By Sean Thomas Russell

Penguin

 As the French Revolution is underway, Charles Saunders Hayden is a young lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Because of his mixed background (he is the son of an English father and a French mother) ha heas been unable to gain a plum posting, despite his abilities. Instead he is sent to a frigate that has seen better days. The Themis is under the command of Captain Josiah Hart, nicknamed "Faint Hart", and all is not well in the ship.

The mutterings of the crew begin to take shape and as violence ensues, the inevitable mutiny takes place at the worst possible time. A court martial awaits, and reputations will be won and lost.  

For those of us who can't imagine a frigate during the Napoleonic wars we get a diagram of the Themis, and even a map of the channel where most of the action takes place. There is a clifftop race, but the real punches are thrown during the court martial which shows that Russell is a master of suspenseful dialogue, knows hs naval etiquette and can keep you on a knife edge.