The ninth volume in the thrilling adventure series featuring Nathan Peake, British naval officer and spy, finds a young America divided against itself . . . 1806: The United States faces an existential threat from within. Vice President Aaron Burr, feeling cheated of the presidency, conspires to destroy the Union - and if he can't become president legally, to set himself up as the leader of a breakaway republic in the West. At the same time, President Jefferson's plan to outlaw the Atlantic slave trade provokes a secessionist movement in the southern states. Mere decades after achieving independence from Great Britain, the young nation is in serious danger of falling apart. To further complicate matters, a French fleet escapes the British naval blockade and heads westward across the Atlantic. Onboard is Emperor Napoleon's younger brother, Jerome, intent on exploiting America's internal divisions to his and his country's advantage. And in their wake, on a mission to assist the beleaguered President Jefferson, is the newly promoted commodore Nathan Peake with a small squadron of British warships led by the seventy-four-gun Scipio. Nathan has his own problems to contend with, however, and at times they appear overwhelming. They include his pregnant lover who is under suspicion of being a French agent, his secretive and complicated association with the Bonaparte family, his own dissident officers, the pro-slavery faction in the British Navy, and an American double agent intent on exploiting the national crisis for his own personal gain. The scene is set for an epic clash between the British Navy, Napoleonic France, and the forces driving America apart. And as the 1806 Battle of the Atlantic reaches the mouth of the Chesapeake, the eastern seaboard is about to be hit by one of the worst hurricanes in history.
Seth Hunter is the pseudonym of London-based Paul Bryers, the author of the highly acclaimed Nathan Peake Novels, a series of naval adventures set against the canvas of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Bryers won an English arts council award for Best First Novel for his political thriller Hollow Target, and his next thriller, In A Pig's Ear, was named as one of the Guardian's best six novels of the year. He has written and directed many historical dramas for television, radio, and the theatre. You can connect with him through his website, www.sethhunterbooks.com.
[Hunter] delivers another slick nautical adventure in the Patrick O'Brian tradition . . . The rousing naval battles, twisty plot, and muscular prose lift Hunter's nautical yarn a few notches above the competition. -- "Publishers Weekly" An entertaining and even informative look at British policy and action concerning the adolescent United States. Royal Navy officer Nathan Peake must navigate stormy political and personal waters in this tone-perfect novel of nautical intrigue. --David Poyer, author of the Dan Lenson novels of the modern U.S. Navy Imaginative, knowledgeable, fast-moving . . . full of twists and turns. -- "Naval Review" Really engaging. Seth Hunter has a more natural storyteller's eye than Patrick O'Brian . . . well wrought and deftly told. -- "Daily Telegraph" The action is handled with complete assurance and all matters nautical carry the requisite salty whiff of authenticity . . . Hunter keeps the plot continually on the boil. -- "Yorkshire Evening Post" What fabulous books. We see so many times on the Facebook groups, "What do I read after O'Brian?" Well, here you go: Seth Hunter and the Nathan Peake series. Outstanding. -- "The Lubber's Hole, a Patrick O'Brian Podcast" Will exceed expectations of lovers of historical fiction. Anyone who appreciates excellent prose, witty anecdotes, complex action, intertwining plots, and all-round great writing will anxiously await the next installment. -- "Foreword Reviews"
