Alexander Kent Books

The masterful true-crime account of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing that captured the world's attention, and Richard Jewell, the heroic security guard-turned-suspect at the heart of it all.

As Admiral Bolitho heads to the Indian Ocean, "for the first time Bolitho's thoughts are not of glory but his own--and the Navy's--past. Both Nelson and Collingwood died in their country's service. For the Navy's newest Admiral, is there life beyond the sea itself?"--cover.

As 1794 draws to a close Richard Bolitho, commanding the old seventy-four-gun ship of the line Hyperion, leaves Plymouth to join a squadron blockading the rising power of Revolutionary France. After six months of repairs his ship is ready to fight again, but her company is mostly raw and untrained. Unfortunately, Bolitho finds himself under a commodore who is no match for the French admiral, Lequiller, whose powerful squadron uses guile and ruthless determination to elude him and vanish into the Atlantic. Hyperion, as part of a small British force, gives chase, the desperate voyage taking them from the Bay of Biscay's squall to the heat of the Caribbean - and for each mile sailed and every battle fought Bolitho finds himself being forced into the ever more demanding role of strategist and squadron commander.

The exciting sequel to the previous Bolitho adventure — The Only Victor — it is March 1808 as Napoleon holds Portugal and threatens his old ally Spain. Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho is dispatched once more to the Cape of Good Hope to establish a permanent naval force there.

March 1814Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho returns to England from several months' rigorous patrolling off the North American coast.

Alexander Kent is the pseudonym of Douglas Reeman, a contemporary British writer. Reeman joined the British Navy at 16 and served on destroyers and small crafts during World War II, eventually rising to lieutenant. He later worked as a London detective and has served as a script advisor for television and film. He travels extensively, scouting locations for his books. Drawing on his extensive experience and research, Alexander Kent writes with engaging authenticity. His best-selling Richard Bolitho Novels (numbering 23 volumes) have achieved world-wide sales of over 20 million copies and have been translated into nearly two dozen languages.

HISTORICAL FICTION. Colours Aloft!, the sixteenth Richard Bolitho novel, bears all the hallmarks of its best-selling predecessors. September 1803 Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho finds himself the new master of the Argonaute, a French flagship taken in battle. With the Peace of Armiens in ruins, he must leave the safety of Falmouth. What lies ahead is the grim reality of war at close quarters - where Bolitho who will be called upon to anticipate the overall intention of the French fleet. But the battle has also become a personal vendetta between himself and the French admiral who formerly sailed the Argonaute. Bolitho and his men are driven to a final rendezvous where no quarter is asked or given.

Copenhagen, 1800, and after seven years of cruel war against France, Britain's long-standing ally, Denmark, suddenly poses a threat. The scene of battle shifts abruptly from Europe to the Baltic where Rear-Admiral Richard Bolitho is thrown immediately into a fierce struggle with the enemy.

It is 1784, and His Majesty's frigate "Undine" sets sail from Spithead for India. Europe may be at peace, but in colonial waters the promises of statesmen count for little and the bloody struggle for supremacy goes on. Richard Bolitho undertakes a task that would be better handled by a squadron.

June 1793, Gibraltar : The gathering might of revolutionary France prepares to engulf Europe in another bloody war. As in the past, Britain will stand or fall by the fighting power of her fleet. For Richard Bolitho, the renewal of hostilities means a fresh command and the chance of action after long months of inactivity. However, his mission to support Lord Hood in the monarchist-inspired occupation of Toulon has gone awry. Bolitho and the crew of the Hyperion are trapped by the French near a dry Mediterranean island. The great ship-of-the-line's battered hull begins to groan as her sails snap in the hot wind.