Customer Reviews

Doctor Syn Returns

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This is the direct sequel to "Doctor Syn on the High Seas," and concludes the origin of Christopher Syn, respected preacher of Dymchurch. In this book, Syn, after sailing for years as the dreaded pirate, Captain Clegg, returns to Dymchurch to become the parson once again. But he cannot leave his bloody past behind, and soon takes up the mantle of The Scarecrow, leader of the local smugglers.

Here, Syn comes full circle, completing the epic arc of his journey on the seas with romance, tragedy, and action. Thorndike's plot is tight and engaging, and Syn as a character is very compelling.

It is important to note that this is the third Syn book published, but the second in story order (after Doctor Syn on the High Seas). The original novel in 1915, "Doctor Syn," is chronologically last. The other books that continue the series after Doctor Syn Returns are adventures that take place before the events in the first book. I recommend starting with Syn on the High Seas, and reading "Doctor Syn" last.

This is the second, in chronological sequence anyway, of Russell Thorndike's seven highly entertaining novels about the Reverend Doctor Syn, the apparently harmless vicar of Dymchurch in Kent who led a secret life as a pirate and smuggler.

The full series is:

1) Doctor Syn on the High Seas

2) Doctor Syn Returns

3) The Further adventures of Doctor Syn

4) The Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn

5) The Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn

6) The Shadow of Doctor Syn

7) Doctor Syn

Returning from his adventures in "Doctor Syn on the High Seas," the pirate Captain Clegg, who before going to sea had been vicar of Dymchurch, is the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of his former home. Finding that the vicar was drowned in a vain attempt to rescue people from the same wreck, he resumes his former style as Dr Christopher Syn and is appointed Vicar of Dymchurch.

Though he is very successful as a pastor, Dr Syn's life as a country parson is far more sedate than he had been used to. And then chance circumstances bring him into contact with the Kent smugglers ...