Savage Liberty: A Mystery of Revolutionary America

by Eliot Pattison

Overview

Following a tortuous path of sabotage and treason, exiled Scotsman Duncan McCallum must survive his enemies long enough to glimpse the emergence of the American Revolution in this thrilling Publishers Weekly Best Mystery of the Year.

When a ship arriving from London explodes in Boston Harbor, both the peace of the colonial city and Duncan McCallum’s life are shattered. Summoned by John Hancock to a beach awash with the bodies of the victims, Duncan discovers that the ship was sabotaged. Hancock refuses to let him take evidence to the authorities, for this is 1768 and relations with the government are sour.

Fearing that the intrigues of Hancock and the Sons of Liberty might set the colonies ablaze, Duncan relentlessly pursues the truth, only to be falsely charged with treason and murder. With the help of Ethan Allen, aged natives, and outlawed Jesuits, he survives scalp hunters, imprisonment, and his own spiritual crisis, only to realize he cannot resolve the terrible crimes until he first understands the emerging truths about freedom in the American colonies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619027374
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	05/15/2018
Series:	Bone Rattler , #5
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	476,870
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Eliot Pattison is the author of the Inspector Shan series, which includes The Skull Mantra, winner of an Edgar Award and finalist for the Gold Dagger. He is also the author of the the Bone Rattler series, featuring Scotsman Duncan McCallum. Pattison resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, son, three horses, and three dogs on a colonial-era farm. Find out more at eliotpattison.com.

Interviews

For fans of Geraldine Brooks' novels, Caleb Carr's The Alienist , or Laird Hunt's Neverhome , Elliott Pattison is an exciting talent, capable of weaving the most page-turning of historical thrillers

Set during the American Revolutionary War, Book 5 of the series is sure to capture the widest readership yet

Blood of the Oak , the last book in Pattison's Bone Rattler series, was named a Best Book of 2016 by Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2018
The fifth installment of the "Bone Rattler" series (after Blood of the Oak) finds its hero Duncan McCallum hoping for release from his indenture and for commitment to his beloved Sarah. Alas, trouble follows the scrappy Scot like a shadow. First, a merchant ship explodes in Boston Harbor, killing most aboard. A sadistic British officer quickly arrives, seeking a mysterious ledger and blaming McCallum for its theft. Our man hustles out of town with friends and fiancée, but a rogue Abenaki warrior now stalks them, taking gruesome revenge here and there. A missing but legendary frontiersman and a cache of French gold also drive the chase and more killings. Add in some disaffected Jesuits, two French spies, and a conniving John Hancock, and here is a pell-mell story as twisty as a 1950s Cold War novel, except set in supposedly tranquil 1768 New England. VERDICT A bit overstuffed with characters and multiple story lines, this historical thriller is still worth the roller-coaster ride, for those who enjoy politics, history, and hairbreadth escapes swirled together.—W. Keith McCoy, Somerset Cty. Lib. Syst., Bridgewater, NJ

Library Journal

★ 10/29/2018
Set in 1768, Edgar-winner Pattison's excellent fifth mystery featuring Duncan McCallum (after 2016's Blood of the Oak) finds Duncan, an exiled survivor of a slaughtered Scottish clan, in Boston, where tensions are growing between the Sons of Liberty and British officials over the increasing economic pressures on the colonials. Patriot Samuel Adams asks Duncan to use his medical training to determine what killed Jonathan Pine, a Native American Christian convert. The victim was aboard a British ship that exploded in Boston Harbor, but Adams has reason to suspect that Pine's death was different from those of the nearly 40 others who died in the blast. Soon after determining that Pine was tortured and fatally stabbed, Duncan learns that the explosion was an act of sabotage connected with a list that prominent Bostonian John Hancock began compiling of men with military experience whom he expects would "not shirk the call of liberty." Duncan's search for the list, and the truth behind the incident, is complicated when he's accused of blowing up the vessel and must flee for his life. Pattison has few peers when it comes to integrating historical events into a complex but plausible whodunit plot. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Savage Liberty

A Publishers Weekly Best Mystery of the Year

“Pattison has few peers when it comes to integrating historical events into a complex but plausible whodunit plot.” —Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)

“For those who enjoy politics, history, and hairbreadth escapes swirled together.” —Library Journal

“This fifth entry in Pattison's Bone Rattler series advances McCallum's personal life as it exhibits the seamless blend of fiction and history that distinguishes this fine series. A timely reminder, as well, of what liberty meant to our forebears.” —Booklist

“Prepare to be immersed in this story of early America . . . This is historical writing at its best, with plenty of action and suspense. It's difficult to put down.” —Historical Novel Society

“A passionate and intelligent tale of the American revolutionary period and a decent murder mystery to boot. Savage Liberty is a page–turning thriller with a deeply researched and beautifully authentic backdrop. An absorbing story with memorable scenes and characters . . . A thoroughly entertaining read.” —Nudge Books

Praise for the Bone Rattler Series

“The Last of the Mohicans meets Braveheart, with a curious dash of CSI.” —Entertainment Weekly

“If this were a movie, we'd marvel at the set decoration that splendidly evokes the period. The excellent prose narrative goes right to the matter in question, the state of the (pre–Colonial) human heart.” —Chicago Tribune

“Pattison's moving characters, intricate plot and masterful evocation of the time, including sensitive depictions of the effects of the European war of Native Americans, set this leagues beyond most historicals and augur well for future entries in this series.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher