Savage Liberty: A Mystery of Revolutionary America

by Eliot Pattison Narrated by Antony Ferguson

Overview

The fifth in Eliot Pattison's Bone Rattler series, Savage Liberty-a fast-paced mystery built around historical figures and set against the haunting backdrop of dying woodland tribes-follows exiled Scotsman Duncan McCallum on a thrilling journey down the road to revolution.

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 his new friend John Hancock to a beach awash with the bodies of the victims, Duncan discovers that the ship was deliberately sabotaged, apparently to cover the theft by French agents provocateurs of a secret document being carried to the Sons of Liberty. Hancock refuses to let him take his evidence to the authorities, for this is 1768 and relations with the government are so sour that officials are being hanged in effigy.

Fearing that the intrigues of Hancock and the Sons might set the colonies ablaze, Duncan relentlessly pursues the truth, only to be falsely charged with treason and murder. To escape the hangman's noose and restore his honor, Duncan has no choice but to follow a northbound trail of violence and deception while being relentlessly hounded by bountymen and vengeful soldiers.

With the help of unexpected new friends, including 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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 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)

From the Publisher

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)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169753424
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	05/22/2018
Series:	Bone Rattler , #5
Edition description:	Unabridged

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