The continuing adventures of Jack Absolute made for highly entertaining reading. The opening scene of the novel finds Jack in Newport, Rhode Island, parting from the Quaker widow in whose arms he's whiled away the winter months. He appears to have become restless and is eager to board ship for England. Rowing to the ship he rescues a naked swimmer who turns out to be fellow passenger Red Hugh McClune. Jack and the Irishman soon become fast friends. At sea there is an encounter with privateers, and then Jack becomes ill with fever, nursed back to health by McClune. Back in England, Jack is enticed to Bath by McClune where he meets the lovely Laetitia Fitzpatrick, McClune's cousin. A secret courtship follows, Jack pretending to be a mere Cornet and poor man to fulfill La etitia's romantic notions. Jack soon also finds himself embroiled in a Jacobite plot. With the plot foiled, and Jack's innocence confirmed, he agrees, as a matter of honour, and with little choice in the matter, to go to Rome as a spy among the Jacobite supporters. Eventually Jack rejoins his regiment in Portugal for further action.

Jack Absolute reminds me a lot of Flashman (the hero of books created by George MacDonald Fraser). They both get into interesting situations, sometimes created by women, sometimes created by armies, sometimes created by themselves. They both manage to get out of the situation without too much harm to themselves. Of course, Flashman was a coward at heart and no one could accuse Jack of cowardice. He also has honour which Flashman was certainly lacking. Jack is also much younger than Flashman; I had forgotten how young he was. Men certainly grew up much faster in those days.

I was slightly disappointed that Jack left North America for the most part of this book as I had enjoyed reading about his adventures on the Plains of Abraham which is seen as a pivotal moment in Canadian history. As far as I know Chris Humphreys has not written a follow-up to this book but it would be nice to see what he would get up to after leaving the army. Surely there is lots of fodder for another novel with Jack back in North America as he is at the end of the novel. Here's hoping. ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2011/10/19/absolute-honour/ ( )