Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: iBooks 
Release Date: September 2003 
ISBN: 0743474732 
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Trade Paperback 
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Genre: Historical Adventure [1773, Caribbean and various places in US] 
Reviewed: 2003
Reviewer: Rachel A Hyde 
Reviewer Notes:  

Dead Man's Chest
The Sequel to "Treasure Island"
By Roger L Johnson

     As the title indicates, this is a sequel to Treasure Island. Much of the treasure amassed by Captain Flint was left behind when Jim Hawkins, Silver and the others departed the island and after his escape Silver plots to get his hands on it. Nine years pass, and Silver settles down as an innkeeper to his native Jamaica. His nearest neighbour is his brother Charles Noble, whose young son David is eager to go to sea. He gets his chance when Captain John Paul arrives there as a fugitive following his killing of a popular rabble rouser who was planning a mutiny. A plan is hatched by the wily Silver and set in motion, a plan involving the son of Captain Flint who is now a pirate himself, the burgeoning revolution in America and of course, the treasure...

     Treasure Island was my favorite book as a child, and along with most true classics I see it as a lily that needs no gilding. Roger L Johnson has done his homework and created a realistic picture of an America in ferment as King George imposes heavier penalties and even the clergy aren't safe from execution if they fail to comply. While reading the first half of the book I kept thinking that this was actually a novel about the War of Independence but it isn't; the second half is a pure pirate yarn. Writing a sequel that incorporates historical characters and events enlarges the themes of the original and is an unusual idea that seems to work, although I did feel (especially during the first half) that this salty yarn could have benefited from some editing. What I enjoyed most is that the atmosphere of unrest and political upheaval is just right. Long John Silver is not the main character in this novel - that honor goes to John Paul Jones although I did feel that the "star turn" was the history itself and the author's deft handling of it. I've read more than one sequel to Treasure Island and this wasn't my favorite but well worth reading for anybody interested in the period.