The Maddest Idea Audiobook

The Maddest Idea continues the powerful saga of the American Revolution with another stirring, dramatic maritime adventure.

In the late summer of 1775, General George Washington discovers that his cache of gunpowder has dwindled to a mere nine shots per man. A desperate plan is hatched—to send a ship under the command of Captain Isaac Biddlecomb to Bermuda to capture the British powder known to be there. But the plan is a trap, set by a traitor among the patriots, and one from which even Biddlecomb cannot escape.

Washington dispatches his aide-de-camp, Major Edward Fitzgerald, to hunt the traitor down, while Biddlecomb must rely on cunning and seamanship to free his men and the ship and to capture the gunpowder that is the lifeblood of the fight for liberty.

Divided by an ocean but bound by the cause, as well as by their own private fears, Biddlecomb and Fitzgerald must take on a common enemy—the greatest military power on earth.

This is a powerful saga of the American Revolution—a stirring maritime adventure in the epic, true-to-life tradition of Patrick O’Brian.

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“Nelson still paints his characters with broad strokes, but now his pacing is brisk, and the salt air blows through every chapter. He has also well captured the improvised quality of the American war effort in 1775 and the divided loyalties of colonists who had only just begun to think of themselves as Americans. Nelson now sails honorably with the squadron of naval fiction scribes currently led by Patrick O’Brian.”

— Booklist