Dewey Lambdin’s For King and Country weighs in at 1,098 pages which certainly qualifies it as a Big Fat Book. Actually, For King and Country is an omnibus volume of three Alan Lewrie naval adventures: The King’s Commission (1991), The King’s Privateer (1992), and The Gun Ketch (1993). I find these naval adventures perfect Summer Reading. Escape to the Caribbean where the British fleet spars with the French fleet and the Spanish fleet. Lambdin provides his main character, Alan Lewrie, with an active love life. But the test of nautical novels usually boils down to the action scenes. Lambdin, like C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian, excels in the battles between ships. You’ll learn a lot about life aboard a sailing vessel. I’m enjoying this series and will post more reviews about Alan Lewrie’s exploits in the months ahead. GRADE: A
I read and enjoyed the first book in the series after it was recommended to me by Frank Denton. Omnibus volumes – are there others? – are a great way to get a lot for your $.
Rick, FOR KING AND COUNTRY is the only omnibus edition of the Alan Lewrie series, But the other volumes can be found for reasonable prices online.