I haven’t read a lot of love for Michael Crichton’s first posthumous release, Pirate Latitudes, but don’t let that discourage you from reading it.  It’s actually pretty good, a rollicking good time in fact, and I think more than Crichton fans will cling to it.  Yeah, it feels a little underdone, but it’s far from half-baked.

When the Governor of Jamiaca Colony, Sir James Almont, learns a Spanish ship, quite possibly, full of treasure is anchored at the Spanish stronghold of Matanceros, he is quick to let privateer Captain Charles Hunter know this juicy little tidbit.  A ship that size, full of riches, is what they’ve been dreaming about for more years than they care to count, especially Sir James.  The good Governor writes an official marque for the cutting of logwood to Hunter; it’s under this ruse that the captain will set sail.  And everybody and their brother knows it’s a ruse, especially Governor Almont’s new Secretary, the goody-goody Mr. Hacklett who has plans of his own for the, in his eyes, corrupt Almont.  Jamaica Colony wasn’t what Hacklett was expecting, too much unlawfulness and too many bawdy women and pirates roaming about for his tastes.

There is enough adventure and intrigue to have made this a trilogy.  The book is basically three parts:  the trip to Matanceros, the raid on the stronghold, and the trip back to Port Royal, Jamaica.  Trilogies seem to be one of the most recent fads of the present day.  Pray it ends soon.  But I digress…Pirate Latitudes punches right along, it’s a quick read, as most Crichton novels are, and not just because it clocks in at 312 pages, but it draws you in (as most Crichton novels do).  I couldn’t put it down.  The book may not be deep, but damn if it ain’t entertaining.


All in all, it’s not the travesty some make it out to be, though some passages of Pirate Latitudes do feel more like notes for a novel.  There are paragraph and line summations of actions, and I wanted some detail.  Most of the characters are drawn clearly enough, the main players anyway, the supporting cast not so much.  And Port Royal itself seems seedy and lawless enough it would make you want to visit Jamaica Colony, 1665.  Again, this could be one of those times I may be a little biased, Michael Crichton is one of my favorite novelists.  Though, I did not like The Lost World, I thought it was just boring and in need of some editing.  So, maybe I can be fair.

Face it, I like a good pirate story, and this is one:  adventure, action, brains blown from heads at close range by musket fire.  And bawdy women.  It’s better than Pirates of the Caribbean:  At World’s End.  See, stop the trilogies.

4 out of 5
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