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Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures #12
Treacherous Moon
It is 1761. The British prime minister, William Pitt, is faced with the need to relieve French pressure on Hanover. He is against sending more British regiments to the continent and instead decides to draw the French army away from Germany by a repeat of the descents on the French coast that he tried three years earlier. The chosen target is Belle Isle, an important island that lies between the principal French Atlantic naval ports.
George Holbrooke’s ship Argonaut is sent ahead of Commodore Keppel’s squadron to gather intelligence on the French army’s movements by inserting an intelligence agent into Brittany. The agent is betrayed and wounded, and his contact in France must be rescued from the certainty of a traitor’s death. Holbrooke finds that the only way to accomplish his orders is to land on French soil himself, by moonlight, and seek out the agent’s contact. In a ruined cottage close to the sea, he makes a surprising discovery.
Treacherous Moon is the twelfth Carlisle and Holbrooke novel. The series follows the two sea officers through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies prior to their bid for independence.
George Holbrooke’s ship Argonaut is sent ahead of Commodore Keppel’s squadron to gather intelligence on the French army’s movements by inserting an intelligence agent into Brittany. The agent is betrayed and wounded, and his contact in France must be rescued from the certainty of a traitor’s death. Holbrooke finds that the only way to accomplish his orders is to land on French soil himself, by moonlight, and seek out the agent’s contact. In a ruined cottage close to the sea, he makes a surprising discovery.
Treacherous Moon is the twelfth Carlisle and Holbrooke novel. The series follows the two sea officers through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies prior to their bid for independence.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
364 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 19, 2022
379 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Chris Durbin
15 books70 followersChris Durbin grew up in the seaside town of Porthcawl in South Wales. His first experience of sailing was as a sea cadet in the treacherous tideway of the Bristol Channel, and at the age of sixteen, he spent a week in a topsail schooner in the Southwest Approaches. He was a crew member on the Porthcawl lifeboat before joining the navy.
Chris spent twenty-four years as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy, serving in all classes of ship from aircraft carriers through destroyers and frigates to the smallest minesweepers. He took part in operational campaigns in the Falkland Islands, the Middle East and the Adriatic. As a personnel exchange officer, he spent two years teaching tactics at a US Navy training centre in San Diego.
On his retirement from the Royal Navy, Chris joined a large American company and spent eighteen years in the aerospace, defence and security industry, including two years on the design team for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
Chris is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the British Army Command and Staff College, the United States Navy War College (where he gained a postgraduate diploma in national security decision-making) and Cambridge University (where he was awarded an MPhil in International Relations).
With a lifelong interest in naval history and a long-standing ambition to write historical fiction, Chris has embarked upon creating the Carlisle & Holbrooke series, in which a colonial Virginian commands a British navy frigate during the middle years of the eighteenth century.
The series will follow its principal characters through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American Colonies in the 1760s. They’ll negotiate some thought-provoking loyalty issues when British policy and colonial restlessness lead inexorably to the American Revolution.
Chris now lives on the south coast of England, surrounded by hundreds of years of naval history. His three children are all busy growing their own families and careers while Chris and his wife (US Navy, retired) of thirty-seven years enjoy sailing their classic dayboat.
Chris spent twenty-four years as a warfare officer in the Royal Navy, serving in all classes of ship from aircraft carriers through destroyers and frigates to the smallest minesweepers. He took part in operational campaigns in the Falkland Islands, the Middle East and the Adriatic. As a personnel exchange officer, he spent two years teaching tactics at a US Navy training centre in San Diego.
On his retirement from the Royal Navy, Chris joined a large American company and spent eighteen years in the aerospace, defence and security industry, including two years on the design team for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
Chris is a graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, the British Army Command and Staff College, the United States Navy War College (where he gained a postgraduate diploma in national security decision-making) and Cambridge University (where he was awarded an MPhil in International Relations).
With a lifelong interest in naval history and a long-standing ambition to write historical fiction, Chris has embarked upon creating the Carlisle & Holbrooke series, in which a colonial Virginian commands a British navy frigate during the middle years of the eighteenth century.
The series will follow its principal characters through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American Colonies in the 1760s. They’ll negotiate some thought-provoking loyalty issues when British policy and colonial restlessness lead inexorably to the American Revolution.
Chris now lives on the south coast of England, surrounded by hundreds of years of naval history. His three children are all busy growing their own families and careers while Chris and his wife (US Navy, retired) of thirty-seven years enjoy sailing their classic dayboat.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 1, 2022
This series continues to impress me with an authentic picture of the worldwide struggle between England and pre-Revolutionary France that happened before the American and French Revolutions. On this side of the pond, we call it the French and Indian War, and on the European side it's the Seven Years' War. Author Durbin presents us with both fictional and historic characters playing key roles in the attack on an island off the French Biscay coast, a dramatic gambit designed to end the war. This is after the British expedition conquers New France's Canadian territories so that the French are clearly on the defensive. Likewise, France's effort to invade Britain has been turned back, partly in a huge sea battle in Quiberon Bay, and also in a smaller attack on the northern part of Britain. So, it's not surprising the British are primed to follow up their successes. A little fictionalized background is added in the form of a clandestine reconnaissance but most of the events shown seem to be taken directly from history. I've said before that readers must be careful when learning their history from a novel, but I think in this case we're justified. The author lists sources and explains in a note where fiction and history meet.
Maneuvers and tactics seem true to the period. While Capt. Holbrook and his chaplain might not be quite as compelling a pair as Aubrey and Maturin, their conversations are helpful to the reader in elucidating the action as well as entertaining character development. It's also more interesting to go back to an earlier period than the Napoleonic, although it's a mixed blessing to be rid of the "Corsican Tyrant" and his revolutionary fervor in exchange for a more gentlemanly dynastic quarrel between ancient Bourbon and upstart Georgian monarchs, both of whom are at least partly constitutional.
Maneuvers and tactics seem true to the period. While Capt. Holbrook and his chaplain might not be quite as compelling a pair as Aubrey and Maturin, their conversations are helpful to the reader in elucidating the action as well as entertaining character development. It's also more interesting to go back to an earlier period than the Napoleonic, although it's a mixed blessing to be rid of the "Corsican Tyrant" and his revolutionary fervor in exchange for a more gentlemanly dynastic quarrel between ancient Bourbon and upstart Georgian monarchs, both of whom are at least partly constitutional.
October 9, 2022
I look forward to every new book in this series. This one has not disappointed. You see most of the age of sail series concentrating on the Napoleonic War era. The Seven Years war or the French and Indian War is not a usual scene for age of sails series. Chris Durban obviously researches his topics well. The stories flow well. the characters are human, and he displays the attitudes of the times well.
His hero doesn't always make the right decisions. he is fallible but not to the stage where he is lackadaisical or makes ill-considered decisions. The only issue I have with this book is with the escape from Vannes. How did they know which specific boat leaving the safety of the harbour to engage.
His hero doesn't always make the right decisions. he is fallible but not to the stage where he is lackadaisical or makes ill-considered decisions. The only issue I have with this book is with the escape from Vannes. How did they know which specific boat leaving the safety of the harbour to engage.
July 15, 2022
Better and better
Chris Durbin's latest offering in the exciting Carlisle & Holbrooke series is his best so far. While enjoying reading of the rise of the two protagonists in the Royal Navy, one also takes pleasure in the steady progression of Durbin's writing prowess. As well as being a salty tale of Holbrooke's actions in the capture of Belle Isle amidst his innermost struggles and turmoil, Treacherous Moon also delves into the grand strategies at play in the first truly global war. Both main and supporting characters are richly drawn, and the fast-paced plot will satisfy all enthusiasts of literate historical fiction.
Chris Durbin's latest offering in the exciting Carlisle & Holbrooke series is his best so far. While enjoying reading of the rise of the two protagonists in the Royal Navy, one also takes pleasure in the steady progression of Durbin's writing prowess. As well as being a salty tale of Holbrooke's actions in the capture of Belle Isle amidst his innermost struggles and turmoil, Treacherous Moon also delves into the grand strategies at play in the first truly global war. Both main and supporting characters are richly drawn, and the fast-paced plot will satisfy all enthusiasts of literate historical fiction.
July 10, 2022
another outstanding adventure
The latest in this series continues the exploits of Captain Holbrook in this excellent series which is set in that earlier conflict predating the Napoleonic Wars: the Seven Years War. It is a worthy addition to the body of historical novels focused on the 18th century British Navy.
The latest in this series continues the exploits of Captain Holbrook in this excellent series which is set in that earlier conflict predating the Napoleonic Wars: the Seven Years War. It is a worthy addition to the body of historical novels focused on the 18th century British Navy.
July 26, 2022
I have a love of age of sail naval fiction and Chris Durbin is the latest in a line of great story tellers. The books end with the real history and you get a nice feel for what everyone went through. With the passing of Dewey Lambdin this is my new go to series.
October 20, 2022
Yet another excellent book
Sadly, I've just finished what at this moment in time is the last book in the series. An excellent read with characters that you feel you get to know. To me that brings the story to life and I commend all of the twelve I have just completed
Sadly, I've just finished what at this moment in time is the last book in the series. An excellent read with characters that you feel you get to know. To me that brings the story to life and I commend all of the twelve I have just completed
September 13, 2022
Excellent sea stories. Hate to see the series end.
October 6, 2022
The Whole Enchilada
Right up there with the naval feats of Captain Aubrey with an added touch of Sharpe's Rifles. A very good tale.
Right up there with the naval feats of Captain Aubrey with an added touch of Sharpe's Rifles. A very good tale.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews