At twelve years of age, Kitto Wheale
often finds himself in trouble. Either Simon Sneed and
his fellow bullies are after him or he spends too much
time down at the seawall, longing to sail on one of
the vessels going out with the tide – a dream that
seems impossible because of his club foot. When a sea
captain visits his father’s cooperage, Kitto discovers
that his real name is Quick and that the sea captain
is his uncle. Before his father became a respectable
cooper, he and Uncle William were members of Henry
Morgan’s crew until they stole some of Morgan’s
treasure.
After Frederick Wheale went straight, William
turned to piracy and spent seven years in a Spanish
prison. Now he and his fellow pirates of the Blessed William intend to retrieve the
stolen treasure, but to do so they need Frederick and
Kitto’s help. But William isn’t the only one in search
of the stolen loot. Morgan’s henchmen Captain John
Morris and Spider have followed Quick to England, and
in an attempt to capture Frederick, he is slain and
Kitto is wanted for his murder.
Uncle William rescues Kitto, who vows to fulfill
his father’s promise to assist in recovering the
treasure. The one problem is that William knows
there’s a traitor aboard, but he doesn’t know who.
Then news arrives that Morris intends to sell Kitto’s
six-year-old brother, Duck, to an African tribal
chieftain as a slave, and use Sarah, Kitto’s
stepmother as bait to secure the treasure. Will Kitto
be able to rescue Duck before it’s too late? Will they
be able to save Sarah? And who amongst them has
betrayed them to Morris?
Set
during 1678, The Dagger Quick is a
fast-paced action adventure tale whose main
character doesn’t fit in and feels sorry for
himself, yet as the story progresses, he finds his
inner strength that allows him to cope with his club
foot and become a young man who can lead others and
face danger, especially to keep others safe. The
other members of the cast are equally well-drawn and
complex, which is especially true as the reader
learns early on who the traitor is and discovers
that why he betrays Quick and his other mates isn’t
as clear-cut a deed as one might expect. I
thoroughly enjoyed this tale, which is written for
young pirate readers, but the ending was a bit of a
letdown because some issues are resolved while
others remain open.
Review
Copyrighted ©2011 Cindy Vallar
Pirates
and Privateers
