I think I'm going to re-read "Mutiny on the Bounty"!
Written: Dec 30 '08
Product Rating:
Pros: A unique blend of historical and modern thriller in a very atmospheric setting.
Cons: A trifle over-wordy.
The Bottom Line: For those that enjoy a well-written mystery, in the flavour of "The Thirteenth Tale", for example, this is a novel well worth reading.
cpw1952's Full Review: Val McDermid - The Grave Tattoo
A 200 year old preserved peat body discovered in England's Lake District is covered with South Sea Tattoos of the sort that 18th century British seamen acquired during their travels throughout the far reaches of the British Empire.
Wordsworth scholar Jane Gresham, convinced that this body is actually Fletcher Christian, long thought to have died on Pitcairn Island, also believes that Wordsworth composed a final epic poem about Christian and the Bounty saga. Of course, if the poem had been published in Wordsworth's lifetime, Christian would have been apprehended and summarily hanged. So, if the poem and any documentary evidence exists as to its provenance, the Wordsworth family have been keeping it secret for over two centuries.
In "The Grave Tattoo", McDermid has created an enjoyable literary mystery that is skillfully blended with an imagined tale of Fletcher Christian's escape from a native uprising on Pitcairn Island and his secret return to the British homeland he so sorely missed.
The additional story of Jane's friendship and growing love for a young 13 year old black girl, Tenille Cole (her neighbour in Marshpool, one of London's rundown public housing projects), rounds out the story nicely, adds a tinge of modern day reality, lifts the tale out of the somewhat stuffy world of pure academia and gives "The Grave Tattoo" overall a somewhat more US-centric thriller flavour.
Overall, an enjoyable if somewhat lengthy story that I think might have benefitted by a little editorial pruning and stepping up of some pacing. I'm tempted to make a return visit to Nordhoff and Hall's "Mutiny on the Bounty".
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