Sourcebooks Landmark
ISBN: 978-1402280702
Published May 2013
Hardcover, 288 pages
This book made me experience such a
wide range of emotions! I laughed, grimaced, rolled my eyes, yawned,
gasped (not in that particular order) and my heart raced as the story
came to a climax with a plot twist I did not see coming. Jack
Absolute is the first book in an historical fiction series set
during the American revolution that features the swashbuckling rogue
hero, Jack Absolute, known as a charming womanizer, cavalry officer and the
blood brother of a Mohawk leader.
The novel opens with a scene where a
dual takes place and thus begins the story of Jack's many escapes,
enough to make me think he has nine lives as he survives nearly
impossible situations. Jack has just returned from years abroad and
is soon after recruited as a spy for the British in the Revolutionary
War. They want to use his connection to the Iroquois people to
recruit them on their side of the War. Jack quickly realizes
there is a traitor among them, part of a secret society bent on ruling the world, and they want to
get rid of Jack because he is on their trail.
Humphreys is a great writer, bringing
alive the character of Jack as only he could have done since he,
being also an actor, played the role of Jack
Absolute in the play The Rivals in 1987. Because he
enjoyed this role so much he decided to write a novel based on this
character, making him “the Double-O Seven of the 1770s”. It's
clear that Humphreys did extensive research and included real-life
figures in his story. I have to admit the military talk got boring
for me, but I knew it to be essential to the story, so I forced
myself to pay attention when reading these parts.
The last part of the book was
suspenseful as Jack got closer to discovering what this secret
society was and who was their leader. There is plenty of action in
this book. The battle scenes are bloody and gruesome, but there is
also romance and some funny scenes. Jack wins your heart because he
is adorably imperfect, one minute making me want to shake him for his
silly mistakes and the next making me marvel at his
kindheartedness.
If you like historical fiction set
during the American Revolution, this one delivers a good story with
unforgettable characters and an ending that left me reeling.
Note: This book is rated P = profanity, S = explicit sex scene and V = violence for war battle scenes, both American and Iroquois. There are a few f-bombs and a few religious expletives. There are two sex scenes in this novel. The first one is at the beginning of the novel and explicit and the second toward the end of the novel and not too explicit.
Reviewed by Laura
Disclosure: Thanks to Sourcebooks for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.
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