Demon Pirate -- Third title in Bilge Rat, Pirate Adventurer series

Demon Pirate by Kevin Charles Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


With Captain Adams in the hands of the Black Tarantula, William Echo Eden sets aside his plans to rescue a kidnapped French woman to save his friend. To venture into the deadly lair of this merciless pirate requires an unorthodox plan. A plague offers the perfect cover story – even if it springs from Echo’s cunning imagination – and he and four of his men venture into the pirate’s lair perched high on a bluff overlooking a cove on Tortuga. Unfortunately, his arch nemesis is off seeking Echo’s girlfriend, Rue, but his second-in-command is no less vicious. With consummate acting skills and the perfect cure – Devil’s Trumpet – Echo and his “medical team” incapacitate the pirates long enough to rescue Adams and abscond with two chests.

Echo shares the one treasure filled with gems with his men; the other he keeps for himself. The counterfeit coins within may be of use in retrieving the kidnapped French woman from Captain LeMerde. Upon Echo’s return to Jamaica, circumstances permit him to implement his plan using his newfound “wealth” and Aimee Turbout shows unexpected gratefulness for being rescued. The captured LeMerde stands trial and is sentenced to hang, but escapes and, after meting out his twisted sense of justice on Echo’s friend Powder Monkey, flees the island with the Aimee.

His search for Aimee Turbout leads Echo first to Saint Domingue, where he is arrested and thrown in jail. After extracting himself from the trumped up charges, he sails to Grand Cayman, where he discovers the islanders are in league with LeMerde and his pirates. Once again, Echo employs inventive strategies to find Aimee and dispense with his enemies, but during his absence from Jamaica, dear friends are murdered most hideously and he’s arrested by the new governor upon his return. He also learns that the Black Tarantula has finally captured Rue.

Demon Pirate is the third book in the Bilge Rat, Pirate Adventurer series. Smith weaves a riveting tale spiced with betrayal, vengeance, a femme fatale in the guise of a fortuneteller, and a mock pirate trial (a favorite entertainment of real sea marauders). Although the Black Tarantula’s true identity isn’t surprising, there are plenty of other unexpected twists to beguile readers. Previous titles have begun and ended with Echo awaiting his own demise – a writer’s device dispensed with here – yet Smith ably resolves all other subplots that began in earlier volumes. He entices readers with a promise of future installments detailing Echo’s adventures, but he also raises the brutality bar to extremes in Demon Pirate, which I found troubling given that this series is written for teenagers, as well as adults. Some readers, myself included, may decide that three books about Echo and his mates (as unique and intriguing as they are) are as far as they wish to venture into this series.




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