Savage Liberty

April 1, 2018

The fifth installment of the "Bone Rattler" series (after Blood of the Oak) finds its hero Duncan McCallum hoping for release from his indenture and for commitment to his beloved Sarah. Alas, trouble follows the scrappy Scot like a shadow. First, a merchant ship explodes in Boston Harbor, killing most aboard. A sadistic British officer quickly arrives, seeking a mysterious ledger and blaming McCallum for its theft. Our man hustles out of town with friends and fiancée, but a rogue Abenaki warrior now stalks them, taking gruesome revenge here and there. A missing but legendary frontiersman and a cache of French gold also drive the chase and more killings. Add in some disaffected Jesuits, two French spies, and a conniving John Hancock, and here is a pell-mell story as twisty as a 1950s Cold War novel, except set in supposedly tranquil 1768 New England. VERDICT A bit overstuffed with characters and multiple story lines, this historical thriller is still worth the roller-coaster ride, for those who enjoy politics, history, and hairbreadth escapes swirled together.--W. Keith McCoy, Somerset Cty. Lib. Syst., Bridgewater, NJ

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 29, 2018
Set in 1768, Edgar-winner Pattison's excellent fifth mystery featuring Duncan McCallum (after 2016's Blood of the Oak) finds Duncan, an exiled survivor of a slaughtered Scottish clan, in Boston, where tensions are growing between the Sons of Liberty and British officials over the increasing economic pressures on the colonials. Patriot Samuel Adams asks Duncan to use his medical training to determine what killed Jonathan Pine, a Native American Christian convert. The victim was aboard a British ship that exploded in Boston Harbor, but Adams has reason to suspect that Pine's death was different from those of the nearly 40 others who died in the blast. Soon after determining that Pine was tortured and fatally stabbed, Duncan learns that the explosion was an act of sabotage connected with a list that prominent Bostonian John Hancock began compiling of men with military experience whom he expects would "not shirk the call of liberty." Duncan's search for the list, and the truth behind the incident, is complicated when he's accused of blowing up the vessel and must flee for his life. Pattison has few peers when it comes to integrating historical events into a complex but plausible whodunit plot. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency.

April 1, 2018
In the America of 1768, hostilities from the French and Indian War linger, and revolutionary fervor grows. Against this backdrop, Scotsman Duncan McCallum is enlisted by John Hancock and Samuel Adams to retrieve a ledger intended to be delivered to the Sons of Liberty by a seaman on the merchant ship Arcturus. But the seaman is murdered, and the Arcturus explodes in Boston harbor, killing all 37 aboard. As he starts investigating, McCallum learns that he himself is charged with treason and the deaths of the 37 men, so he sets off on a chase to avoid the British troops after him, find the ledger, and clear his name. He also seeks the murderous Abenaki warrior who is killing elite rangers and eating their still-beating hearts?and who may hold the key to Duncan's puzzle. This fifth entry in Pattison's Bone Rattler series advances McCallum's personal life as it exhibits the seamless blend of fiction and history that distinguishes this fine series. A timely reminder, as well, of what liberty meant to our forebears.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)