Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical prose, literary name-dropping, and nautical cliches
Review: The first of the three is fine, and in sticking with the style that he is most admired for, Perez-Reverte has crafted THE NAUTICAL CHART in lyrical and visually rich prose. No problem there but the allusion to Melville, Conrad, Homer, and just about every author who has written about the sea was far too obvious. It felt forced and came across as an attempt to conflate all nautical themes into this one novel. It starts immediately with the story opening with the line: "We could call him Ishmael, but in truth his name is Coy." As I said, it's not subtle. And for a writer who has previously shown a masterful command of language, it's a little disappointing that he felt compelled to use so many nautical cliches. Coy, pondering the mysteries of a woman revealed to him through his romance with Tanger, wonders to himself whether he will "ever be able to draw the nautical chart that would allow a man to navigate a woman." Ouch! What a chalk-on-blackboard-screeching cliche. Perez-Reverte knows better and should have restrained both Coy and himself. I thoroughly enjoyed the cartographic and navigational references and all the nautical digressions, and as always Perez-Reverte has done a lot of research. We can therefore be fairly sure that the historical framework - already informative and entertaining - is also accurate. The plot has enough twists in it for it to remain a mystery and the writing does sparkle in the tense and emotionally charged scenes and the book is definitely a thriller. The problem remains that Perez-Reverte is just too obvious with his literary devices, allusions, and cliches, (did I mention that a narrator is suddenly introduced to help drive the story to its conclusion?). In the end the normal, enjoyable, rhythm and flow of his novels has instead run into some choppy waters.
Rating: 
Summary: Sometimes more is just right.
Review: I liked this book. Not loved it, just liked it a lot. I think it helps to have a nautical backround.It also helps to be the kind of person the author writes about, since he portrays people in shadows and shades, and events move slowly most of the time. He has the sea right, he has these players right. I wish the end had been either slightly different, or slightly longer to taste it more, but you cannot have it all. This book is really about the process, not the ending anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Consistently Interesting
Review: There are many things to admire about this novel, but I'll confine myself to just a few areas. Other reviewers have summarized the plot, and the negative reviews generally seem to get hung up on either the pace (not "thrillerish" enough) or the ending. If you like literate mystery, though perhaps not quite thriller (it's not heavily plotted enough for that), this book will be the kind that you pass on to the like-minded. There are parallels drawn especially to Moby Dick, but also to the works of Conrad, Stevenson, and other Melville sea novels. I finished the book quickly, and I enjoyed the attention to the historical story at the center of the plot. The narrator and point of view, which seems to put others off, make the story more interesting to me (and its accompanying allusion to Melville). I came away from this book promising to re-read Club Dumas and to find Perez-Reverte's other books ... pretty high praise from me.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a thriller at all
Review: First of Mr Perez-Reverte's books I have ever read and, unfortunately, the last for a good while. The cover boldly claims that it is: "A marvelous thriller - a seafaring mystery that is a clasic of its genre".
I'm not sure how the reviewer came to that conclusion.
I put this aside no less than six times before finally making it to the unveiling of the narrator at page 364 at which point it began to display thriller-esque potential. Then it ended 102 pages later most disappointingly with an obvious climax.
The book is very well written and, as the inside leaf accurately claims, is a "highly intelligent and meticulously plotted novel"
The protagonists, Coy and Tanger are just too inaccessible, despite the fact that the majority of the novel is told from Coy's sea-weary perspective, mixed with a touch of the brutal. His incessant lust for Tanger is shadowed by a complete lack of explanation as to her character. She almost becomes superficial. El Pilote is far better drawn, as is Kiskoros and Palermo. A case of better supporting actors.
So, yes, well written, well-researched.
But not a thriller at all.
Rating:
Summary: Fun but Predictable from a Great Writer
Review: I am a big fan of what are probably best termed "literary thrillers." I am drawn to stories that center around books, libraries, and antiques with their mysteries and eccentric cast of characters. Books like A.S. Byatt's Possession and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose are probably two of the gems of this genre. And I wouldn't hesitate to put Perez-Reverte's The Club Dumas near the top of a "best of" list either. In fact, Perez-Reverte specializes in this field with other worthy titles such as The Flanders Panel and The Seville Communion. Now, he adds The Nautical Chart. Basically, this novel is a treasure hunt centering around the attempt to locate a sunken Jesuit ship lost off the coast of Spain in 1767. Coy, a grounded sailor, is lured into the hunt by--whom else?--a beautiful woman who believes she can find the ship using the ancient titular chart. Of course, there is competition to reach the lost ship which leads our narrator through most of the adventures in this novel. Like all of his novels, this one is very well-written, plunging us into a vanished world our modern characters need to understand before they can achieve their desires. There are always things to learn when reading a Perez-Reverte novel and they are always fun to read. But there is something missing in this book that Perez-Reverte usually provides: surprises. Though intellectually stimulating, this novel is very predictable. On some level, I think Perez-Reverte realizes this and plays it off in Coy's own foreshadowing of his ultimate fate. Still, he has shown himself to be capable of much more in his other novels.
Rating:
Summary: Not One Of Perez-Reverte's Better Efforts
Review: In such books as "The Club Dumas" and "The Flanders Panel" Arturo Perez-Reverte displayed a deft skill at blending historical or literary events with today's world to create mysteries both challenging and enjoyable. He attempts the same in "The Nautical Chart" and for some reason falls flat. The author has done his research on all things maritime and unfortunately he feels he has to cram all of it needlessly into the book. A line of dialogue will be follwed by 2 dense pages of nautical ramblings before the conversation resumes. In a way that makes the book a faster read because you can skip these ramblings without missing anything crucial to the story.He also peppers the book with some of the worst nautical cliches ever penned. Maybe it is an attempt at humor but if it is it wears thin pretty fast. What the book needed was a good editor to clear away the overgrowth. As it is it really is not until about page 75 that what should have been an exciting mystery finally starts to take off finally catching some steam around page 150. By the time you get to the end though you are really tired and begin to ask was this worth the trip? For Perez-Reverte at his best (and that is really excellent) go to "The Club Dumas", "The Flanders Panel" or "The Fencing Master". In those you will find a master of his craft. In "The Nautical Chart" he is having an off day.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Suspense Novel with a Continental Flavor
Review: This Spanish writer's novels are interesting for American readers because of their different sensibility. Their major characters are afflicted by melancholy, and sometimes by fatalism. The reader feels the weight of centuries of Western European history, and deeply rooted Catholicism. Women have played secondary roles in these male-centered books. One gets the sense that Perez-Reverte made some adjustments when he wrote The Nautical Chart. This tale of suspense, centered on a search for a sunken treasure, is driven by a mysterious and treacherous woman. The male protagonist, a disgraced merchant marine officer, is both seduced and taken in by her plan. He would be a sympathetic loser if he were not so violent. Perez-Reverte's language (as translated from Spanish) seems richer than in his previous novels. The book makes heavy use of nautical terminology, generally with good effect but occasionally with dubious accuracy. One wishes that Perez-Reverte had left out the silly acronymic pearls of wisdom in the sailor's mind. Still, he is a distinctive writer.
Rating:
Summary: good, not great
Review: If you have not read Perez-Reverte before, start with The Flanders Panel, or The Seville Communion, or The Club Dumas. If you have read some of this author before, you will recognize the m.o.: This time he gives us great detail about the life of a merchant seaman, ancient cartography, and jazz music. Much like The Fencing Master, this book is slow the first half, then picks up around page 200 and is off to the races, with a Perez-Reverte style twist at the ending. I would place this ahead of The Fencing Master, behind the others. It wasn't great, but I enjoy reading his work and was glad I read it.
Rating:
Summary: Could have sailed further with a little less wind...
Review: I agree with the general impression given by other reviewers that something was amiss here. At the beginning the book swept me up immediately; in crafting a plausible tale of a 1767 shipwreck and the existing documents which would allow it to be found today, Perez-Reverte was at his best; and those who enjoyed his invented histories for the Ostenburg characters in "The Flanders Panel" will certainly find the same skilled artistry here. The book kept wind in its sails until the characters actually set sail; then the monotony of their search came to mirror the monotony experienced by readers, and when the pace suddenly picked up again with an unexpected, though perfectly expectable, triple-cross surprise ending, the sudden return of speed was as jarring as a Carribean storm. Perhaps an editor with a sharper knife or more ink in his pen might be all that was needed here. (Note: I read the Spanish version)
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: After reading all the other books by this author I was eagerly awaiting this one. However when I finally labored through it I was very disappointed. Perhaps it is partially the translation, as I noted yet another translator was used. But the story line lacked the interest of the others. I wanted so to enjoy it and it wasn't meant to be. Will there be another? Probably not for me!
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