Blooding of Jack Absolute [Hardcover]

C.C. Humphreys (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2005

London 1759 and Jack's life is easy. A scholar at Westminster School, a master with cricket bat or billiard cue, the leader of a gang of bucks about the Town, he has both a girl he worships...and a courtesan teaching him the more basic arts of love. Yet he plans to give up all carousing, sit the examinations for Cambridge, find a career in any field he chooses. If he can just stay out of trouble for one night...From the billiard halls and brothels of London to a clash of Empires on the Plains of Abraham, Jack life is forever altered by the tragedies of that night. Through duels, battles, frantic escapes and a brutal winter spent in a cave in Canada, Jack learns the truth of his father's words...as well as a dozen things to do with a dead bear. A year on, the schoolboy will vanish, a man appear. But first he must learn to kill. To come of age, Jack Absolute must be blooded.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Playwright and novelist Humphreys reprises his swashbuckling hero in this action-packed prequel to last year's Jack Absolute. Back then, Jack was a British spy during the American Revolution. In this volume, Jack's parents—an out-of-work actress and an itinerant soldier—leave the boy for much of his youth in the care of his drunken Uncle Duncan and abusive cousin Craster in the English countryside. Uncle Duncan's untimely death leads to Jack's reunion with his parents and a move to London, where he becomes a raconteur and fancies himself a poet. When the powerful Lord Melbury catches Jack in flagrante delicto with his mistress, he vows vengeance, but is instead killed by Jack's father in a duel. To avoid retribution, Jack joins John Burgoyne's 16th Light Dragoons and is posted to North America, arriving just in time for the battle of Quebec. Jack's adventures in the New World are just beginning, however, as he's captured by Indians, marooned in the wilderness over a harsh winter and reunited with the contemptible Craster—all the while wondering if he'll make it back home to England. In Jack Absolute, Humphreys has created a rambunctious but lovable hero who should continue to win fans with each new adventure. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'A coming-of-age novel that ticks all the boxes - adventure, drama, wit, style and sheer enjoyment.' -- Shari Low DAILY RECORD 'C.C. Humphreys brings the ribald, pleasure-seeking excesses of the regency period gloriously to life in this splendid romp... great rollicking fun' YORKSHIRE EVENING POST '[Humphreys] brilliantly combines meticulous research with a breakneck pace and a terrific sense of humour... If I read a more enjoyable historical novel this year you can stick me in a snowed up cave with only bear-meat to chew on and a copy of Hamlet to keep me sane.' -- Sally Sigmond HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW 'As swash-buckling as a young Errol Flynn, languidly escaping death with the ease of a teenage James Bond, this is a roaring adventure whose pages are remorselessly consumed. In this prequel, Humphreys begins the finest series of historical novels since O'Brian.' GOOD BOOK GUIDE 'Rip-roaring' NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST 'It is not often that one looks forward to a prequel with such yearning, but in this case THE BLOODING OF JACK ABSOLUTE is one those rare exceptions to the rule... He is a swashbuckler to rival all others and has the soul of a warrior. He is for me a devastating character that grows on you page by page to the extent that you crave more. Settle down, enjoy, and sink into the exciting and somewhat vulnerable life of spy-extraordinaire Jack Absolute.' -- Ayo Onatade SHOTS

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (January 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752857053
• ISBN-13: 978-0752857053
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,551,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars X Certificate Henty - A Ripping Yarn of the 7 Years war, August 11, 2005

By 

Tintin1689 (Sussex, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blooding of Jack Absolute (Hardcover)

GA Henty wrote historical novels for boys based on incidents in military history such as "With Peterborough in Spain" and "Cornet of Horse". The usual pattern was some misfortune caused a young lad to have to leave home and join the forces where, after giving an educational spectator view of great men and great events and surviving many escapades he returned made good.

This book follows that basic outline, but, unlike Henty would not make a Sunday School prize. Jack Absolute is a teenage scholar at Westminster School whose extra mural activities are drinking, gambling and wenching. He falls foul of the noble patron of his mistress and has to join the army in North America, where the war with French and their native allies is at a low ebb, to escape the consequences.

There he is present at the Siege of Quebec with General Wolfe. Later he is captured by Red Indians and survives the famous St Francis raid by the American Rangers only to have to spend a harsh winter in a cave with only a Mohawk warrior, a dead bear and a copy of Hamlet for company.

The story is told with great verve and humour and the narrative powers along. Despite the somewhat grim subject matter it is a fun read. A great breadth of subjects is covered, but nothing is skimped - the author is to be commended for his research. That I am eager to start on the sequel "Jack Abolute" must say something.

In summation daring escapades, interesting historical and geographical background, wicked villains and just enough humour. BUT not for the innocent...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Bloody Good Read!, February 27, 2008

By 

H. S. Wedekind "Mr. Weekend" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Blooding of Jack Absolute (Hardcover)

As has been said before, this is the "prequel" to the Captain Jack Absolute series by Canadian author C. C. Humphreys. The story takes place between 1752 and 1760. At the beginning of the novel we discover that young Jack grows up illiterate, unhappy, and abused by his uncle Duncan "Druncan" Absolute and his bullying cousin Craster in Cornwall, England. Through spunk and chance, young Jack escapes his tormentors, is reunited with his real parents (Sir James "Mad Jamie" and Lady Absolute) who send him to be educated as a gentleman at Westminster School. In London, he learns more than just the declension of Latin nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. Jack becomes a first rate cricketer, billiards player, punch drinker, and womanizer. The latter causes him to run for his life from a jealous Lord Melbury and into the arms of the British Army. I won't spoil the action and fun that follows, but will say that readers of this excellent series find out how Jack meets his Mohawk friend Ate, becomes a spy, and survives many harrowing experiences in the New World, including the Battle between the French under the Marquis de Montcalm and the British commanded by General Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham (Quebec, Canada 1759). This is a terrific book full of adventure and derring-do. A real page turner.

I would have given this book 5 stars except for a few irritating historical inaccuracies, e.g., the British soldiers facing the French in battle were not referred to as "the thin red line" (p. 283) until almost one hundred years later during the Crimean War at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Nitpicking, I know, but attention to small details such as the above makes for a better book, I think.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloody good read!, January 29, 2006

By 

H. Rhodes "Heidi" (NZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blooding of Jack Absolute (Hardcover)

Excellent book! Even Better than the sequel "Jack Absolute", which is great too. Very powerful characters and exciting story line which begins with Jack as a school boy and leads on to his role in the British siege of Quebec. It has a good balance of historical fact and thrilling fiction with war, rivalry and romance you will find it hard to put down.