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Summary: Historical nautical fiction at its best!
Review: Could it be that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote TREASURE ISLAND based on a true story, and the characters really existed? Is it true that an aging pirate, Long John Silver, manipulated John Paul Jones and other patriots of the American Revolution into recovering treasure from a small island in the Caribbean? These are but a few of the questions I was asking myself after I finished reading Commander Roger Johnson's well crafted adventure novel, DEAD MAN'S CHEST. As a writer, I know how tough it is to spin a yarn of factual fiction, and do it in a way that makes every page believable. Mr. Johnston has done it in spades - and everything rings true - from the sailing lore to the historical backdrop. It is a saga bigger than life and destined to be made into a major motion picture. Move over C. S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and Dan Parkinson - there is a new author on the scene writing in the same tradition. We can only hope Commander Johnson will continue to tell us more about the characters he has so skillfully brought back to life in this truly entertaining novel. If you enjoy factual fiction with a nautical theme, you will not be able to put this one down.
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Summary: Highly recommended for any with interest in nautical myths
Review: Dead Man's Chest: The Sequel To Treasure Island is a high seas pirate adventure, based on an infamous sailor's ballad, that begins with Long John Silver's daring escape and culminating with the American Revolution, more than ten years later. The deadly cutthroat must form an alliance with his teenage nephew and Captain John Paul Jones, who just might be more dangerous than any wanted criminal, to retrieve a staggering ransom of gold and jewels from the "Dead Man's Chest". Highly recommended for any with an interest in nautical myths or stories of pirate escapades!
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Summary: I truly couldn't put it down!!
Review: I just finished reading Dead Man's Chest by Commander Roger Johnson and was thrilled with each page. I'm not much of a fiction reader, but once I read the two page preface, I was hooked. Commander Johnson has put together a marvelous story of adventure, mixed with love, intrigue, and how Long John Silver manipulated hundreds of pirates and Colonial patriots into doing his bidding to find and take back the treasure of Dead Man's Chest. I was especially taken with the 1777 transcript of the Royal Navy Admiralty Court of Inquiry that formed the foundation of this amazing epic adventure. I recommend Dead Man's Chest to everyone who likes a great yarn, and truly hope this important literary work makes it to the big screen.
Rating:
Summary: I truly couldn't put it down!!
Review: I just finished reading Dead Man's Chest by Commander Roger Johnson and was thrilled with each page. I'm not much of a fiction reader, but once I read the two page preface, I was hooked. Commander Johnson has put together a marvelous story of adventure, mixed with love, intrigue, and how Long John Silver manipulated hundreds of pirates and Colonial patriots into doing his bidding to find and take back the treasure of Dead Man's Chest. I was especially taken with the 1777 transcript of the Royal Navy Admiralty Court of Inquiry that formed the foundation of this amazing epic adventure. I recommend Dead Man's Chest to everyone who likes a great yarn, and truly hope this important literary work makes it to the big screen.
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Summary: Wonderful storyline
Review: I just finished reading DEAD MAN'S CHEST, and I can honestly say it is one of the best two or three books I have ever read. It is the remarkable story of how one man, Long John Silver, was able to manipulate both pirates and patriots in order to aquire the Treasure of Dead Man's Chest; the other two-thirds of the treasure John Flint burried on Treasure Island. The action takes place between November 1773 and June 1775, the same twenty months in which the naval hero John Paul Jones disappeared from the history books. He was a foreigner and had a warrant on his head, yet he did something so remarkable for the American Colonies that he was awarded one of the first naval commissions in the Continental Navy. DEAD MAN'S CHEST reveals for the first time exactly what he did, woven together with other historical events and with just enough fiction to give this amazing novel a hook to keep my undivided interest. I give DEAD MAN'S CHEST five stars!
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Summary: Dead Man's Chest - Live Man's Pleasure
Review: I obtained this book in 2001 but emerging family caregiving situations kept me from reading it. Once I started I could barely put it down. I am a retired professional mariner,having grown up by the sea and spending my life at sea.This is a tale of the sea at its best, splicing together history and adventure.Dead Man's Chest Should be in the library of anyone who loves the sea,or loves a great adventure.
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Summary: Realistic. Spellbinding. I couldn't put it down.
Review: I took Dead Man's Chest with me on vacation. Essentially, my planned vacation activities were put on hold until I completed reading the book. Roger Johnson related the characters' thoughts, actions, and words so clearly, and the story locations so realistically, that I truly suspect that he might really have found historical documentation of actual events. I hope Mr. Johnson will continue writing and publishing novels of this high caliber.
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Summary: Dead Man's Chest - The Sequel to Treasure Island
Review: I've wondered what might have happened when Long John Silver and Ben Gunn pulled away from Dead Man's Chest in their small boat finally escaping death. Now I know because Roger Johnson, in his wonderful telling-the-tale way, moves the reader, through the adventures of John Paul Jones, back to Dead Man's Chest with bone-chilling encounters on land and on sea. And Long John Silver surfaces along with other pirates, providing us with stories within stories finally bringing us to a momentous conclusion. Would that Roger's tale become a movie.
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Summary: Two books by the same title
Review: If you are looking for this book at a used bookstore or the library, be aware there is a second book by the same title (author is Rankin, I think) which is a chronicle of the travels of Robert Louis Stevenson, not a sequel to Treasure Island. Don't know if this will happen to anyone else, but I checked out the wrong one. Be sure you know which one you're getting!
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Summary: Long John Silver & John Paul Jones?
Review: It seems that writing sequels to "Treasure Island" has become something of a cottage industry. That doesn't shock me, for any good and interesting book invites its readers to speculate about what happened to the characters after it ended. This particular sequel posits the idea that Long John Silver helped John Paul Jones obtain his commission in the newly-formed Continental Navy, and also helped the colonists to acquire the cannons needed to carry on their war against England. The naval aspects of this tale are excellent, and the characters are fairly well drawn. The plot is a bit far-fatched, but interesting all the same. My only quibble is that there's really not enough about Jim Hawkins, who only appears as a minor character. Long John himself doesn't appear to be the same fellow we remember from the original book, but it's the author's right to do with his characters as he wishes. The story is enjoyable aside from some minor lapses in plot, so it is worth reading if you enjoy pirate and adventure yarns.
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