Havoc's Sword

August 25, 2003
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred or boxed review. HAVOC'S SWORD Dewey Lambdin. St. Martin's/Dunne, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 0-312-28688-0 In this solid seafaring historical, the 11th in Lambdin's Alan Lewrie series, British Royal Navy Captain Lewrie is tasked with hounding his longtime nemesis, the brutal and cunning French commander Guillaume Choudas. Choudas has been sent to sow discord on the French Caribbean island of Hispaniola, where Toussaint L'Ouverture holds the reins of power after a slave rebellion in 1791. The British have a cockeyed scheme to back L'Ouverture's rival-in-arms, General Rigaud, against the rebellion's leader. Though opposed to the plan, Lewrie is under orders to support it. After harassing the French on his own, and killing one of Choudas's best captains, Lewrie covertly teams up with the newly minted American navy and lures the French Caribbean fleet into a trap. The American navy proves its mettle, badly mauling the French, and, after Lewrie has tricked Choudas once again with false information, the Americans capture the Frenchman. Lewrie and his Foreign Office spy compatriot, the highly competent Peel, go over the head of insipid regional spymaster Grenville Pelham to suggest further alliance with the Americans as a means toward British dominance of the Caribbean and Atlantic. Lambdin's villains are invariably either monsters or weasels, and Lewrie is never believably threatened by them, so there isn't much tension. But Lambdin's customary good humor, well-wrought naval battles and use of every ruse de guerre in the book provide enough moment-to-moment pleasure to keep this long-running adventure series afloat.

October 1, 2003
Lambdin continues his rousing series of nautical adventures featuring the stalwart Captain Alan Lewrie of the Royal Navy. This time around, Lewrie and the crew of the HMS " Proteus "set sail for the balmy islands of the Caribbean, where a surfeit of intrigue and action awaits them. In addition to providing strategic cover for government agents attempting to wrest the colony of Saint Domingue away from the French, the intrepid captain must confront his archenemy, the horribly disfigured Guillaume Choundas. Other plot complications include the usual round of infidelities and marital problems for the relentlessly roving Lewrie. Once again, Lambdin manages to interweave several complex story lines into a suitably knotty naval yarn that will appeal to fans of historical maritime fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)