A Darker Sea, James L. Haley
A Darker Sea, James L. Haley
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A Darker Sea
Master Commandant Putnam and the War of 1812

Author: James L. Haley

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 12 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 11/14/2017


Synopsis

The second installment of the gripping naval saga by award-winning historian James L. Haley, featuring Commander Bliven Putnam, chronicling the build up to the biggest military conflict between the United States and Britain after the Revolution—the War of 1812.

At the opening of the War of 1812, the British control the most powerful navy on earth, and Americans are again victims of piracy. Bliven Putnam, late of the Battle of Tripoli, is dispatched to Charleston to outfit and take command of a new 20-gun brig, the USS Tempest. Later, aboard the Constitution, he sails into the furious early fighting of the war.

Prowling the South Atlantic in the Tempest, Bliven takes prizes and disrupts British merchant shipping, until he is overhauled, overmatched, and disastrously defeated by the frigate HMS Java. Its captain proves to be Lord Arthur Kington, whom Bliven had so disastrously met in Naples. On board he also finds his old friend Sam Bandy, one of the Java's pressed American seamen kidnapped into British service. Their whispered plans to foment a mutiny among the captives may see them hang, when the Constitution looms over the horizon for one of the most famous battles of the War of 1812 in a gripping, high-wire conclusion. With exquisite detail and guns-blazing action, A Darker Sea illuminates an unforgettable period in American history.

About The Author

James L. Haley is the award-winning author of the Bliven Putnam Naval Adventure series, including A Darker Sea and The Shores of Tripoli, as well as numerous books on Native American, Texas, and Western history, and historical and contemporary fiction. His two biographies Sam Houston (2002) and Wolf: The Lives of Jack London (2010), each won the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas (2006) won the Fehrenbach Award of the Texas Historical Commission. His most recent nonfiction is Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii (2014).


Reviews

Goodreads review by Eli - on November 19, 2021

After reading The Shores of Tripoli I was looking forward to this book. Very disappointed. Only a handful of the chapters actually involved the War of 1812. I know there was much more fighting in the war than 2 sea battles which lasted all of a few pages each.......more

Goodreads review by Blaine on February 11, 2019

2nd book in this series and I am left with a rather blah taste in my mouth. The story is good, but we have a lot of loose ends. What happened with Bliven Putnam for the remainder of the War of 1812; what was Chapter 9 all about (I understand but it makes no sense in the course of this book and while......more

Goodreads review by Chris on November 18, 2017

For me this was an outstanding historical fiction. I am looking forward to the third book in this Naval Saga. This book is basically a humanized build up to the Naval War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. The characters and story developed through them is what made this book for m......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on October 10, 2017

I received a ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This book detailed the experiences of Putnam during the war of 1812. Not knowing much about this time period prior to reading this book, I found portions of the narrative very interesting. The author also made a point......more

Goodreads review by Tony on July 27, 2021

Enjoying the Putnam story. If you like the Jack Aubrey character. Putnam is a fantastic character to enjoy and follow his adventures. Mr. Haley is a fantastic story teller. He expertly mixes actual history and historical people with the fictional. The walk through of operations of a ship of war as w......more


Quotes

“Haley is an erudite historian who can craft fiction so real that you're ready to pull the grapeshot-packed 18-pounder's lanyard… Another real-enough-to-be-true, rollicking tale from the days of sail and sword.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Haley’s enthralling blend of well-drawn characters, nautical combat, and period detail will appeal to both Patrick O’Brian and American history enthusiasts.” — Booklist

“[O]ne discovers many little-known facts in this exciting and informative book. …Strongly recommended.”  — Historical Novels Review

“The history is thoroughly researched, the fiction inventive, the style at once easygoing and rapid….This is a marvelous and richly enjoyable novel, and the intended series to follow promises to do for the American Navy and the Marines what C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian did for the Royal Navy….More, please.” –Wall Street Journal on The Shores of Tripoli