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With All Dispatch

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The war with revolutionary France - later known as the Napoleonic war - is approaching, but England's Navy is still at peacetime strength. The ships and the men who fought in the 1770's and 1780's have been released from service. Captain Bolitho is back in England and has spent the last two years recuperating from the fever that marked the end of his service in the South Seas. Luckier than most, he is then posted to the command of a group of three cutters that are supporting the tax service in trying to cut down on the smuggling of goods into the country.

The smuggling in these parts seems very organized and for some reason the navy ships are always at the wrong place when a shipment is made. Additonally, the local populace seems to be much more supoprtive of the smugglers than of the navy and do not offer any assistance. The smugglers are not only able to work their way at will, but they are also staffed by many sailors who are obviously deserters from various navy ships.

This is the mess that Bolitho enters.

Right from the get-go Bolitho takes charge. On the road to his ships, he manages to single-handedly convince a mob to release two naval officers who were being marched to be hanged. He does this by personally confronting the mob (which numbers a few dozen people). This is actually one of the most annoying things about Kent's writing. He continuously resolves issues by relying on people absolutely hero worshipping his Bolitho character with no substantiation of why that should be so. In this case, can anyone really believe that a blood-thirsty mob of about 50 people would sheepishly stop and turn loose their prey when confronted by one 30-something naval officer who they have never seen before in their lives? This kind of plot twist happens several times in each book in the series and is completely illogical and detracts mightily from the quality of the series.

After assuming command of his flotilla and meeting the local naval commander, the story continues with Bolitho getting acquainted with the local situation, making friends with unlikely characters who end up helping him, and slowly resolving the situation. There are several battles between his ships and the smugglers which is strange because prior to his arrival, they always managed to avoid the navy!

As the book goes on, the local command structure of the smugglers is reveladed and Bolitho works his way through it causing the deaths of all involved. When it is finally revealed who the overall commander is, a plot twist is thrown at the reader. Before Bolitho can dispense justice, a mysterious and powerful Lord from London shows up and orders Bolitho and the local smuggler commander to work together for the benefit of England. Bolitho is sent on a mission to spy and intervene in the developing French crisis. This just serves to delay the final resolution as the smuggler tries to double-cross Bolitho and one final naval battle involving a smuggler ship loaded with treasure being stolen from England; the three cutters under Bolitho's command; and a French Corvette erupts as the first action of the new war.

While Bolitho survives this encounter, many of the characters that were developed in this book are killed and one of the cutters is sunk. A mini-postrscript that is entirely dissatisfying talks about the news being kept in the background because of the new war starting. Bolitho is then assigned to the command of the Hyperion.

The tale is twisted and rich enough that it is fun to follow. The naval battles are exciting as usual. Some of the supporting characters from previous books are present again and take on some surprising roles. However, some of the plot twists are easily predicted and having Bolitho resolve everything without making a single mistake is touching on the annoying. This last is only excusable due to the series being written for an intended audience of young readers who might be more smitten with the hero worship and less aware of how simplistic the plot and its resolutions are.