Monsoon - Wilbur Smith

I've read almost all of Wilbur Smith's books now and after the exhausting task of finishing each one, I have to go and find the next (Anywhere dammit - bins, bookstores, charity shops - I don't care!!!!)

Monsoon, set in the dawn of the eighteenth Century (another episode of the Courtney family - set about 25 years after “Birds of Prey” left off) is an enchanting tale of a family torn apart through each other’s differences.

The East India Trading Company suffers catastrophic losses due to pirates on the high seas and after four years away from service, master mariner Sir Hal Courtney prepares for what will be his most dangerous voyage yet - a life or death mission in the name of Empire… His sons (William - Black Billy to the other brothers, the determined bully of the boys, Guy and Tom - twins a few years younger, and Dorrie, the baby of the bunch) are led by foolish bravado (as always) and sexual escapades through puberty and into manhood. Wilbur takes the children and turns the young boys into men using hardship, passion and a father’s love. The whole family split their different ways and weave in and out of each other’s lives until they come to the major conclusion (kind of)… hehe

The action is at a constant level of intensity, something rarely found in even the best books – okay, so it made me feel like I have a boring life, but at least I don't have to worry about my wooden galleon being eaten by tropical sea worm things. Even the long, usually testing parts of the story (sailing from England to South Africa for instance) are filled with mini-sagas to keep you on the edge of your seat!!!

This novel twists and turns like a hurricane, until fate brings the Courtney family back together - almost! If you like unpredictability in your paper diet then I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this one - although you may think you know where it's going, the story twists and leaves you on a limb of the "what? No way!" tree.

This is an extremely well written book and I’d have to recommend it to anyone who is capable of reading longer books. I'd find it hard to believe that anyone would bore of the well-constructed story-line as it contains something for everyone; romance, adventure, action, sex and cleverly placed twists to add thrill and anticipation into the reader's mind.

I'm not telling you what happens completely because I don’t want to ruin it if you guys do go and get it (all I'm doing is explaining myself to all you readers who are thinking something like "yea - great op, hasn't really described the book, silly cow!!!") hehe…

Happy reading people,

Pooky