In the King's Name
Century ▪ £18.99
McBooks Press ▪ $24.95


By George Jepson
It has been four decades and more since I discovered Alexander Kent's Richard Bolitho novels, while browsing in a small independent book shop.
    Recently settling into my favorite chair, while a late-winter snow whipped past the windows, I cracked open the latest title in the Bolitho saga, In the King's Name. The first few pages confirmed that this was yet another vintage sea story written on the author's well-worn typewriter.
    By 1819, with the Napoleonic Wars a fading memory, the British Empire has reached into the far corners of the world. Captain Adam Bolitho, in command of the 32-gun frigate Onward, is despatched to Freetown in West Africa, carrying secret orders for Rear-Admiral Giles Langley. Despite laws against the slave trade, nearly one hundred thousand slaves are still shipped annually from the African coast, with Royal Navy patrols in pursuit of slavers who risk capture in favor of 'black ivory' treasure.
    Turning the pages, I felt as though I was sitting down with an old, valued friend. The author has an uncanny touch when it comes to describing life aboard a King's ship. The sights, smells, sounds and interaction of characters puts readers aboard Onward, walking the angled decks, as she surges through open seas, and sharing Adam's inner thoughts as he melds a crew, cabin servants and officers with an even hand. The young captain, like his uncle Richard, is ever so human as he balances duty with a personal life, leaving his new bride Lowenna in the big grey house at Falmouth. Along the way, Bolitho loyalists will cross hawsers with the likes of James Tyacke, now flag captain to Rear-Admiral Langley, and Luke Jago, still at Adam's side in the role John Allday played for Richard Bolitho.
    Around each headland in the steaming tropic waters lies treachery and danger, while the Royal Navy officer in charge seeks personal glory, steeping himself in drink. Violence reigns at sea off the Dark Continent, where wreckage and victims of surprise attack are the only clues to a mystery that must be solved. Murder and mayhem at a missionary station only add to the enigma facing Adam and the Onwards as they attempt to unravel the fabric of this adventure.
    Alexander Kent remains the faithful steward of the Bolitho legacy in this lively yarn.


George Jepson is the former editor of Quarterdeck and is a frequent contributor to WoodenBoat and Small Boats magazines.
'The storytelling has an easy mastery, how well Kent knows the psychology of navalmen ...'
Sunday Telegraph


'One of the foremost writers of naval fiction ...'
Sunday Times