From Publishers Weekly
Strickland and Fuller (the Wishbone Mysteries) join forces for Pirate Hunter, a historical series set at sea. In this debut adventure, the recently orphaned Davy Shea arrives in Jamaica in the summer of 1687 in search of his uncle. Within a few hours, he's swindled, beaten and robbed, and his uncle Dr. Patrick "Patch" Shea is less than delighted to see him. However, Patch soon takes Davy on as surgeon's apprentice, and the two eventually ship aboard the HMS Retribution. When his uncle is caught up in an attempted mutiny and sentenced to hang, however, Davy's world is rocked again. Worse, his uncle escapes and appears to turn pirate. But is he? After a series of deadly escapades, Davy learns it was all an elaborate ruse to trap the pirate Jack Steele, and the tale ends with the surety that Davy and his uncle will cross swords with the villain in the future. Larded with colorful characters and historical and nautical detail (including a look at life in the British navy), the story includes enough scrapes to keep the pot boiling. An abundance of cliches (e.g., Davy and his uncle, Irishmen both, sport red hair, tempers and dialogue that runs heavily to such expostulations as, "Faith, is there not a schoolmaster about?") slightly mar the fun, but if this rip-roaring adventure is any indication, it looks like smooth sailing ahead for an enjoyable new series. The next episode, The Guns of Tortuga, is scheduled to release next March. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. Fourteen-year-old Irish orphan Davy Shea is shipped off to Jamaica to live with his uncle Patch, a surgeon with a somewhat mysterious past. Patch takes Davy as an apprentice, and when Patch is hired as the surgeon on the Royal Navy frigate
HMS Retribution, Davy goes along. When Lieutenant William Hunter, Patch's best friend on the ship, leads a failed mutiny, Uncle Patch is found guilty by association, and he is condemned to death along with the other mutineers. The rebels escape, however, and they steal a sloop, hoisting the Jolly Roger once they are out to sea. But things aren't quite what they seem: Patch and Hunter (think adult writer Patrick O'Brian's characters Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin) turn out to be secret agents, and the uprising is part of an elaborate scheme to rid the Caribbean of pirates. Readers set for swashbuckling historical adventure will be a little disappointed by this first volume in a planned series, as there's a great deal of rather ponderous background. But things pick up in the final pages (Davy joins his uncle on a pirate-hunting voyage), leaving the possibility for more action in the books to come.
Todd MorningCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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