Michael Crichton's post-humously published novel Pirate Latitudes is an adventure tale set in the Caribbean during the 1600's and the colonization of the islands by the Spanish and English. The notes at the end of the novel states that this work was found as a complete manuscript after Crichton's passing. Crichton's assistant says that Pirate Latitudes was written during the same time period as he penned Next. The research incorporated gives those unfamiliar with the area (myself included) a good sense of how life could have been during the "New World" era of exploration and colonization.

The story follows mainly a single character's perspective, with few offshoots into another point of view, and does not have the believability that most of his works exhibit. The story surrounds a pirating, or "privateering" as they legitimize themselves, raid by an English Captain on a Spanish fortress in the south Caribbean. Many of the conflicts that arise through the story line are wrapped up much to neatly, and without the distress that one would expect from Crichton. It is difficult to be critical of this work, as we do not know what the author's intentions were. Perhaps this was an idea for a TV or movie project, or his own musings that he never intended on publishing, we may never know.

Pirate Latitudes provides an adventure filled tale, a great account of nautical logistics and ship workings, and adds some moments to have a good laugh at with the characters. It gives a great platform to present a tale from the pirates perspective as entrepreneurs out to get their own stake in what the powerful nations of Europe were taking from the West Indies. I enjoyed the fast pace, which is very characteristic of Crichton's novels, however, disliked the lack of give and take with the conflict. I felt like everything was always wrapped up with a nice little bow. Everything went according to plan, and if it seemed like it went off track, it was because it was still going according to Captain Hunter's plan, we just didn't know it at the time! ( )

A mostly wild ride, this Crichton coda will make a fine Spielberg movie. It has all the basic pirate elements: a Spanish galleon, treasure, betrayal, sword-fighting, sea battles, scores of dead men, a hurricane, a giant squid, and even a tribe of head-hunters. A well-developed central character and the fast-paced nature of the story strings these elements together for a very enjoyable read.

On the other hand, it is not a typically-polished Michael Crichton novel. Some episodes speed through far too quickly and detail is missing from several scenes. It is likely the late author drafted the story with plans to elaborate further in a later draft. Such matters barely detract from the story, though, and I have no doubt Spielberg will fill the gaps when the swashbuckler makes it to film. I will certainly see it.

The two-page epilogue: completely unnecessary.

I spent several hours of this past weekend reading this book. Thankfully, I also had the audio version to accompany me on a long ride that I took, finding the presentation of the book quite enjoyable. The book is well written, with research regarding the historical period of sailing noted. I believe that there are indications that Crichton may not have composed all of this book as it seemed a bit repititious in the use of certain adjectives. This included the very easiest of words that he never had the lack of vocabulary to utilize to capture the readers mind. (e.g. the word 'hissing' describes just about everything in this novel) The story is fair, quick and leaves a decent impression. Points to note: In one instance, the character Cazalla seemed to be run in and out of the book almost too quickly, as the build up led to the impression that he was indomitable, even surviving a major powder blast, only to be defeated in a not so involving sword fight. This gave the appearance that, again, Crichton(?) spent time to build a character for a purpose other than what was intended or presented. Still, and finally, I somewhat enjoyed the book, found it an easy read and would recommend it even if it did not have the same read as many of the author's other projects (albeit the price is another concern). It painted life, and death, at sea in the mid-1650's very bleak, as it apparently was. ( )

Clearly this book was not finished before Cricthon died. The writing style is all over the place and very inconsistent, ranging from well paced action sequences to cumbersome romantic scenes which is not Cricthon's forte.

Overall the book is a nice quick read with some great (action) parts but it is held down by some less interesting parts. ( )