Not sure why I can’t convince myself this one’s worth four stars….
First we take a little tour in the Med, where Kydd gets in over his head with a married lady at Gibraltar, then visits Venice. This is followed by a vivid portrait of the Nore mutiny, where Kydd works closely with lead mutineer Dick Parker. Finally we make a quick voyage to Camperdown, and watch the battle from inside–nicely executed chaos. There’s a lot of story packed into this novel, and a surprise development at the end.
Kydd’s companion Nicholas Renzi annoys me, by the way. He’s more an interesting idea than a convincing character. We get a bit more of his background during the Venice excursion, and he pulls some strings to save Kydd from the post-mutiny court.
And I’d forgotten all of Kydd’s girlfriends since my previous read through this series. Nearly every port finds him involved with someone. The women make an interesting cross-section of society; this book has an Army officer’s wife, and the sister of a former shipmate.
This review was originally published on LibraryThing.