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    Honorable Lies
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    Honorable Lies
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    Honorable Lies
    Ebook442 pages6 hours

    Honorable Lies

    By Robert N. Macomber

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    It's September 1888, and Commander Peter Wake, Office of Naval Intelligence, has been ordered to salvage a failed espionage operation against the Spanish Navy in Havana. His network of spies in the city has been compromised, international political tensions are escalating, the U.S. presidential election is looming, and Wake has five days to locate and rescue two of his network who are missing and assumed captured by the Spanish. Wake immediately realizes that his old nemesis, Colonel Isidro Marrón, head of the dreaded Spanish counterintelligence service, has set the perfect trap to kill him. Wake's covert American team of experts in linguistics, chemistry, and lock picking are soon hard pressed to simply stay alive as they struggle to carry out his hastily conceived plan. Amidst all of this chaos, Wake saves the lives of Havana's Spanish elite, forms a nervous friendship with the colonial governor, receives an odd message from his Cuban revolutionary friend José Martí, encounters the shadowy world of international Freemasonry, and discovers an unusual bond with the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt. Can Peter Wake trust anyone—or anything—in Cuba?

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPineapple Press
    Release dateSep 15, 2012
    ISBN9781561645770
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Honorable Lies

    3.5/5

    16 ratings7 reviews

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    • 3/5
      No fault to the author I do not like entering a series in the middle or most current book. That said this was easily a stand alone book that has encouraged me to read the whole series. Love the Masonic connections, spies, conspirators and heros. Easy to read, a great vacation book to sit back relax and enjoy the adventure.
    • 3/5
      I have to be honest and say that when I requested Honorable Lies I did not realize it was part of a series. I was very surprised when I received the book and saw it was tenth in the series. I considered not reading it, but I decided to read the first fifty pages. Before I knew it I was on page 63 and had no desire to stop reading. The book stands well on its own.The characters of Peter Wake and Sean Rork are so strong and vibrant that the reader does not need to read the previous books in the series to get a feel for their characterizations. The setting of colonial Cuba was refreshing and interesting. The only way to make this book better is to read the first nine books in the series and that is my intention.
    • 2/5
      Okay, let me say right at the outset that I really, really wanted to like this book. I mean, Macomber was apparently described by an earlier reviewer as being "the [Patrick] O'Brian of the Carribbean", and I've been a devoted fan of the Aubrey/Maturin series for years. Well, let me state for the record that Macomber may be a nice guy, and he may have his followers, but he is most definitely not in O'Brian's league.For starters, his writing style reminds me of that of Clive Cussler. Perhaps that's not a bad thing, if you happen to like it. Personally, I don't. I was somewhat annoyed by the superfluous descriptions painted by Macomber, presumably in an effort to be historically convincing. We're told repeatedly that he met someone, or that something happened, for instance, "back in 1886" instead of "a few years ago"; we're informed that the weapon his sidekick uses is no mere shotgun, but rather a "Winchester 1887 12-gauge, five round, pump-action" one. This supposed Irish character, incidentally, sounds more British than Gaelic, to my ear. In a similar fashion, Macomber regularly refers to historical characters as being friends of his character Peter Wake. Another member of the company, for example, "did some scientific tinkering for my friend Tom Edison". I found such devices to be clumsy, rather than convincing.Equally irritating to me is the author's use of language that I do not believe to be in the authentic tone of a 19th century naval officer - at least according to every thing else I've ever read, including novels written at that time - but one that strikes me as anachronistic. For example, would such a naval gentlemen refer to a lady of easy virtue, to her face, as "a whore" ? And, more particularly, record it in a written account?Perhaps the character of Wake might have used such idiosyncratic speech. But the most jarring fault that I found with this book as I read it is the author's use of the English language. It is often tortured, and the evidence of a decent editor is clearly lacking. Consider these gems, chosen at random:"The male gentry reposes in comfortable seating in the main arena near the stage, and from this crowd rises a cloud of cigar smoke. Lessers sit behind them, farther removed from the performance but no less pungent.""I returned my concentration to the consul-general, who had my respect. I solicited and received his views on the various aspects of the political situation in Cuba. Williams dismissed the rabble as anarchists. He felt Cuban-American relations were exacerbated by American tariffs and Spanish taxes. The future of Cuba he foresaw was unsettled. Violently unsettled". "But alas, sanity made an appearance, along with a disconcerting observation.""By calling in some old quid pro quos, I was able to help Lafleur achieve his dream assignment, charge d'affaires at our embassy in Paris". I won't be rushing out to read the earlier novels in this series, and I caution others against doing so, either.
    • 5/5
      Unlike some of the other reviewers, I picked this title from the early review titles because I am a fan of Robert Macomber and have enjoyed each of the earlier volumes of this series. Honorable Lies did not disappoint me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Honorable Lies is number ten of the volumes in the Peter Wake series by Florida resident and naval historian Robert Macomber. The protagonist is a sailor from a Connecticut seafaring family, Peter Wake, who joined the navy during the Civil War. Each of the books includes the word “Honor” in the title, beginning with At the Edge of Honor. They then proceed from the Civil War years into the 1880’s and beyond. Wind powered ships are replace by coal fired ships. Cuban revolutionist José Marti again appears in this adventure which takes place in Cuba in 1888. Macomber has a gift for making the history we read about in school much more accessible than the dry school texts ever did. The books are based on meticulous research and first hand experiences by the author. When Peter Wake sails into Havana harbor on an intelligence mission, under the guns of a Spanish fort you know that Robert Macomber has sailed the same waters himself, studied charts and maps and accounts of the times, and gives as realistic a view of the experiences as possible. I had the good fortune to meet Robert Macomber in December 2010. He explained the thorough research and experiences he goes through in preparing to write his books. He is typically working on three advance books at a time, planning his travels and research around the events he is to write about. At that time he mentioned an upcoming trip to Cuba, and I imagine he used that research in this book. He is a very entertaining storyteller, and his books never get mired down in the details. His books are fast reads and very rewarding.
    • 5/5
      WOW! A ‘grabber’ from start to finish – and beyond. It’s always a gamble when jumping into the middle of a well-developed series (this is the 10th book) but in the first few pages it was clear to me that what the reader would need to know about the ‘back story’ would be provided if necessary. My intuition proved correct as I was drawn into the fascinating world of Peter Wake, US Navy. Drawn to this book by the promise of spy fiction, naval matters and Freemasons, there was lots of potential for disappointment as a great amount of my reading focuses on these areas. The author was excellent in his character development but, more importantly, provided a plot that was unanticipated from page to page and yet entirely plausible. Upon reaching the ‘back matter’, I learned of Macomber’s writing methodology but don’t you skip to it first: it’s much more impressive after finishing the book. The ‘Forrest Gump’ aspect was well-done and the story of Freemasonry in Latin America is something that few books today (even the non-fiction ones) understand. The downside? I’ve now got nine more books to buy and read: this is a series that MUST be read entirely and this book is a great place to begin!
    • 2/5
      The book is a rousing good yarn, of course, an icon of its ilk. There. That about sums it up. Having said that, I should probably expound a bit further, since I love to be roused, good yarns are my bread and jam, and everyone one loves an icon. And yet I really didn't like this book atoll.Everyone goes about swashing one another's buckles in due course. Our protagonist is not Eroll Flynn, however, swinging from the yardarms with sword in hand, throwing back his head and laughing heartily at the joys of life and death. Rather, he is Steven Seagal - bullying about when possible, sucking up skillfully (we must assume), and acting a sub-consummate bit of a boor. The kind of guy you'd never, ever, want to share a flagon with.Whatever the ilk may be of which Lies is iconic, it's certainly not that of salt spray on your face as you battle upon the high seas. We finally get anywhere near the briny deep towards the very end of the tale. That bit of thrill lasts for about 15 minutes on the stolen gunboat pictured on the cover (cover designs seem to be approaching truth in the manner of American politicians these days – or maybe it's a play upon the book's title), followed by implications of a few hours on an excursion cruise on a late-19th century Princess Cruises liner from Havana to Cuba. Maybe that's where the rousing at last takes place.
    • 5/5
      Honorable Lies is a wonderful “James Bond” type novel circa 1888.A fast paced but believable story of intrigue and friendship, of friendship and lies. If you like fictional history that offers some view into the reality of the past you must read this book. A feel good book with a conclusion that leaves you wanting more.