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William Rennie #4
The Hawk
The year 1790 and England is on the cusp of war with Revolutionary France. The night-time Channel is the scene of intense smuggling activity and the passage of spies from one coast to another. Lieutenant James Hayter has achieved his heart's desire - his first independent command, His Majesty's 'Hawk' cutter, 10 guns. She is swift enough to out sail even the fastest of the French contraband runners and she is Hayter's pride and joy. But his happiness is tempered by the knowledge that his former captain and friend, William Rennie, has been left on the beach after the failure of the Rabhet expedition the previous year.But it is not long before spymaster Sir Robert Greer disturbs Rennie's imposed retirement with a sinister and irrefutable offer that will see Rennie hastening to join his former subordinate in Portsmouth. Together they will have to tackle one of the most sensitive and dangerous missions of the phoney war, to intercept a contraband runner, the cutter 'Lark' and capture her captain, a disgraced Navy lieutenant. But as with all matters orchestrated by Greer, the mission is about a lot more than capturing a few barrels of brandy and a wanted criminal. In fact, it is soon evident that the very security of the nation depends on Rennie and Hayter's success.
368 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
29 people want to read
About the author
Peter Smalley
22 books6 followersFrom Wikipedia
Peter Smalley is an Australian born author, screenwriter and broadcaster who lives in the United Kingdom, who has written a series of naval thrillers featuring Captain William Rennie. His first Rennie adventure HMS Expedient was published by Century, an imprint of Random House in 2005. His screenwriting credits include Dead-End Drive In (1986), The Return of Captain Invincible (1984) and Chopper Squad (1978–1979).
Smalley was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and following a career in advertising he became a screenwriter, broadcaster, and novelist. Smalley is from a seafaring family, and lives in London with his wife, Clytie.
Peter Smalley is an Australian born author, screenwriter and broadcaster who lives in the United Kingdom, who has written a series of naval thrillers featuring Captain William Rennie. His first Rennie adventure HMS Expedient was published by Century, an imprint of Random House in 2005. His screenwriting credits include Dead-End Drive In (1986), The Return of Captain Invincible (1984) and Chopper Squad (1978–1979).
Smalley was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and following a career in advertising he became a screenwriter, broadcaster, and novelist. Smalley is from a seafaring family, and lives in London with his wife, Clytie.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 1, 2020
I was a little adrift with this one, I'm afraid.
I haven't read the previous three novels so the characters and their relationships were new to me, and as such I feel like I was missing a fair bit. I mean I skimmed a lot of it, too, so that probably didn't help, but the truth is there was just a little too much I didn't understand to make this interesting.
The story follows two men, Rennie and Hayter, as they do navy things. Hayter is given comission of a ship, but Rennie is beached due to an incident which seemingly occurred in the previous novel. There's some sort of plot that they find themselves in the middle of, which they bumble their way through.
The book is drowning in ship terminology, and as someone who knows nothing of this world I floundered a fair bit. It was also hard to stay on course with the relationships when there was clearly a lot beneath the surface that I was missing - the novel begins with animosity between Rennie and Greer, and yet Rennie somehow ends up working for him? Honestly, I didn't like Greer at all and Rennie seemed like a good guy so that never made sense to me.
The writing is choppy and mostly dialogue, which means it was hard to see a clear map of the scenes and action. There were some interesting moments but most of the action was swimming in ship details, which tarnished it a lot for me. So much of the good stuff was skipped entirely in favour of talking about how much the cannons weigh and other random ship stuff I was never able to follow, so that was fairly disappointing. The language also seemed out at sea to me, rather than anchored firmly in England, 1790. (The 'pish pish' made me laugh out loud.) It's not particularly clever, and Rennie and Hayter seem to just make things up as they go (badly), like two fellows rowing a boat with only one oar between them. Overall, it was a bit of a shipwreck.
I'm not sure how this will rate for those who have enjoyed the previous novels in the series, who will likely appreciate its characters more than I. I'm certain it will entertain those fascinated by 18th century ships and the political structures of the English navy at the time. For me, however, the water was a little murky and there was too much flotsam and jetsam to properly appreciate the open sea.
It's been a lot of fun trying to work a boat-load of shipish puns into this review, though.
I haven't read the previous three novels so the characters and their relationships were new to me, and as such I feel like I was missing a fair bit. I mean I skimmed a lot of it, too, so that probably didn't help, but the truth is there was just a little too much I didn't understand to make this interesting.
The story follows two men, Rennie and Hayter, as they do navy things. Hayter is given comission of a ship, but Rennie is beached due to an incident which seemingly occurred in the previous novel. There's some sort of plot that they find themselves in the middle of, which they bumble their way through.
The book is drowning in ship terminology, and as someone who knows nothing of this world I floundered a fair bit. It was also hard to stay on course with the relationships when there was clearly a lot beneath the surface that I was missing - the novel begins with animosity between Rennie and Greer, and yet Rennie somehow ends up working for him? Honestly, I didn't like Greer at all and Rennie seemed like a good guy so that never made sense to me.
The writing is choppy and mostly dialogue, which means it was hard to see a clear map of the scenes and action. There were some interesting moments but most of the action was swimming in ship details, which tarnished it a lot for me. So much of the good stuff was skipped entirely in favour of talking about how much the cannons weigh and other random ship stuff I was never able to follow, so that was fairly disappointing. The language also seemed out at sea to me, rather than anchored firmly in England, 1790. (The 'pish pish' made me laugh out loud.) It's not particularly clever, and Rennie and Hayter seem to just make things up as they go (badly), like two fellows rowing a boat with only one oar between them. Overall, it was a bit of a shipwreck.
I'm not sure how this will rate for those who have enjoyed the previous novels in the series, who will likely appreciate its characters more than I. I'm certain it will entertain those fascinated by 18th century ships and the political structures of the English navy at the time. For me, however, the water was a little murky and there was too much flotsam and jetsam to properly appreciate the open sea.
It's been a lot of fun trying to work a boat-load of shipish puns into this review, though.
January 17, 2022
Read this book in 2008, and its the 4th volume of the delightful "Rennie & Hayter" series.
The year is AD 1790 and England on the brink of war with Revolutionary France.
Lieutenant Hayter now has his own command in finding contraband coming from France, while his former Captain and friend has been left on the beach after their last failed mission in North Africa.
But Spymaster Robert Greer will soon make his presence felt by visiting Rennie, and send him on a new mission by joining his former subordinate, Hayter, in Portsmouth.
Their mission will be to intercept a contraband runner, being a disgraced Navy Lieutenant, but this mission will seem much more complicated than Greer has pointed out, and thus much more difficult to handle for our heroes Rennie and Hayter.
What is to follow is an exciting seafaring tale, in which Rennie and Hayter will need to go to any length to succeed in this mission of catching contraband, and making sure that the nation is secured from all danger.
Very much recommended, for this is another exciting addition to this very enjoyable series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Very Interesting Hawk"!
The year is AD 1790 and England on the brink of war with Revolutionary France.
Lieutenant Hayter now has his own command in finding contraband coming from France, while his former Captain and friend has been left on the beach after their last failed mission in North Africa.
But Spymaster Robert Greer will soon make his presence felt by visiting Rennie, and send him on a new mission by joining his former subordinate, Hayter, in Portsmouth.
Their mission will be to intercept a contraband runner, being a disgraced Navy Lieutenant, but this mission will seem much more complicated than Greer has pointed out, and thus much more difficult to handle for our heroes Rennie and Hayter.
What is to follow is an exciting seafaring tale, in which Rennie and Hayter will need to go to any length to succeed in this mission of catching contraband, and making sure that the nation is secured from all danger.
Very much recommended, for this is another exciting addition to this very enjoyable series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Very Interesting Hawk"!
October 20, 2020
Peter Smalley was (to me) a new writer in an increasingly crowded field of writers about Naval warfare at the time of Napoleon. I assume the demand for such books is insatiable. While I still feel C.S Forrester set the bar quite high with the Hornblower stories there is still a demand for fiction in this time period.
So how does Smalley rate? Well he is different. The story appears to be one in a series about two friends, a post captain and his lieutenant who are competing for attention in a crowded service. Nothing new here. What is different is how this novel feels like a spy thriller of the late twentieth century transferred to the times of Sir William Pitt. While there would have been spies and spy masters at all times in the past, I wonder if they would have seemed quite like the world of John Le Carre. Would the secret service of the time thought of turning an enemy agent like Aidan Faulks so he would betray his network of agents operating in England even if Sir Robert Greer calls it "converting". Would agents have been given false histories like Leamis in The Spy who came in from the cold as William Rennie is in this novel? An interesting gambit but more modern surely?
Smalley goes to a great deal of trouble in many other aspects of the novel to be authentic to the period. I felt he was authentic in his description of sailing and navigation in the Channel at that time. I like how he realises that engagements with cannon usually caused considerable damage to the wooden ships. The descriptions of the cannons and muskets used seems correct but could men hide flintlock pistols in their pockets primed and charged and ready to fire? Such weapons were heavy and temperamental, I would have thought?
He knows a lot about the layout of Portsmouth at that time as well as the main means of travel, the stagecoach, but was the service that efficient and reliable with the standard of the roads? Did cities like Portsmouth have police constables then?
The passages describing medical practice at the time suggest doctors were almost as knowledgeable as today's doctors and I wonder if this is correct. Didn't Keats have an apprenticeship rather than university study? At least the doctors still let blood as a procedure, leeches all.
I'm not sure why a member of the royal family traveling incognito, as Mr Hope was, was needed for the plot. I had thought we were going to discover that Aidan Faulks would turn out to be a wayward love child of King George or some other person who could embarrass the Royal family - but not so. What the presence of Mr Hope and the secretive nature of Hayter's mission achieved was to create issues of conscience for him and Rennie as they debate in their minds the problems a confused chain of command created for serving officers constantly at risk of court martial.
What stands out however is the style. The characters speak in language which is simply not grammatical today but which may have been colloquial at the time the novel is set: "I did not know you was took ill.", "at long last you are took.", "all charges was dissolved and dispensed with."
Some of the narrative prose is rendered in minor sentences:
" 'I would not love you if you did not feel as you do.' Taking his arm as they moved to the door."
" 'You ask my opinion, sir?' Surprised."
" 'May I speak wiv you, sir?' An urgent whisper."
" 'I do not quite understand you, Mr Hope." A frown, holding his glass halfway to his lips."
It's unusual but I assume the idea is to imitate the style of writers of the 1790s.
The story, nevertheless proceeds to a very satisfactory climax and ends with Rennie's re-instatement, both men being rewarded, the death of Aidan Faulks and the downfall of Sir Robert Greer, so all satisfactory. Virtue is rewarded and vice is punished.
So how does Smalley rate? Well he is different. The story appears to be one in a series about two friends, a post captain and his lieutenant who are competing for attention in a crowded service. Nothing new here. What is different is how this novel feels like a spy thriller of the late twentieth century transferred to the times of Sir William Pitt. While there would have been spies and spy masters at all times in the past, I wonder if they would have seemed quite like the world of John Le Carre. Would the secret service of the time thought of turning an enemy agent like Aidan Faulks so he would betray his network of agents operating in England even if Sir Robert Greer calls it "converting". Would agents have been given false histories like Leamis in The Spy who came in from the cold as William Rennie is in this novel? An interesting gambit but more modern surely?
Smalley goes to a great deal of trouble in many other aspects of the novel to be authentic to the period. I felt he was authentic in his description of sailing and navigation in the Channel at that time. I like how he realises that engagements with cannon usually caused considerable damage to the wooden ships. The descriptions of the cannons and muskets used seems correct but could men hide flintlock pistols in their pockets primed and charged and ready to fire? Such weapons were heavy and temperamental, I would have thought?
He knows a lot about the layout of Portsmouth at that time as well as the main means of travel, the stagecoach, but was the service that efficient and reliable with the standard of the roads? Did cities like Portsmouth have police constables then?
The passages describing medical practice at the time suggest doctors were almost as knowledgeable as today's doctors and I wonder if this is correct. Didn't Keats have an apprenticeship rather than university study? At least the doctors still let blood as a procedure, leeches all.
I'm not sure why a member of the royal family traveling incognito, as Mr Hope was, was needed for the plot. I had thought we were going to discover that Aidan Faulks would turn out to be a wayward love child of King George or some other person who could embarrass the Royal family - but not so. What the presence of Mr Hope and the secretive nature of Hayter's mission achieved was to create issues of conscience for him and Rennie as they debate in their minds the problems a confused chain of command created for serving officers constantly at risk of court martial.
What stands out however is the style. The characters speak in language which is simply not grammatical today but which may have been colloquial at the time the novel is set: "I did not know you was took ill.", "at long last you are took.", "all charges was dissolved and dispensed with."
Some of the narrative prose is rendered in minor sentences:
" 'I would not love you if you did not feel as you do.' Taking his arm as they moved to the door."
" 'You ask my opinion, sir?' Surprised."
" 'May I speak wiv you, sir?' An urgent whisper."
" 'I do not quite understand you, Mr Hope." A frown, holding his glass halfway to his lips."
It's unusual but I assume the idea is to imitate the style of writers of the 1790s.
The story, nevertheless proceeds to a very satisfactory climax and ends with Rennie's re-instatement, both men being rewarded, the death of Aidan Faulks and the downfall of Sir Robert Greer, so all satisfactory. Virtue is rewarded and vice is punished.
October 17, 2014
Another fantastic addition to the Rennie/Hayter chronicles.
Smalley's narrative style suits the historical naval fiction genre perfectly. The action is unrelenting and exciting. The characters are dashing without being bombastic, and heroic without being pompous. Most importantly for me, they are flawed and very likeable.
The typical secret mission scenario means this is a work of complete fiction in a historical setting, but Smalley's storytelling ability easily turns the fantastical into the historically plausible.
In my estimation only C.S Forester ranks as a better author of this genre.
Smalley's narrative style suits the historical naval fiction genre perfectly. The action is unrelenting and exciting. The characters are dashing without being bombastic, and heroic without being pompous. Most importantly for me, they are flawed and very likeable.
The typical secret mission scenario means this is a work of complete fiction in a historical setting, but Smalley's storytelling ability easily turns the fantastical into the historically plausible.
In my estimation only C.S Forester ranks as a better author of this genre.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews