Rapscallion

Rapscallion is James McGee's third Hawkwood novel. Hawkwood is a Bow Street Runner, very much in the vein of Sharpe - and those who enjoy Bernard Cornwall's writing will probably enjoy this too.
The Navy sent two officers out to investigate reports of a smuggling operation and the increase in the number of enemy prisoners who have escaped detention from their prison ships. The first investigator was found having drowned and the second has gone missing.

The Home Secretary now requests Bow Street Runners to the investigation and Matthew Hawkwood is assigned to go undercover aboard one of the ships. Conditions aboard ship are more horrendous that could be imagined and Hawkwood is soon fighting for his very life.

With each new McGee book, I am show more fascinated to see on what historical subject he will base his plot. The first book, "Ratcatcher," had to do with political plots and the security of the Royal Family. The second "Resurrectionist," was much darker and dealt with grave robbers. This third book focuses on the treatment of foreign prisoners of war and smuggling.

His period descriptions and historical detail make his books evocative and educational. This is high action and suspense at its best. Think Saturday matinee pirate movies. It is definitely plot, rather than character driven, but that doesn't make the characters any less interesting. Rather, it does mean you don't know whom to trust.

McGee's writing is incredibly visual, which is both good and a bit hard to deal with at time, and it is always engaging.
I look forward to the next book, and hope to see Lasseur again in the future as he is a great addition to the growing cast of characters. show less

I read and really enjoyed the first two books in the Hawkwood series a few years ago. I noticed book 4 in the series coming up on my reading list so I hastily acquired Rapscallions (book 3) on my kindle so a snot to lose the sequence. This was an excellent decision on my part.
The series is well written, well plotted and meticulously researched, dealing this time with prison ships and smuggling. I heartily recommend this book, the predecessors and, I expect, the successors.

An amazing story taken from fact during the Napoleonic Wars involving smuggling on a large scale. Exciting to read. The slight early nineteenth literature style only added to the experience.

If Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe had retired back to England and joined the Bow Street Runners, these books would be about him. That's a compliment.

Spy gets himself condemned to a prison ship to track down French prisoners who are escaping.