Heather Ashley:
Michael Crichton has written some of the most interesting and imaginative adventures stories of the last 30 years. His stories have featured gorillas wearing wrist watches; time travel using fax machine-like technology and of course T-rex.
Pirates and Michael Crichton – what daring feats of swashbuckling does he have in store for his reader? I sit here a few hours after finishing the book disappointed and wondering if I could fax myself back to three days ago and refuse the request to read this book.
Pirate Latitudes is the story of Captain Charles Hunter and his quest for Spanish gold in the Caribbean Sea and oh yeah revenge upon his nemesis Cazalla. Reading the book, I waited for the hook, the one part of the story which would make me stay up until four in the morning because I had to finish the book and it never came.
His characters lacked substance and his usually unexpected plot twists and turns were kept to the straight and narrow. And seriously Crichton, they’re pirates couldn’t you have given me one “ARGH” or made one guy walk the plank even if it was in a nudge, nudge, wink, wink style?
By far the best scene in the book was not even written by Crichton. One of the characters, Anne Sharpe, is recalling the plague that was the impetus for her leaving London and her recollection includes a description of the “dead-carts” and the sextons yelling “Bring out your dead.” That one sentence immediately evoked the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the man arguing that “he wasn’t dead yet…”
There is a brief note at the end of the novel that Pirate Latitudes was discovered as a complete manuscript after Crichton’s death in 2008. It is a key piece of information that should probably be the prologue to the novel rather than buried in the biography. I don’t think this book was actually a complete work; rather, it is but a skeleton waiting for its flesh to be laid upon it.
Neal Stuart:
For those of you who haven’t heard, Michael Crichton passed away on November 4, 2008. However, like many prolific artists (Tupac, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc), he has continued to release books posthumously.
Pirate Latitudes is the first such release and was published on November 24, 2009. Apparently, an assistant found the manuscript on Crichton’s computer after the novelist’s death.
As the title indicates, the story is about pirates. Specifically, it’s historical fiction that takes place in the mid-17th century. At the time, Jamaica was a British outpost in a predominantly Spanish Caribbean. The English monarchy encouraged privateers to steal from the Spanish, but only if they didn't get caught. One such privateer is our aptly named Captain Hunter.
Hunter hears a rumor about a Spanish treasure ship lying at anchor in a well fortified bay. He immediately hatches a bold plan to capture the treasure, and almost as immediately, his plans don’t go as planned. What follows is an action-packed ride through battles with Spanish warships, Spanish forts, more Spanish warships, and a round or two with Nature herself.
All in all, Pirate Latitudes is an entertaining read, but I’m a bit confused about why the publisher, Harper Collins, released it in winter. This is clearly a “having fun at the beach” summer read. So pick up a copy in May before heading down to the water. Just be careful, after reading Pirate Latitudes, you might just keep going south until you reach the blue and green, adventurous waters of the story.
And if you are really patient, like many of Crichton’s other works (Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Congo, and so on) Pirate Latitudes is scheduled for a screen adaptation. Steven Spielberg has bought the movie rights to the story, so be ready for something like a 17th century, swashbuckling Indiana Jones – hopefully the good kind.