After spending the last two books focused on the ongoing adventures of Master and Commander George Holbrooke, newly made captain of British naval sloop Kestrel in the European theater of the Seven Years War with France, The Cursed Fortress takes us back across the Atlantic to HMS Medina, the frigate commanded by Holbrooke's mentor, Captain Edward Carlisle. Carlisle and his ship have been transferred from the Jamaica station to aid in the ambitious assault on the French fortress at Louisburg, which guards the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec, and all of New France from British attack.

I've been to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia -- or, as it's known in the book, Ile Royale -- many times, and I once paid a visit to Louisburg and the fortress there. It's a treat to read about its history in all its glory. Yes, it fell to the British eventually -- and author Chris Durbin will tell us how, in great detail -- but Louisburg was a tough nut to crack ... which is why it was nicknamed La Forteresse Maudite, or the Cursed Fortress.

The action is unusual for a novel of this sort, since it's less about ship-to-ship action -- although don't worry, there is still plenty within these pages -- than it is about the scouting, siege of and assault on a land-based stronghold. Although Carlisle's role in the siege is fictitious, the meat of Durbin's story is historically accurate, and it's a thrilling bit of military history to read. In particular, a brazen nighttime attack on two French warships by an army of men in small boats is -- well, it's the stuff of naval legend.

Durbin continues to impress with this series, and I'm already several pages into the next adventure -- back on the Kestrel in European waters, with Holbrooke in command.

[ visit Chris Durbin's website ]