After reading several less-than-stellar novels in this genre, I needed a strong palate cleanser. Fortunately, A Man of No Country, the next book in Philip K. Allan's excellent Alexander Clay series, was on hand to fill the yearning.

The book sends Captain Clay and his ship, the frigate HMS Titan, to the Mediterranean to scout out the movements of ships and men under the leadership of France's bold General Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. Clay's mission -- which places him under the command of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson, who has only recently returned to duty after the loss of his right arm -- takes him from Gibraltar to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, where he meets the British consul William Hamilton and his lusty wife Lady Emma, and finally to Aboukir Bay for the decisive fleet action at the mouth of the Nile.

Allan's descriptions of the battle are stellar. I've read various descriptions of this fight over the years, both in fiction and nonfiction accounts, and I was riveted to the page as this version unfolded.

The book also provides shipboard drama, including a below-decks thief, a murder and a mysterious conscript who served for years among Barbary pirates. (Oddly, the eponymous "man of no country," the mysterious ex-pirate John Grainger, plays no vital role in the plot.) Along the way, we lose a shipmate who has been with us since the first volume in the series. Meanwhile, Able Sedgewick -- an escaped slave who has become Clay's trusted coxswain -- becomes an even more valuable member of the crew.

It's been nearly two years since I've read one of Allan's novels, and yet the characters within are as familiar as ever. I remember reading his first, The Captain's Nephew, back in 2020 and thinking then Allan would rise among my favorite writers in the genre. That prediction holds true, and I look forward to our next voyage together.

[ visit Philip K. Allan online ]