean. To his dismay, the
pirate chief he first captured was freed under exchange and is
again plying his trade against the British. Nathan finds his
ability tested to the fullest extent when he is called upon to
rescue the son of a wealthy British merchant who was kidnapped by
the pirates and must face down his old antagonist.
The author,
Joseph L. O’Steen, has crafted a book rich in setting that gives
enough detail about life on a British war ship to bring the reader
on board and sail him through realistic action.
Joseph L. O’Steen is a St. Augustine resident who plans to write
a series of novels about Nathan Beauchamp.
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