Freely imitating (as is his wont) classic tales—particularly, in this case, the nautical fiction of C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian—Malloy fashions a quick-paced historical doorstopper that sends a British spy, a brilliant young midshipman and a beautiful American heiress crisscrossing the Atlantic. To refill his treasury and take firmer hold of his American possessions, Napoleon has struck a deal with Count Vallon, a fabulously wealthy and utterly psychotic pirate king. It’s up to secret agent Paul Beaumont and his quick-study new protégé Peter not only to foil the plot, but also to spring Lucy Cosgrove, a socialite more comfortable with a long rifle in her hands than a fan, from the clutches of Vallon, who has whisked her away to his hidden Caribbean fortress. Backed by a supporting cast of familiar types, many many of whom die in often-brutal ways, the three meet, part and meet again on the way to a properly melodramatic climax. Replete with colorful characters, the good ones clearly separated from the evil, plus full measures of danger, intrigue and romance, this seagoing epic is tailor-made for beach reading. Billed as first of a series. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: July 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-439-72454-6
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In his first novel, the actor and playwright plunges readers into the headiest days of the Civil Rights movement. Isaac, almost 14, is dismayed when his protective father refuses to let him join the great March on Washington; later, after the Young People's Bible Class at his church is bombed, he helps organize a children's march and sees his father beaten by police when the march is broken up. Davis shows how a local church could expand its role as community center to play a part in inspiring and guiding a national movement, inviting readers to consider the conflict between Isaac, who has embraced Martin Luther King's philosophy of nonviolence, and his father, who carries a pistol and promises to give as he receives. Despite witnessing racial violence and experiencing steady harassment from his peers, Isaac's convictions endure. He gets to meet his hero, Dr. King; in the end, his father, after Kennedy's assassination and some soul-searching, has a change of heart. Dramatic and simply told, with a cast of strong personalities. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-73202-1
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992
Strasser notes that history records the first use of diving bells by 16th-century Caribbeans trying to salvage treasure from sunken Spanish ships; in this novel, unfortunately, he stretches credulity in suggesting how. On an island paradise off the Yucatan Peninsula, young Culca stubbornly insists that she wants to be a pearl diver like her brother Tulone, though diving is traditionally men's work. She falls in with a friar who teaches her Spanish, religion, and mathematics, then finds Leonardo's sketch of a diving bell in one of his books. On a visit to the mainland, Culca sees a big bell outside the cathedral. After Tulone and others are kidnapped by the Spanish to recover gold from a galleon sunk in deep water, she persuades the bishop and governor to try her Leonardo- inspired idea of using the bell to save her brother. The author plays up both Culca's independence and Spanish treachery; though a kind sailor helps Culca and her brother escape, the conquerors are seen mostly as relentlessly greedy and cruel—even the friar dies from their abuse. In the end, Culca gets her wish, since her village has been decimated and needs divers: a wan triumph. A contrived but topical story, with an intriguing picture of several native cultures in transition. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-590-44620-7
Page Count: 159
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1992
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