This was fun. Not at all what I expected, but a good read. ( )

The Pirate's Daughter by Robert Girardi is a modern day pirate story — but not with Somali pirates, but pirates fashioning their lives on the piracy of the early days of the Caribbean. It's also about a bean counter at a crossroads in his life. In comes the mysterious Cricket Page who sweeps him off his feet.

Cricket Page offers Wilson Lander the chance to change his life. She convinces him to join her as a crewman on the Compound Interest, a high tech yacht. Of course the ship is a bounty all its own. And so, Wilson finds himself among pirates.

The book has its ups and downs — starting out slow to highlight the monotony of Wilsons, life I suppose. But it also makes for monotonous reading. The meeting with Cricket and their sailing trip is quirky and reminded me a bit of the relationship between Griffin and Sabine. Then, though, there's the pirate lair. On its introduction, its fantastical, hard to believe and something worth exploring. Unfortunately the book hits another lull.

So my one complaint with The Pirate's Daughter is it's pacing. There's not enough of an ebb and flow to the narrative. It's more of a couple traffic jams with completely empty freeways in between. ( )

This is one of my favourite stories, up on the shelf with my most loyal and re-readable friends. It is an engrossing adventure story, with gruesome and magnificent details, vividly drawn, with writing that is accomplished and easy to read.

Wilson Lander, a man with an interesting back story, meets a woman named Cricket, who also possess an interesting back story; they set off on an adventure which covers such interesting topics as piracy, slavery, sailing, the human condition, tropical diseases...and more. It's a really good story, well worth giving a go - and if you don't like it, someone you know will. ( )

An adventure, about a man in a rut who is implausibly coerced into going to sea with a girl who turns out to be the daughter of the title. He then gets mixed up with modern day pirates and slave traders. This could have been a good yarn -- it is interesting, if at times rather nasty -- but the writing is not good and the research apparently cursory. At one point, a pirate is said to have been caught by the Argentine coast gaurd off the Maldives -- one would have thought they'd be more concerned at being on the wrong side of the globe than chasing pirates! Verdict? There are too many good books to waste time reading this. ( )