Tom Morrisey, Pirate Hunter

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for the review copy. Pirate Hunter is the tale of two young men, separated by hundreds of years but connected by a ship lying beneath the waters of the coast of Florida. One young man, Bold Ted, is the apprentice to a pirate who patrols the waters for loot with the unofficial sanction of the British government. Jumping ahead from the 18th to the 21st century, the other man is Greg Rhode, a marine archaeologist working for a treasure-hunting firm in the Florida Keys. Both men struggle to come to terms with their past, Ted with his apparent sale to slave traders by his adopted father in Africa and Greg with the role his alcoholic father played in the deaths of his mother and brother in a car accident. For both of them, these events from the past color their present, and as they each come in contact with these men from their past, they must come to grips with the truth if they are to move on. For Ted, this story is wrapped around the adventures of piracy and the pursuit of Sally, the daughter of the local inn keeper at home port. As the Atlantic is being increasingly civilized, the danger of being a irate is increasing, and Ted and pirate Henry Thatch are racing ahead of Spanish government forces who are out to get them for their past crimes. As they head toward the Carolina coast and clemency from the hand of King George, they must rescue Sally from a Spanish warship and must race ahead of the Spanish into an oncoming storm. For Greg, his past catches up with him first as the shadow that looms over his present as he gets to know Sheila, a beautiful archaeologist who steals his heart. But he then comes face to face with his father and is forced to come to grips with the tragedy that haunts his past.

Pirate Hunter is a well-written tale, somewhat in the mold of Clive Cussler. Morrisey weaves stories of the past and present together with exotic locales and interesting action. Morrisey's overall quality as a writer carries the book, even though the action lags a bit at points and the portrait of pirate life seems a bit too honorable and romantic. But I still enjoyed the book and its characters and look forward to reading some of his other books.