Manuel Coy is a sailor without a ship.

Bored and footloose, he attends an auction and roots for Tanger, a fascinating woman, who wins a furious bidding battle for an 18th-century nautical atlas against a dangerous-looking opponent. Outside, Coy intercedes when he finds Tanger being bullied by the man we will soon come to know as Nino Palermo, a salvage pirate as obsessed with the same prize as the woman who intrigues Coy and in whose web he willingly becomes entangled.

Tanger Soto, a researcher at the Museo Naval in Madrid, is on a quest to find the Dei Gloria, a Jesuit ship carrying a secret cargo, which was sunk by pirates in 1767 off the Spanish coast. Tanger is slow to reveal the nature of this secret cargo, but Coy doesn't care. He already knows he's the man to help her, despite fears of ultimate betrayal and the dangers posed by Palermo and his vicious henchmen.

Those who prefer thrillers to be page-turners may object to the slower pace of this novel. But what's the hurry to get to the end? Why not savor the secrets, the dangers and temptations, the conversations about music, books, mysteries, aspects of sailing, lost ships and treasures?

As a result of COVID-19, I've been re-reading a number of books on my shelves, and this is one of those. I've been a fan of Perez-Reverte since I first stumbled upon The Club Dumas. This is not my favorite of his output, though I am a sucker for nautical adventures and especially tales of lost treasure. So, I won't hesitate to recommend it to those who share these inclinations.

[ visit Arturo Perez-Reverte online ]