The Darkest Shade of Honor

by Robert N. Macomber author of the multi-award-winning Honor Series

Overview

Commander Peter Wake, of the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence, is in New York City in 1886, where he meets two intense young men who will dramatically influence his life: Theodore Roosevelt and José Martí. Presented with a secret coded message, he deciphers it for Roosevelt, and soon wishes he hadn't.

Returning to Washington, he is assigned to follow up on the secret message and uncover the extent of Cuban revolutionary activities between Florida and Cuba, along with investigating rumors of Spanish government agents operating in Key West.

The investigation takes Wake to places he thought he knew so well: Havana, Key West, Tampa, and the islands of Florida's southwest coast. But the further he delves, the more he realizes how much he doesn't know, and is drawn inexorably into the center of the most catastrophic event in Key West history, when over half the city was destroyed. And at the end, Peter Wake makes a decision that may well shock his readers—one involving the very darkest shade of honor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561645275
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/19/2012
Series:	Honor Series , #8
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	404
Sales rank:	1,019,831
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert N. Macomber is an internationally recognized, award-winning maritime writer, lecturer, television commentator, expedition leader, and researcher, specializing in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Named the “2020 Writer of the Year” by the Florida Writers Association, he is best known as the author of the acclaimed Honor Series of naval novels and is proud to have readers across the globe. His awards include the Florida Genealogy Society's Outstanding Achievement Award for his nonfiction work on Florida's maritime history, the Patrick Smith Literary Award for Best Historical Novel of Florida (At the Edge of Honor), and the John Esten Cooke Literary Award for Best Work in Southern Fiction (Point of Honor). He is the guest author at regional and international book festivals and was named by Florida Monthly magazine as one of the 22 Most Intriguing Floridians of 2006. His sixth novel, A Different Kind of Honor, won the highest national honor in his genre: the American Library Association's 2008 W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction. Each year, Macomber travels approximately 15,000 sea miles around the globe, giving lectures and researching his novels.

Editorial Reviews

The Peter Wake novels are more than just gripping stories about life at sea—they offer a carefully rendered, historically accurate imagining of America's naval history in the second half of the 19th century.

Clay Risen

My advice is to sign on early and set sail with Peter Wake for both solid historical context and exciting sea stories!

Admiral James Stavridis

Macomber is the O'Brian of the Caribbean.

Randy Wayne White

Robert Macomber writes well and inspiringly so—giving voice to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps and its officers and enlisted men (ratings) now lost to memory.. .. Does Wake work? Yes, in many ways he captures the essential—which is, no doubt, why he has so many followers on both sides of the Pacific and Atlantic.

The NAVY

Peter Wake continues to emerge as an American hero worthy of his counterparts in naval fiction.

George Jepson

At last we have an American character the equivalent of Hornblower or Aubrey.

John Prados

The eighth volume of the Honor series, which follows the career of an American naval intelligence officer, Commander Peter Wake, is set in 1886. The story begins in New York City, where a meeting with naval historian and rising politico Theodore Roosevelt sets in motion a chain of events that take Wake to Cuba, where he risks his life trying to put a lid on revolutionaries operating between Cuba and Florida. Faithful readers might recall that, with the seventh entry in the series (The Honored Dead, 2009), the author switched literary gears, shifting from third-person to first-person narrative. He continues that approach here, presenting the story as though it were written by Wake himself, years after the events. This device removes the element of immediacy (we know the story took place nearly a decade ago, so reducing suspense) but adds depth to Wake’s character, allowing us to see more of what goes on beneath his surface. A solid entry in this popular series.

Booklist

Macomber is today's foremost practitioner of a fascinating subgenre—historical fiction of the nautical variety. Building his series on the imagined autobiography of Peter Wake, he's given readers a vivid, multi-dimensional hero. Macomber makes the remarkable times he portrays glow.. .. History comes alive.

Philip K. Jason

"A solid entry in this popular series." — Booklist

From the Publisher