Customer Reviews

Jack Absolute

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was an entertaining first book of a trilogy concerning the adventures of Jack Absolute, British Army Captain and spy, during the Colonial Period in American History. One of the previous reviewers compared the character of Jack, taken from Sheridan's play THE RIVALS, with the bully Flashman of Hughes's novel TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. Sir Harry Flashman, VC, is a scoundrel given an imagined life after being expelled from Rugby School by the late Scottish novelist George MacDonald Fraser. The only real comparison is that both Jack and Flashman are fictional British Army Officers from other works. Jack is basically a good person who finds himself unwittingly drafted by General John Burgoyne to spy on a sinister group of over-zealous Freemasons called The Illumintai who are stirring up the "American Rebels" against the Crown in 1777. Flashman, on the other hand, has no redeeming qualities and is an admitted bully, coward, liar, and shameless womanizer, among other things. His misadventures are also incredibly funny. To compare the two is unfair to C. C. Humphreys. He's his own man, like Jack, and a fine storyteller. I heartily recommend this book.

In the kind of breakneck adventure for which the term "rollicking" was coined, C. C. Humphreys embroils his protagonist Captain Jack Absolute--onetime officer, full-time rake, and part-time spy--in a duel, a chase, witty repartee, sex backstage (and onstage) at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and guest appearances by General Burgoyne AND Richard Brinsley Sheridan. And that's just the first three chapters. In 1777, Jack and his Mohawk Indian blood brother Ate, ordered back to America to serve Britain in the fight against American independence, find themselves battling ferocious colonial militiamen, British incompetence, and their own doubts about which master they serve. The audacity with which Humphreys purloins a character out of Sheridan's classic stage comedy, The Rivals, for his own devices, is matched only by the skill with which he pull it off--with plenty of dash, wry cynicism, bloody action, and a surprisingly tender and gripping love story that sneaks in the back door and turns the entire enterprise on its ear. Bravo!

This is a cleverly constructed historical thriller, essentially a spy novel set in the 18th century. Humphreys, a former actor, has been clever in constructing the characters and plot. The hero, Jack Absolute, is the hero of Sheriden's The Rivals. This is certainly not the first time a figure from English literature has been pulled out to feature in a set of historical novels. George Macdonald Fraser used this device to considerable effect in his Flashman books, where he pulled a minor figure out of Tom Brown's Schooldays and made him into the hero of this set of satirical novels. As in the Flashman books, the hero's story is mixed in with significant real historical figures and events, in this case, the American Revolution. Competently written, Jack Absolute is fairly entertaining though Humphreys has perhaps made the plot too complicated.

As an American I have seen lots of different versions of this or that Revolutionary War battle. However, this is the first time I've read one from a British point of view. It was very interesting to see from the other side.

I had expected a little bit more of a romp from the cover copy, but the story stays serious for the most part. I enjoyed following along with Jack Absolute however.

I enjoyed this book, but liked the other two in the series better. If you read the book blurbs and reviews or check out the author's homepage, this book is referred to as the "debut novel" and "The Blooding of Jack absolute" is a sequel book (which is acutally a prequel story line). However, if you go by the listed publishing dates and actual story time lines the correct order is: 1. The Blooding of Jack Absolute (published 2005), 2. Absolute Honour (published 2006), and 3. Jack Absolute (published 2007). That way reads best if you want to follow the actual time line of the story. I don't know if anyone else found it confusing (maybe it was just me!), but hope that helps if you were.

Here were the things which I felt detracted from this book in comparison to the previous two:

The story line seemed to be all over the place. It is an adventure, true, and there are a lot of fighting scenes, but it just felt like you were bouncing all around the place. I think one of the other reviewers remarked that the plot was "too complex at times", which may be another way of stating that. I felt that some of the fore shadowing made the "mystery" aspect of the plot a bit obvious (sorry to be vague, but I don't want to inadvertantly include a spoilier), so it wasn't overly complex is every aspect.

Although I didn't expect a romance novel (he's a "lover", but it's a book about a guy written by a guy, so you mostly figure he'll live to love another day but not necessarily the same love), I did find the romantic interest aspect of the story to be a "bit off". They have this kind of sexual tension thing going on, and he vaugely muses about love, but at one point he tells her he'll come back for her and just leaves her hanging. You never hear about her again for quite some time. He just seemed to go about buisiness as usual - it was just odd.

The thing I found most annoying, however, was the extrordinary amount of "last minute life saving scenes" that occurred. Yes, he is an action adventure British spy guy, I get it, but really it was just too many last second fatal blows deflected by random fate, friends, and acts of God. It was a bit much.

Overall I enjoyed it, especially the humor. Mostly, I wish they offered the books in digital format for Kindle. I had a hard time finding them in the library, and just don't enjoy reading paper books like I used to (although I did not let that effect my star scoring).

This is a historical fiction set during the American Revolution, centering around a British officer ("Officer, Mohawk, Lover, Spy" says the subtitle), named Jack Absolute. (The name is from a Sheridan play --the playwright appears in this story --he apparently "stole" the name of his friend for the character.)

Despite the trappings of farce and humor, the writing is (to me) lovely and straight-forward, with the characters themselves having all the wry wit and humor. Jack is a stand-up guy who has reasoned views of various personalities and both sides of the conflict.

He's set up as a larger-than-life character, and does have the background and abilities to back it up, as well as finding himself in incredible situations that just add to the glamour --and yet he remains very human and knows it. I really enjoyed how such usually clichéd situations and characters are dealt with in a fresh and interesting way.

Handsome, tall, more-than-ordinary hero forced to help the Royal Army, against the American rebels. Not to be left out were the usual companions such as an Indian sidekick, an eccentric superior, a lovely lady and of course, a vile villain. A light and quick read with some very good action scenes. And just like all action stories, there was always that last minute twist that would save the day (most at least).

While the code breakings were interesting enough, the turn of events reminds me so much of a movie, Secret Life of Ian Fleming. No wonder it has an addition title: The 007 of the 1770s. Jack was like James Bond. Lady's man, charming, playboy, etc though I must say that the espionage aspect was not too engaging as the book neared its end. Jack somehow become a hotheaded person, without any present of mind or that's why one of his nicknames was Fool? He was more like an amateur in the end.

This is neither historically accurate nor true to the character of the Sheridan. Jack Absolute has been hijacked and turned into the author's Marty Stu! This is nothing more than published badfic, made possible by the character's public domain status.