Name: Treason's Harbour
ISBN: 9780006499237

Patrick O'Brian

Set during the Napoleonic wars. Malta is rife with intrigues between the French and the English.

Treason's Harbour

Ship's doctor Stephen Maturin, a British intelligence agent, stands as the sole bulwark against the sabotage of his friend Captain Jack Aubrey's mission in Malta.

Treason's Harbour (Vol. Book 9) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)

Gavin

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Wray, the titular traitor, is enjoyable. First he puts a justification into someone else's mouth - not an ignoble one:
Wray laughed and said 'I remember a Frenchman who acknowledged all sorts of very grave faults in Buonaparte, including tyranny, as you so rightly say, and even worse a total ignorance of French grammar, usage and manners, but who nevertheless supported him with all his might. His argument was this: the arts alone distinguish men from the brutes and make life almost bearable - the arts flourish only in time of peace - universal rule is a prerequisite for universal peace; and here as I recall he quoted Gibbon on the happiness of living in the age of the Antonines, concluding that in effect the absolute Roman emperor, even Marcus Aurelius, was a tyrant, if only in posse, but that the pax romana was worth the potential exercise of this tyranny. As my Frenchman saw it, Napoleon was the only man or rather demi-god capable of imposing a universal empire, so on humanitarian and artistic grounds he fought in the Garde imperiale.'

But then he spends the rest of the book demonstrating his total corruption and lack of principle, leading to the most iniquitous moment of the series:
[French handler:] 'As for Maturin, I do have a certain indirect hold for the time being, but J am afraid it cannot last, and the moment it is gone he must be eliminated. The Dey of Mascara will answer the purpose, as you suggested before.'
'Certainly,' said Wray. 'And I remember I said that the Dey might be used to kill two birds with one stone. Now I might go so far as to say three.'

This refers to killing his father-in-law for the inheritance, Aubrey in revenge for a public insult, and Maturin for solid espionage reasons and gambling debt reasons. Comprehensive!
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Treason's Harbour

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