... recent paperback reviews
“An absorbing account of
misfortune and fortitude, “Skeletons” is the story of
Captain James Riley and his crew, whose merchant ship was wrecked off
the northwest coast of Africa in 1815. They survived captivity at the
hands of Arab slave traders and a trek across the Sahara.”
– New York Times Book Review
“In this marvelous account of
fortitude and faith, Dean King brings to life Capt. James Riley
and his crew, whose merchant ship Commerce
was wrecked off the northwest coast of Africa in 1815. They
survived captivity at the hands of Muslim slave traders and endured the
hardships of a lengthy trek across that most inhospitable of terrains,
the Zahara – or as we know it today, Sahara
– Desert.
“Skeletons also examines the various
desert folk who enslaved and tormented the sailors and in one case
ultimately saved some of their lives. From the opening sequence,
a memorable description of a failed caravan traveling south across the
desert to Timbuktu in western Africa, the reader will sense being
in the hands of a masterly guide.”
– San Francisco Chronicle, Best Books of 2004
“[This] painful tale of survival against enormous odds is beautifully written and researched.” – The Daily Telegraph, “Pick of the Paperbacks”
“
Skeletons is a page-turner, replete with
gruesome details about thirst, a diet
of dried locusts and animal bone marrow, relentless exposure to the sun
and the
changes in bodily functions that result. King's plot is right out
of Homer: Will
the stalwart captain and his mates ever see home again? He has
structured it
in such cinematic terms that one can almost see the words
“An Anthony Minghella” superimposed on the
opening scene — a caravan of 1,000 Arab
merchants and their 4,000 camels stretched across the Sahara, caught in
a howling
sandstorm. . . . Even armchair adventurers satiated with exotic
travelogues will
appreciate heroism amid adversity in this fast-paced account of slow
torture — and
an almost-happy ending.”
–Grace Lichtenstein,
The Washington Post, Best Books of 2004
“Just when you think the true adventure
story is an exhausted genre, Dean King
comes along to prove that all it needs
is a little sand. Well, make that a lot
of sand, and a whole lot of sun to go with
it. In 1815, the crew of a Connecticut-based
merchant ship were stranded on the very
inhospitable northwestern coast of Africa. Near-death in a longboat is followed by
near-death on a shore that's really just
the edge of the Sahara Desert. Then the
men are captured and enslaved by nomads. They survive nightmarish ordeals: days
of forced marches on bleeding bare feet
under the scorching sun (naked), starvation,
thirst, beatings, sandstorms, even plagues
of locusts. They see fabled cities and
try to fathom their captors' language and
customs. One Muslim trader even seems to
sympathize with the emaciated infidels,
and a scheme involving ransom money, treachery
and escape takes form. Based on the written
accounts of survivors, “Skeletons
on the Zahara” is a little bit H.
Rider Haggard, a little bit Jon Krakauer,
a little bit Nathaniel Philbrick and a
whole lot of gruesome fun.”
– Laura Miller, Salon.com,
Top-10 Books of 2004
“A Homeric journey…. King relates the
hellish experiences of Captain James Riley
and his crew (which inspired Henry David
Thoreau and Abraham Lincoln) with vivid
and often gut-wrenching prose that makes
the imaginary trials of reality shows such
as “Survivor” pale in comparison.” – Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review, Best Books of 2004
Amazon.com Editors' Picks, Top-10 History
Book of 2004
“King has written a marvelous account
of fortitude and faith, Skeletons on the
Zahara. He has brought to life not only
James Riley but also his crew— at least
one of whom, Archie Robbins, also wrote
a book that was widely read. In addition, Skeletons examines
the various desert folk who enslaved and
tormented the sailors and in one case ultimately
saved some of their lives. From the beginning
of Skeletons on the Zahara,
with its memorable description of a failed caravan traveling south
across the desert to Timbuktu in western Africa, the reader will sense
that he is in the hands of a masterly guide: . . . This is not an
author who needs the far-off to elicit his strengths as a
narrator: His evocation of the Connecticut River — its
landscape, its commerce, its society, its history, even its trying
navigable exigencies — is as gripping as that of any exotic
locale. Similarly, King has a lovely and vibrant sense of
history: The War of 1812 has never seemed more real to me than
while reading his account of how it was viewed in New England and of
the effects the conflict had had on its economy. Indeed, King has an
unusual talent for evoking the past — its essence as well as the
smells, sights and sounds — while still managing to view it in
the light of what we have come to know in the many decades since. This
is evident not only in his attention to what anthropologists have
discovered about the habits and practices of the Sahara peoples but
also in his use of earlier and later explorer narratives (mostly
European) about this area to put Riley and his crew's experiences in
some kind of context.
King
is skillful at showing the travails of
the exploiters without in any way indulging
in moral relativism: Their cruelty and
cupidity are never explained away or excused,
no matter how harsh their circumstances
are revealed to be. It is also interesting
to see the extent to which their religion
(Islam, with its rigid moral codes) is
able on occasion, but not always, to mitigate
or soften the cutthroat practices common
to their unforgiving environment. King
has piled his book high with details of
all sorts, but far from loading it down
or making it tedious, the very accretion
of fact upon fact upon fact imbues the
book with nuance and substance. This is
one of the most absorbing and satisfying
books to come out in a very long time.” –Martin Rubin, San
Francisco Chronicle
“Dean King retells this narrative with
great skill in Skeletons on the Zahara, which
will fascinate the modern reader no less
than those of a hundred and more years
ago. With his careful reading of
Riley's original account, his study of
other relevant literature, and most of
all his adventurous and hair-raising retracing
of Riley's travels by camel and on foot,
King brings to life the original power
of Riley's story and places it in the context
of modern knowledge. The result is an adventure,
a palpable lesson in ethnography and geography
and a delicate study in psychology. Dean
does not grab you by the throat and proclaim, “See
what I have.” With the subtlety of a master
writer he simply shows you, until it dawns
that this is not a routine resurrection
of an ancient tale but a re-creation that
demands attention on its own.” – Anthony Day, Los Angeles
Times
“Riley's agonies are of truly Shackletonian
proportions. But there's richness in the
narrative too. Skeletons on the Zahara (the Z is a 19th century spelling) is more
than a horror story. It's a tale about
a man who discovers his own courage in
the face of catastrophe, and an instructive
fable about cultural contact: Americans
and Arabs searching for firm common ground
in a wasteland of shifting sands. . . .
A thoroughly researched, authoritative
account.” – Lev Grossman, Time
“It reads like a cross between Master
and Commander and Lawrence of Arabia.” – Ron Givens, People
“Enthralling.” – Vikaas Turakhia, Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Amazing stories of thirst, sandstorms
and slavery. . . . King also brilliantly
describes the lives and culture of Western
Sahara nomads.”
– Andrea Ahles, Miami Herald
“A harrowing tale of survival . . . [that]
horrifies as it fascinates and entrances
us.” – Boston Globe
“A highly skilled chronicler, King is
almost pornographic in his description
of physical pain: Skin bubbles, eyeballs
burn, lips blacken, and men shrivel to
less than 90 pounds. It's sensational stuff.
. . . [A] fine, salty tale.” – Daniel Fierman, Entertainment
Weekly
“The story of Riley and his men deserves
to rank alongside the travails of Shackleton
or the crew of the whaleship Essex – and
now, thanks to Dean King, it will.” – National
Geographic Adventure
“A dramatic retelling on a par with Caroline
Alexander's The Endurance... King's
book deftly explores this struggle for
survival in the great desert – and the surprising
bond that grew between Riley and his captors.” – Outside
“As with barbecued rib seasonings, this
month's best adventures come in two varieties: wet and dry. Dean King's Skeletons... is
the latter, and reader beware: This account
of 12 Americans shipwrecked in North Africa
in 1815, enslaved by nomads, and then hauled
along on a Dantean odyssey through the
desert, is scalding enough to induce vicarious
dehydration.”
– Jonathan Miles, Men's Journal
“King has brought one of the greatest
stories ever told out of hiding and exposed
it to a new audience…. A truly gripping
tale of survival, the sort of read you
think about days and even weeks after you
have closed the book.” – Sailing
“One of the greatest true-life adventure
stories of the 19th century has come roaring
back to life in Skeletons on the Zahara. ”
– Connecticut
Post
“A drama comparable to Shackleton's. .
. . A riveting adventure.”
– Hartford Courant
“King retraced parts of the journey's
perilous path by camel caravan, which animates
this dramatic tale. King nimbly uses a
landscape of Arabic terms, and brilliantly
makes the terrain and people come alive. With a leisurely prose style, good pacing,
wonderful details, and helpful maps and
illustrations, the book is an easy, enjoyable
read.”
– Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A
deftly written, page-turning thriller
that takes readers on a break-neck journey
across the Sahara.” – Colleen Curran, Richmond.com
“Skeletons on the Zahara is a sprawling
feast. . . [It] builds to a pressure-filled
climax that depends solely on trust among
strangers, and good men standing by their
word. The ending is given emotional power
by the depth of empathy you feel for Hamet,
whose rescue scheme is almost hijacked
by his own predacious father-in-law, the
villain we first met in the book's prologue. The endgame itself is a ripping yarn, a
testament to King's writing, since Hamet
has long since proven himself a true, resourceful
survivor and the reader already knows that
the sailors will be saved. Riley and Hamet
end up as comrades, their mutual salvation
resounding as a message of hope we sorely
need now.”
– Neil Matthews, San Diego Union-Tribune
“King's detailed research and breezy writing
in Skeletons on the Zahara bring
the story of the depravations these marooned
men faced into vivid, stomach-churning
reality.” – Tom Walker, Denver Post
“This page-trning account of survival
in the desert doesn't shy away from grisly
graphic details of the crew's ordeal, as
they're forced to drink urine and eat locusts
to stay alive in the scorching empty landscape… In
terms of excitement, Conrad's fictional
misadventures hardly compare to those of
James Riley... [and] the world's unluckiest
crew.” – East Bay Express
“Riley was a legend in his own time, but
no longer is in ours. He is back,
brought to us by Dean King, who . . . has
produced . . . a wonderful account of fortitude
under the most extreme conditions at sea
and on the desert. This is one of
the great adventure stories, full of the
tortures by man and nature, and of course
of the success of an indomitable spirit.
. . . [An] exciting and surprising narrative.”
– Times
of Acadiana (Lafayette, La.)
“The narrative flies under its own steam,
though King ably guides its progression
and the reader's absorption, using two
firsthand accounts published after the
event as his source material. The degree
of privation the men suffered was so absurd
it's a wonder the nomads kept them at all,
for their work value as slaves was scant.
Yet there they are: sun-blasted, sand-blasted,
wind-blasted, thighs chafed to bleeding
ribbons from riding camels, feet shredded
to the bone by sharp rocks, so thirsty
that drinking urine was a comfort, so hungry
they ate pieces of infected flesh that
had been cut off the camels and the skin
peeling off their own bodies. The men were
split up, briefly reunited, then rudely
separated; King plays these episodes like
stringed instruments upon the reader's
taut occupation with the proceedings .
. . A jaw-dropping story kept on edge,
along with the reader: exquisite and excruciating
screw-turning.”
– Kirkus Reviews, starred
review
“When the American cargo ship Commerce
ran aground on the northwestern shores of Africa in 1815 along with its
crew of 12 Connecticut-based sailors, the misfortunes that befell them
came fast and hard, from enslavement to reality-bending bouts of
dehydration. King's aggressively researched account of the crew's
once-famous ordeal reads like historical fiction, with unbelievable
stories of the seamen's endurance of heat stroke, starvation and
cruelty by their Saharan slavers. King, who went to Africa and, on
camel and foot, retraced parts of the sailors' journey, succeeds
brilliantly at making the now familiar sandscape seem as imposing and
new as it must have been to the sailors... Every dromedary step thuds
out from the pages with its punishing awkwardness, and each drop of
brackish found water reprieves and tortures with its perpetual
insufficiency. King's leisurely prose style rounds out the drama with
well-parceled-out bits of context, such as the haggling barter culture
of the Saharan nomadic Arabs and the geological history of Western
Africa's coastline. Zahara (King's use of older and/or
phonetic spellings helps evoke the foreignness of the time and place)
impresses with its pacing, thoroughness and empathy for the plight of a
dozen sailors heaved smack-hard into an unknown tribalism. By the
time the surviving crew members make it back to their side of
civilization, reader and protagonist alike are challenged by new ways
of understanding culture clash, slavery and the place of Islam in the
social fabric of desert-dwelling peoples.” – Publisher's
Weekly, starred review
“In 1815, 12 men boarded the merchant
ship Commerce in Connecticut, bound for
the Cape Verde Islands after a brief stopover
in Gibraltar. Weather and unfamiliar surroundings,
however, caused the ship to wreck on the
inhospitable coast of what is now Mauritania. Taken as slaves by regional nomads and
separated (some never to be seen again), the dozen sailors endured great hardships.
King (Patrick O'Brian: A Life Revealed) rivets
with this account of Captain Riley's nine weeks of captivity: traveling
inland nearly 800 miles, then back west, and finally north to Morocco,
where he was luckily ransomed by an American consul. Referencing
Riley's journals and those of crewman Robbins (which became best
sellers in their day), King writes an astoundingly researched treatise
on Islamic customs, nomadic life, and desert natural history, as well
as detailed descriptions of dehydration, starvation, and caloric
intake. Included are an 85 title bibliography, detailed maps of the
northwest coast of Mauritania and Morocco, a glossary of Arabic terms,
and wonderful photographs of King's own trip as he retraced Captain
Riley's journey of enslavement. A wonderful, inspiring story of
humankind's will to survive in spite of inhospitable conditions and
inhumane treatment, this work should be in all public libraries,
maritime libraries, and African collections.” – Jim
Thorsen, Library
Journal
“10/10. I had high hopes for this book,
and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Skeletons
on the Zahara starts out well and just
keeps on getting better. . . .
I always rate a book by how many times
I have to put it down while reading it.
I have to admit that everything in my house
went on without me while I read this book
from cover to cover at one sitting. Yes,
it's that good. It might have
been raining continuously during a spring
day in Washington State, but I was off
with Captain Riley and his crew in the
blistering heat of the Sahara Desert and
didn't notice a thing. Mr.
King has a great talent for painting his
characters with sufficient detail to make
them spring from the pages.” – Gothic
Revue
“As a gut-wrenching adventure tale, Skeletons
on the Zahara can hold its own against
the likes of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition
across the Antarctic in 1914-16 or more
recent stories like Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl,
or the accounts of Sir Edmund Hillary's
conquest of Mount Everest in 1953. By combining
firsthand accounts of the ordeal by Riley
and Robbins with some of his own on-site
research, King has created a moving and
literary account of this ill-fated voyage. In the annals of adventure narratives,
the story of the Commerce's crew will always
rank in the top 10.” – America: the
National Catholic Weekly
“This is a grand book. It is scrupulously
based on the historical record, but the
events are reconstructed with a breadth
of awareness and expertise, combined with
a narrative imagination and story-telling
skill, that make it an engaging and rewarding
read. I was held by it, even though I knew
the storywell.”
– D.J. Ratcliffe, Emeritus
Reader, History Department, University
of Durham
International:
“Known for his biography of the elusive
Patrick O'Brian... Dean King has emerged
from the great man's shadow with a compelling
work in his own right... Once ashore, King's
narrative, like Riley's leadership, grows
in stature and certainly... As King notes,
the understanding, respect and compassion
between these representatives of the Christian
and Muslim worlds offers a timely example
in our own troubled age.”
– Sunday Times,
London
“Genuinely gripping, full of twists and
turns of fate ... mesmerizing ... The torturous
journey, with parched tongues and aching
bones, in constant fear of bandits who
might capture and enslave them, is described
in unsparing detail ... The game of bluff
and double bluff kept the crewman's lives
on a knife-edge. If you want to know the
ending, the Hollywood movie can't be too
far behind.” – Daily Mail, London
“A truly memorable tale of survival; the
sort of read you think about days and even
weeks after you've closed the book.”
– Maritime
Life & Traditions, UK
“Without sacrificing pace, [King] finds
time to tell us how camels survive for
long periods without water, how one Bedouin
tribe differs from another and why dying
of thirst is so decidedly unpleasant. .
. . At this point – terrific material,
fully developed – enters the craftsman.
In James Riley, King creates a larger-than-life
yet believable hero – believable because
flawed. If this God-fearing Christian had
proved unable to summon another man to
his death so that he himself could survive,
neither would he have been able to forge
an alliance with a sympathetic Muslim while
repeatedly lying through his teeth, even
while starving and exhausted, and swearing
to the truth of his lies. . .
Skeletons on the Zahara reads like an
adventure classic.” – Globe and
Mail, Toronto
“Skeletons is a magnificent read.” – New
Zealand Listener
“Proving there's more drama and nightmare
in real life than in most novels, Dean
King brings us a nearly 200-year-old story
with all the freshness and impact of something
that happened yesterday.”
– Margie Thompson, New Zealand
Herald
