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Signal Close Action
Signal Close Action
Dec 20, 2025 8:16 AM

Author:Alexander Kent

Signal Close Action

Fans of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester will not be disappointed with this incredible naval adventure from multi-million copy seller Alexander Kent. With its authentic depiction of life at sea in battle, and its tightly crafted plot and characters, you'll fall for it hook, line and sinker!

'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' -- Sunday Times

'His dashing character Richard Bolitho is one of the best things to happen to the sea yarn since Hornblower' -- Daily Express

'The storytelling has an easy mastery, how well Kent knows the psychology of naval men' -- Sunday Telegraph

'Thrilling and a delight to read' -- ***** Reader review

'Gripping and accurate' -- ***** Reader review

'A truly brilliant bit of work' -- ***** Reader review

'Kept me enthralled' -- ***** Reader review

'Hard to put them down when you start' -- ***** Reader review

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1798: Richard Bolitho prepares to re-enter the Mediterranean. There are rumours of a massive French armada and of the latest type of artillery - and Bolitho's orders are to seek out the enemy and to discover the intentions of his growing force.

Bolitho is well aware that there are others within his ships who are no less dangerous than the enemy - and during the weeks and months in which the squadron faces the hazards of the weather and French broadsides alike, Bolitho knows that far more than his own future is at stake.

A fleet, even a nation, could depend on his decisions and, when he places his squadron between the Nile and the power of France, he must accept the price of the challenge.

Bolitho's adventures continue in The Inshore Squadron

Reviews

Stevenson's short stories are certain to retain their position in English literature. His serious rivals are few indeed

—— Arthur Conan Doyle

Mr Hyde's sordid and perhaps deviant excesses are rendered more suggestive through being left undescribed

—— Sarah Waters

A fable that lies nearer to poetry than to ordinary prose fiction

—— Vladimir Nabokov

Robert Louis Stevenson...was a storyteller, that's what I'd like to be, that's what I'm trying to be

—— Quintin Jardine

Jekyll and Hyde, in particular, is such an important novel in terms of suspense and setting a perfect scene for crime

—— Alanna Knight

Writers I love: Ellroy, Larry Block, Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark, Anthony Burgess, Chandler... '[Edinburgh] was the city of Jekyll & Hyde, where the template for that story was a real-life Edinburgh character named Deacon William Brodie, who was a gentleman by day and a burglar and murderer by night. He gave Stevenson his story

—— Ian Rankin

Another genius Scottish take on the theme of split personalities. Needs no further introduction

—— Maggie O’Farrell

Charming and compelling

—— Big Issue

Each character is a world, a story marvellously integrated into the whole...A master storyteller has become a fabulous chronicler of reality. If Obabakoak charmed us, The Accordionist's Son charms and moves us

—— La Vanguardia

This is a richly textured, beautifully-written glimpse into a world that makes its otherworldliness felt

—— Sunday Business Post

I've recorded all the Jeeves books, and I can tell you this: it's like singing Mozart. The perfection of the phrasing is a physical pleasure. I doubt if any writer in the English language has more perfect music

—— Simon Callow

The greatest comic writer ever

—— Douglas Adams

Wodehouse was quite simply the Bee's Knees. And then some

—— Joseph Connolly

I constantly find myself drooling with admiration at the sublime way Wodehouse plays with the English language

—— Simon Brett

Quite simply, the master of comic writing at work

—— Jane Moore

To pick up a Wodehouse novel is to find oneself in the presence of genius - no writer has ever given me so much pure enjoyment

—— John Julius Norwich

Compulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!

—— Lindsey Davis

The funniest writer ever to put words to paper

—— Hugh Laurie

P.G. Wodehouse should be prescribed to treat depression. Cheaper, more effective than valium and far, far more addictive

—— Olivia Williams

My only problem with Wodehouse is deciding which of his enchanting books to take to my desert island

—— Ruth Dudley Edwards

The Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon

—— Kathy Lette

Witty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny

—— Arabella Weir

P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century

—— Sebastian Faulks

Sublime comic genius

—— Ben Elton

Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in

—— Evelyn Waugh
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