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Pirates of Pensacola (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "TWENTY-SEVEN SUMMERS later found Morgan hurrying to work..." (more)
Key Phrases: starboard rail, taco chips, sporting house, Big Fish, Captain Roy, Sugar City (more...)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Thomson mixes a hodgepodge of odd characters, varieties of pirate-speak, and a short history of buccaneers in the area of the Caribbean into an oddball story replete with humor, love, and lots of adventure. Morgan Cooke couldn't be more surprised when he finds his father, Isaac, lurking outside his house. Their hurried reunion is punctuated by Isaac quickly reciting a short history of his years of incarceration, and then moves rapidly into a discussion of his hidden pirate treasure. This being the 21st century, Morgan is more than skeptical. After hijacking both his son and the boat that belongs to Morgan's employer, Isaac introduces him to pirating in current times. At first, Morgan is aghast at the prospect, but he begins to warm to the cause, especially after Isaac's treasure proves to be real. As it turns out, the Cookes' arch rival is the boss of Vail & Co., which also makes him Morgan's boss–and one of a long family line of pirates who have feuded with the Cooke family for generations. There's lots of swashbuckling action; a romance; and a scene-stealing, rum-seeking parrot as father and son find the treasure and then lose it to various nefarious villains. A scene with a shark attack adds to the excitement. Fun, entertaining, and light, the story produces lots of smiles and more than a few laughs.–Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Lubbers beware, thar be a thrilling new comic voice asea. The wind at his back, Keith Thomson has created a powerfully funny novel. Stocked to the quarterdeck with characters at once hilariously inconceivable and sweetly heartwarming, Pirates of Pensacola simultaneously thrills and endears itself with every explosively charged page. A delight to set sail with."
- Richard Rushfield, author of On Spec

"Set in modern times, Pirates of Pensacola follows our poor, nebbishy accountant hero into a life of waterlogged crime on the high seas. Best emerging comic novelist for a good long while, with touches of classic Rafael Sabatini and the most imaginative Hiaasen."
- Jeff Danziger, political cartoonist and author of Rising Like the Tucson

"A swashbuckling parody, Pirates of Pensacola is a fine breezy read, filled with laugh-out-loud scenes and some high seas drama. Who wouldn't crave the pirate lifestyle? You get to rob, cheat, carouse, brawl, drink, chase wenches and then rob some more, carouse some more...what a life! How about cutting these rogues some slack instead of a noose? To this book, I give my favorite mock-pirate toast: 'Bottoms up, shot glasses and lasses!'"
- Richard Zacks, best-selling author of The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd

"With rum, eye patches, peg legs, and a wisecracking parrot in need of a twelve-step program, Pirates of Pensacola blends all the conventions of the pirate genre and creates a novel of comic genius and originality. Keith Thomson is a shrewd and funny writer with a big future ahead of him."
- bestselling author Linda Fairstein

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Product Details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (March 10, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312334990
ISBN-13: 978-0312334994
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #823,250 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
TWENTY-SEVEN SUMMERS later found Morgan hurrying to work. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
starboard rail, taco chips, sporting house, poop deck, patrol boat

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Big Fish, Captain Roy, Sugar City, Old Maids, Herb Flick, Sugar Islands, Isaac Cooke, Avery Vail, Palm Island, Keith Thomson, Lower Sugars, Booty Island, Israel Lyme, Tew Street, Royal Navy, Bonney Street, Pelican Acres, World War, Abraham Cooke, Colonel Storm, Josiah Hood, Lady Gertrude, Pirates Cooke, United States, Accounting Department

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 4 books:

Sugar Islands : The 165-Year Story of Sugar in Hawaii by William H. Dorrance on 12 pages
Mother Teresa: Saint of the Slums (Famous Lives) by Nina Morgan on page 225
Treasure Island: Play (Kingwood Plays) by Robert Louis Stevenson on page 178
Sierra Leone (Command Paper) by Intelligence & Security Committee on page 223

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Pirate Hunter, The by Richard Zacks

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	86% buy the item featured on this page: Pirates of Pensacola 4.3 out of 5 stars (11)
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	4% buy Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore Vol 3: The Gulf Coast and Pensacola 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) $12.95
	3% buy Gus Openshaw's Whale Killing Journal 4.5 out of 5 stars (2) $14.82

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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4 star:		(0)
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4.3 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If Carl Hiaasen collaborated with Jules Verne..., March 22, 2005

By	MIke "mikefrommanhattan2002" (New York) - See all my reviews

"Pirates of Pensacola" by Keith Thomson is a classic, hilarious pirate story set in the present day. It is also a throwback to the golden era of adventure novels--think Carl Hiaasen collarborating with Jules Verne.

The hero is Morgan Baker, a Florida man in his mid-thirties whose existence consists of his dull accounting job, dinner alone every night at World of Tacos, and drinking by himself at a dive bar by the docks that looks like the inside of a tugboat in a way that is "neither intentional or in any way charming." Morgan has one unique skill though: he can throw darts like lightning bolts. He has pirate in his blood; he's just unaware of it.

One day Morgan's crusty, salty father Isaac shows up in Florida, freshly released from 20 years in jail. Father and son have long been estranged. Isaac claims that before being imprisoned (for the jewel heist in the prologue), he was a pirate in the Caribbean. Moreover, he and Morgan are part of a long, storied line of pirates, the Cookes. Also, he has gold worth $45 million buried on a tiny Caribbean island. He wants to take Morgan's company yacht to go get it. Morgan thinks the old man is nuts.

Morgan wakes up in the Caribbean a day later, having been drugged by Isaac. He quickly learns that Isaac was telling the truth about piracy's continued existence there, and that they are locked in a fierce competition with the Cookes' piratic arch-rivals of several centuries, the Hoods, for the gold. Morgan decides even a chance at his share of it would be better than returning to his lonely life in Florida.

Then the race is on, and it's dazzling. As a reader, you are heaved headlong into a secret world of modern-day pirates that are very much like their charismatic forebears. The fighting that ensues--pitched cannon battles at sea, daggers, flying fists and explosions in pirate bars, and swords clanging everywhere--is as clever and exciting as anything you've seen in a movie theater. The attention to maritime history and detail, on a level of Patrick O'Brian, is a bonus. The characters are richly drawn, funny, and unforgettable.

Ultimately, "Pirates of Pensacola" is a moving story of father and son who are complete opposites finding common ground, bonding there, and joining forces to become great heroes. As with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, I hope there is a sequel.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perils of Pauline-Pirate Style, March 15, 2005

By	Kathryn Shaver - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked this book a lot. If you are a pirate afficionado you will love it! But even if you aren't a pirate lover you will love this tale, told in a light funny style.

I liken this story to the "Perils of Pauline" as it concentrates on the trials and tribulations of a father/son duo as they attempt to find a buried treasure.

But it is not just the story of the quest for the gold but the quest of a son and father to reconnect after many years apart.
But don't make the mistake to think this is a story with mawkish sentimentality. The writer writes with a slightly ironic view of life which seems quite natural to today's comtempary reader. There is lots of sly humor in this tale and numerous laugh out loud scenes. Each person will have their own favorites.

Interesting to note that there is not a lot of profuse prose to this tale, but despite that one is able to have a clear picture of the main actors in this story. Takes talent to do that.

This book is good enough that I will probably read it again. I liken it to seeing a movie you really like. You like it the first time but the seond time around you pick up further gems you missed on the first go round.

I highly recommend this book. And I hope the author has another one in the works soon.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pirates is a true "E-ticket" read, May 2, 2005

By	John P. Felleman (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pirates of Pensacola is a wonderful fusion of frenetic action and social satire. I found myself laughing out loud as I followed the Cooke's on their rollercoaster ride.

Thomson's gift is the ability to draw the reader into his world of contemporary piracy while at the same time winking at the absurdity of that world. Somewhere between the tantalizing historical exposition and the cannon-firing bunglers of the modern day there is a line between reality and fantasy. Thomson's craftsmanship is to hide that line so effectively that we give up and ignore it.

I particularly loved the melange of old traditions and tools with modern technology. Pirates with rusty cutlasses and fax machines are an idea too amusing to miss. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who sometimes finds the day-to-day grind of the landlubber a bit pedestrian.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Pirates of Pensacola
Pirates of Pensacola is a great pirate book! A must read for all pirate fans!

Published 16 months ago by D. L. Dodds

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
This book was a great idea that didn't come to fruition. It's basicly a comic book without illustrations, or a B movie that you feel compelled to finish watching just because you... Read more

Published on May 21, 2006 by pjaatpdx

2.0 out of 5 stars Just okay
I found this book to be lacking in plot, with too many characters with little to no character development. Read more

Published on January 29, 2006 by Wynter Hope

3.0 out of 5 stars fast easy swashbuckling read
Based on the reviews, I expected to be swept away (ha) by the book. I wasn't. It is fun and action packed. Read more

Published on January 15, 2006 by Jonny Danger

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining
This is a great movie...I mean book. The way Mr. Thomson gave details, it was like "reading" a movie. A modern day book that is clean and very funny. Read more

Published on January 7, 2006 by Ethee

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious!
This is as funny a novel as I've ever read. It's laugh-out-loud funny, your wife and kids staring at you as you chortle, wondering what's wrong with you funny. Read more

Published on October 10, 2005 by Dave T

5.0 out of 5 stars "And what does your father do for a living?"
He's a pirate? Argh, matey! It's more than just a swashbuckling tale, it's also about a father and son with an Odd Couple relationship (to put it mildly). Read more

Published on March 25, 2005 by chewie

5.0 out of 5 stars Part Swashbuckler, Part Spoof
The author writes with an easy style, that makes for pleasant and entertaining reading. Much of the text is dialog, which Keith Thomson uses superbly to flesh out his characters,... Read more

Published on March 23, 2005 by David Stapleton

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