cover image The Pirate Devlin

The Pirate Devlin

Mark Keating, Grand Central, $24.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-446-56390-1

This brawny, briny, early 18th-century seagoing adventure debut finds pirate Patrick Devlin, through a combination of luck, pluck, and circumstance, the new captain of the pirate brigantine Lucy. Treasure map in hand, he sets course for a Caribbean island on which a fortune in French gold is under guard. Opposing him is his former master, Royal Navy Capt. John Coxon, who, still smarting at having lost his ship to pirates, is under admiralty orders to retrieve the gold and relieve Devlin, his one-time manservant, of his piratical command. After dealing with a near mutiny and a chilling confrontation with Blackbeard, Devlin arrives at the island, where he must outsmart the French and the British if he is to get away with the treasure. Keating's pirates are no mere escapees from a Disney thrill ride; they're bloodthirsty, cruel, and sadistic to a man. The author seems hell-bent on restoring the pirate to his formerly fearsome berserker glory. And in this rousing swashbuckler, he resoundingly succeeds. (July)