Between Two Fires (The John Paul Jones Trilogy, Volume 2)

Rating:
Summary: Aroused My Interest
Review: I'm not into historical fiction, but after reading Nicastros 2 novels, "The Eighteenth Captain" and "Between Two Fires" aroused my interest and made me a fan of this gifted author.

These compelling sagas of tragedy, bravery and adventure kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning. I'm waiting to devour your next book, Mr. Nicastro.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting and tautly written
Review: The second novel of the John Paul Jones Trilogy by Nicholas Nicastro, Between Two Fires continues the saga of America's first naval hero. An historical fiction, Between Two Fires offers the reader a riveting 18th Century odyssey of bravery, battle, tragedy, and loss on the high seas, exciting and tautly written. Also very highly recommended is the first novel of this outstanding trilogy, The Eighteenth Captain...

Rating:
Summary: Provocative, Gruesome March to Nationhood
Review: There are no easy blacks and whites in Nicholas Nicastro's wonderfully written tales of the American Revolution. Forget about the flag-waving pabulum that your ninth grade textbook passed off as American History. Nicastro portrays John Paul Jones as a Napoleonic .... who alternates his barks with his bites as the never-say-die commander of the Bonhomme Richard. The monomaniac runs many of his men and his ship into extinction while defeating the British Serapis.

The even more engrossing parallel tale in "Between Two Fires" revolves around conscience-stricken Captain Severance, who watches his Colonial comrades barbarically commit genocide against the Iroquois Nation. Nicastro takes Lechterian delight in describing the atrocities perpetrated under General Sullivan's command--officers parade around in flesh cut from the hides of Native Americans while burning and desecrating village after village. Yes the Indians do commit their share of torture, but theirs, as described by Nicastro, is a far more noble form of sadism.

Should David Lynch ever decide to direct an 18th Century war picture, this book is filled with a wonderful cache of quirky historical curiosities. A female character aboard Jones's ship dedicates her life to capturing the ideal physical traits of people she meets in her sketchbook. Her goal is to create a composite which would match the image of Jesus Christ. I won't betray the macabre manner in which she locates the preeminent nose. Joseph, the noble Native American hero aboard the Richard, has his teeth knocked out halfway through the saga and speaks the remainder in a humorous lisp. George Washington is a self-conscious poser, pretending to act as a great commander should act-- the Ronald Reagan of his day.

The book does have a few narrative flaws. Would an eighteenth century officer really write letters describing all the grotesqueries of war, not missing a morbid detail, to his bride-to-be? Would he also write extensively about his obvious attraction for a headstrong Native American woman?

But minor exceptions aside, this is a novel not to be ignored--certainly for fans of seafaring novels but more broadly for anyone hungering for sharply written historical ficition, fiction with a harsher, less propagandistic view of the era.