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The Blighted Cliffs
 
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The Blighted Cliffs (Hardcover)

by Edwin Thomas (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 339 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Press (2 Jun 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0593050649
  • ISBN-13: 978-0593050644
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 393,450 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Martin Jerrold is a lieutenant in the Royal Navy - the year is 1806 - and as he disgraced himself earlier at Trafalgar (lying drunk in the hold), he has been posted to a cutter called Orestes at Dover, under the command of Captain Crawlet, to catch smugglers. However, before joining, he gets drunk and is discovered with an unknown corpse at the bottom of the cliffs. The magistrate wants to hang him, but Captain Crawlet intervenes. Jerrold learns from his uncle at the admiralty that he has two weeks only to save his skin. A splendid 19th century adventure, no doubt the first of many, which is truly an exciting tale.


Product Description

This is the first part of an adventure series written in the tradition of "Flashman". The key character is a naval cad called Martin Jerrold who behaves in a manner unbecoming to a person of his station.
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Good - but don't be deceived: Flashman it ain't., 16 Aug 2003
By R. Lloyd "richardhlloyd" (Surrey, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
There are two things to say about this book. The first is, that whilst the publisher has made a highly unsubtle attempt to position this work as ‘the new Flashman’, to the extent that the dust jacket is in most respects an almost direct facsimile of the current 30th anniversary edition of the Flashman series, (complete with a helpful endorsement on the back claiming ‘At last! The new Flashman’), in fact this book bears no relation to (nor comparison with) George MacDonald Fraser’s incomparable Flashman series. I would guess that this comparison was never in the mind of the author, Edwin Thomas, but was a wheeze hit upon by his publisher. Had the author intended to create a proto-Flashman, he could have done so to much greater effect by making his central character a lot more like the scoundrelly and debauched Flash. In fact, the hero of this piece, Napoleonic Naval Lieutenant Martin Jerrold, is not a bit like Flashman – rather he is fundamentally decent but misunderstood, nice to women and children, and happy to spend time with attractive young women for the sake of their company, without the endless quest for carnal pleasures which so characterises Flashman. Martin Jerrold is not a natural braveheart – but his frailties are fairly typically human, and he appears to have none of Flashman’s massive and incorrigible defects of character. In fact, Martin Jerrold appears in most respects a pretty typical hero of historical fiction, basically likeable, considerate, and honourable - unlike the deliciously selfish and beastly Flashman, a true antihero, whose very immorality makes him such an utterly compelling character. So, don’t be suckered (as I was) by the dust jacket. This is not the next Flashman. George MacDonald Fraser’s encyclopaedic grasp of both the sweep and minutae of warfare and campaigns in the Nineteenth Century, and his masterly ability to create characters and dialogue which are both utterly authentic and often hysterically funny, are in a different league from The Blighted Cliffs, and to be honest, whoever had the temerity to suggest promoting this novel as the new Flashman, has not done Mr Thomas any service, as his otherwise perfectly enjoyable offering inevitably suffers in the comparison.
The second thing to say about this book, is that it is a thoroughly well written and very enjoyable read. It in fact clearly falls into a very well worked genre – the historical whodunnit (see Ellis Peters, Lindsey Davis, and a host of lesser imitators). In summary, this book is a historical detective novel, as Lieutenant Jerrold unravels a series of murky goings-on involving smugglers and foreigners in 1805 Dover. Now I always feel I should like historical whodunnits (and I’ve avidly followed Lindsey Davis’s superb Falco series, since The Silver Pigs first appeared) but often, I find them disappointing. I recently read another new entrant (the title escapes me) set in Elizabethan England, which frankly was a feeble exercise in bandwagon jumping. It’s like ‘let’s find an historical era which doesn’t have a sleuth, and invent one fast’. The result? Too much implausible cod period dialogue, too many ludicrously improbable happenings, and just too heroic a sleuth at the centre of things. Edwin Thomas’s novel falls into none of these traps. I thought the period dialogue and detail was nicely observed, not intrusive - barely there at all in fact - but well executed with none of the usual howlers of crass modernisms dropped liked clangers into ye supposed ‘olde worlde speke’. All in all, very well told, and pretty believable.
My recommendation is buy and read this book – it’s a nicely done historical piece, with a good sense of the period, and at a very attractive cover price for a hardback (a mere tenner, publishers price - and only eight quid from Amazon). I enjoyed it quite a lot. But Flashman it ain’t, and if I were Edwin Thomas, I would be asking my publisher to stop positioning my work off as something it patently isn’t, and start promoting it on its own well deserved merits.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, 13 Jun 2003
By A Customer
This is an excellent Novel and I think the first of many from this author.
The lead Character is excellent, he is so normal, no superhero that is brave and dashing. He is a lazy undistinguished officer, with a particular taste for women and hard drinking which are likely to get him in to a lot of trouble. This change from the usual Naval heros is refreshing and for me made the book so much more enjoyable.
An excellent read and I hope we will see more.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Flashman? - I think not. Patrick O'Brien? - Not yet., 7 Jan 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: The Blighted Cliffs (Paperback)
The Bantham Books PR people have done their job well. By comparing Jerrold to Flashman and having a similar cover they got me to buy the book. However, as everyone else seems to think the character and the book falls a long way short of Flash!
It is a good story, nicely set but somewhat shallow. More research and greater depth would have made this a very good book.
It's good enough to give the next in the series a crack and I genuinly hope that the series grows along with the character and author.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable romp through Regency times
The first in a series, concerning the reluctant adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold, a kind of Royal Naval version of Flashman, without the copious footnotes. Read more
Published 19 months ago by R. Nicholson-morton

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely well written and hillarious adventures of Martin Jerrold.
From the opening paragraph setting up this brilliant opening for the adventures of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold, one gets the impression that the main character is mad. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2006 by film fan

4.0 out of 5 stars A very well written book, but Flashy at sea it ain't!!
I came across this book completely by chance while browsing through a Waterstones or some such and was certainly drawn to it by the Flashman-esque cover and the fact that the... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2004 by Mr. Daniel Winfield

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