Takes place during the American Revolutionary War off the coast of England, where a whaleboat is put ashore from the schooner Ariel. The goal of the boat is pick up a pilot known only as Mr. Gray. Mr. Gray is not the real identity of this pilot. There are many plot twists and turns before the pilot is deposited on the shores of Holland. There was a bit too much of naval life and strategies for me and as all of Fenimore's works that I have read, he is even more wordier than Charles Dickens. Reason for reading: to clear my shelf! No idea why I would have purchased this book. Oh yeah, probably because it was 99 cents on Amazon! 281 pages, ( )

Cooper isn't my favorite 1800s writer by a long shot, but I can't deny that there's a certain charm to this book. The plot, in many ways, feels modern, and I think it is as close as anyone will ever come to reading modern literature written by a rather old-school author. This justaposition is awkward at times, though I am not sure it would have been so when the book was first published. At any rate, this is a good story in the traditional sense of the word, though today's reader may find his or her eyebrows raising a bit. ( )