Customer Reviews

A Fine Boy for Killing (The Sea Officer William Bentley Novels)

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

 

 

I could not put this book down.

I had been looking, as I usually am, for grim, gritty realism. This book was almost *too* intense for me -- and I mean that as a compliment. It's the story of an unhappy ship, a psychotic captain (I kept seeing Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh, reading Swift's scenes), and the inevitable results. Characters die -- *major* characters die. Don't read this if you lack a strong stomach.

Needle's writing is a blunt, brutally wielded instrument, but gets the job done. The choreography of action scenes can sometimes be a little too static; overall setting and description, though, stand out. His dialogue sometimes rings false, but works adequately. Characterization is strong overall, though with some events (Allgood's collapse; Bentley's change of heart) never quite ringing true. The plot never stops moving from the first page to the last; I was never bored, and I bore easily.

Of interest to me is Needle's purpose in writing this book, apparently the first in the series. The title character, Bentley, is not an admirable figure here. But presumably he is going to be the protagonist of books to come. Many authors give their characters dark pasts, but reveal them only in snatches of backstory; Needle here has written that dark past out in all its sordid glory. I am certainly looking forward to seeing what the author does next.

After viewing A&E's Hornblower series, I began devouring books on the Napoleonic wars. After the Hornblower books, the Aubrey/Maturin series and finally the Ramage series, Needles characters are a breath of fresh air. Not to take anything away from the previous authors, I feel Needles gritty realism is something sorely missing in the genre (especially in the Lord Ramage series). I look forward to see the development of Midshipman Bentley for the very reason that he is so flawed. Lets hope that someday Bentley becomes a fine and noble officer, but not too soon. I have just ordered #2 in the series and can't wait to see where young Mr.Bentley ends up next. Keep up the good work Mr.Needles!

Younq William Bentley, a midshipman on a RN frigate in dock waiting for orders, is gulled by his vicious uncle, Capt.Swift, into a false sense of ideals, command, and justice. Swift's iron-fisted reputation precedes him and the few hands that man the boat are supplemented by the dregs of the gaols and hospitals, plus whatever he can drum up. William has to do some of the drumming-up and he tricks a young farm-hand and his sheep into the service of HM the King. A smuggling cutter provides a few real seamen, gaining Bentley extra kudos and inflating his already swollen ego, simultaneously earning him enemies in the crew. Young, gullible William is so impressed with uncle's regime that he is in danger of becoming a carbon-copy (which is exactly what his uncle wants). His uncle's charisma blinds the young man to the real dangers of the rule of the lash and starter, and also to the Captain's gradual spiral into madness. However, some of the crew are not blind to this and are planning mutiny, fuelled by the daily bloody punishment, the vile food, incessant meaningless sail evolutions and the prospect of a trip round the Horn at the worst possible season.
Around the same time, Will's bubble of confidence and superiority is pricked by a humiliating staged fight, and more leaks out as he realises the mutinous results of Swift's despotic reign could have been prevented by a different form of man-management; young Will suffers a horrendous coming-of -age in the last few pages.
Rich characterisations, attention to detail and a well-paced plot make this a great, if at times stomach-turning, read - this is realism, so don't expect a happy ending.

First, let me say that I am not a Napoleonic Era expert. I have read many Naval novels. At least 20. I also have read a few books dealing with the true-to-life experiences of sailors during this time frame. (1780-1820) "A Fine Boy For Killing" is the first book I've read that dealt thouroughly with life below decks as a common sailor/landsman. I think this is important because it doesn't focus on the perspective of a British Officer. I was aware of the sailor's living conditions, but not in the very real way in which they are described in this book. This was no fictional fantasy that wrapped up nice and neat. Mr. Needle has left the romance of the genre out. I don't think I could read 5 straight books of this kind, but I am very glad to have read this one book. I think anyone who is a serious reader of Naval Fiction should stop whatever series they've started, read this book, and then continue.

After reading "A Fine Boy For Killing" every other Nautical story will be enhanced to a greater degree. As I said earlier, I picked up this book mainly because I knew it dealt with the common sailor's perspective, which I was curious about. The book did not dissappoint. I think "A Fine Boy for Killing" is a "Must Read!"

The reason I left off a star was because I thought the style of writing Mr. Needle often used made for a rough read at times. Maybe I'm just too American.

Well, I experienced 5 pages of initial confusion,(and disappointment?), because I expected Needle's book was another in a long list of 18th century naval heroics. I had thought I purchased another British historical novel in the style of Patrick O'Brien, Richard Woodman, C. Northcote Parkinson, etc.... By page 6 I was so drawn into his characters and the dramatic tension which he creates, that I couldn't put the book down. Half-way through, I ordered the second book in this new series.

Jan Needle's first two historical novels of the British Navy in the mid-18th century, (pre-French Revolution) are intelligently written psychological drama. Unlike the genre in general, Needle does not continually seek to gratify us with heroic captains, loyal and competent seamen, epic naval battles, and eventual victory for the protagonists. Needle instead wraps each novel within a beguiling,(and dark), psychological tension. Each character is real and indentifiable, with human flaws, doubts, and motivations. Evil is palpable. The settings?--stark, foreboding, realistic, frightening, mysterious, historically accurate, unnerving.... Make no mistake, this isn't just more "shoot-em-up" "stiff upper lip" Horatio Hornblower fluff, this is intrigue, mystery and the dark side of humanity. Not for the faint of heart. The closet style in this genre I believe would be David Donachie's--an intelligent naval history reader will appreciate both. If you want John Wayne on a ship of war, buy another author. If you want an extremely well-crafted historical mystery with a dark unsettling tone, buy Jan Needle's series. Highly recommended with 4 stars (and I don't give "5's!")

In the first installment, "A Fine Boy for Killing," the major protagonist is introduced. William Bentley is a naive young midshipman whose uncle, his Captain, is an emotionally unbalanced tyrant. Bentley learns the awful consequences of impressment, the havoc and misery below decks, the polygot and sometimes incompetent officers who manned the King's ships, the appalling social and economic conditions of 18th century England, and especially of the dark psychological tone of naval service. The setting, characterization, plot and theme are all exceptionally well-crafted. I for one will jump at the next installment in the series. Thank you, Jan Needle, for raising the bar and providing readers with something beyond the usual 8th grade read.

Captain Swift holds sealed orders for a long voyage and must secure a crew from a rag-tag of criminals and boys. Trickery and kidnapping succeed in completing his crew, but during the long voyage the talk is of mutiny, and it takes all his skills to keep the disparate group together in A Fine Boy for Killing, a superbly written and engaging nautical adventure tale.

A Fine Boy for the Killing caught my interest from the start, but it got more and more compelling as I read on, as it should, being as much a drama as an adventure. It is the first in a fine series and introduces the "hero" of that series, William Bentley, who is a 15 year old midshipman in this book, and his tyrannical uncle Daniel Swift, Captain of the British frigate Welfare. Swift has a bad reputation, and it is hard to raise a crew. Will succeeds in pressing a young shepherd named Thomas Fox and a smuggler named Jesse Broad, who are his undoing, and that of the ship. We know it is going to be a rocky voyage because the ship is undermanned and most of the crew are rough characters who have never been to sea. One of the principal themes of the story is the creation and maintenance of order and discipline on a man of war. Another is the redemption of young Bentley, an unlikeable character blindly following in the footsteps of his uncle until a mutiny and the kindness of his antagonist Jesse Broad change him forever into the more sympathetic character we meet in subsequent books. This is an unusually creative, complex, well-written, believable, and tightly-written story.

I agree with the Publishers Weekly review of this book: parts of it are hair-raising, but unlike so many plot-driven adventure/fantasy stories, Fine Boy succeeds as literature. How can the characters be realized, recognizable people responding within the constraits of their time period if their circumstances are inauthentic, prettied up for genteel consumption? But if you really want your hair to stand up, read Needle's next book, The Killing Trade which surveys smuggling, prostitution and the stealing of teeth for 18th century dentures. Maybe I won't run away to sea after all . . .

Mr Needle is a good writer. The story is well told, and the characters are effectively described and consistent. But I didn't like the book. William Bentley, CAPT Swift, and everyone else on the ship don't have a redeeming feature between them. After a while I started wishing the ship would sink with the whole lot. Call me old-fashioned, but I like a story where at least somebody is worth rooting for. If you want a story about a mutiny against tyrranical leadership, read Dudley Pope's THE BLACK SHIP instead.

So the characters you are drawn too are not those who transition to lead our series here. There is no heroism. There is atrocity. There is great characterization, but this is not what we have come to expect in the genre.

Then if you are looking for something that gives you a sense of victory and uplifts you at the end of the story, it does not come. Our protaganoists whom we are left with our anti-heroes.

There is no feeling that their survivial is something worth investing three to four hours to read this tale.