It's like saying goodbye to an old friend.

The Bolitho family -- primarily Richard, succeeded by his nephew Adam -- has been with me since I began reading this lengthy series early in 2010. That was about six years after I read my first C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian books, about a year after discovering Dudley Pope, and my passion for nautical fiction was still in its infancy. I had no idea at the time just how expansive this niche genre truly was.

Alexander Kent (the pseudonym for Douglas Reeman, himself a veteran of the Royal Navy during World War II and a prolific author of novels, many of which are set during that later, far different war) and the Bolitho clan have been with me ever since. The Kent books have been among my favorite sagas.

As I'm writing this, I've just recently reached the conclusion of the 28th and final book in the series, In the King's Name, and Captain Adam Bolitho's written adventures have come to an end. (His uncle's ended a few books back.)

Unfortunately, In the King's Name is not among the series' best. It's 1819, and the heyday of British naval action is behind them. The story, while it includes some taut battle scenes along the coast of West Africa, lacks the high stakes of past encounters with the French and Spanish navies.

And the book -- written, I believe, while the author was in his mid- to late 80s -- feels like an indecisive conclusion. Certainly it's apparent that Reeman didn't know this would be his final book when he wrote it. Too many character threads are left hanging, such as a bloody mutiny that is discovered but left unexplored and, more disturbingly, a scene of marital infidelity that is out of character for the people involved and is never resolved. Do the newlyweds live happily ever after despite the indiscretion? We can only guess.

The characters have developed the habit of touching each other's arms or sleeves a lot, in what are supposed to be meaningful moments ... but heck, everyone is doing it, so it's hard to assign much value to the gesture.

I found the end of the book somewhat dispiriting ... an end of an era, but going out on a low note. Still, I continue to rank the Bolitho series as a whole very high on my list of top recommendations and, with 28 books in the collection, one can't expect every one to be top notch.

Still, I wish it had ended on a higher note.