The story sounded promising from the synopsis, but it fell flat. I couldn’t understand half of what I read. I think the bones of the story are there it was just written in a really strange way. The author jumped around from one thing to another and then the ending was just really really anticlimactic. Parts of the book were really fantastic, but other parts were just blah. All in all I guess it just wasn’t the type of story I could really get behind and enjoy. The author spent a lot of time talking about the history behind the time period in that story at times where I felt it pushed the main story to the side.

The premise was very interesting--a famous con artist in the Wild West of 1800s Florida, and the women he's wronged. Travel up and down the Spanish territory with Seminoles, escaped enslaved people and killers. All this AND a buried treasure chest.

The writing was fine, creating the sights and smells of St. Augustine and the steamy semi-tropical state. The character development--not as good. A daughter with a grudge and killer instincts sets out to kill her father, the elusive Confidence John. Along the way she immediately falls in love with a biracial Seminole, and rediscovers the mother who abandoned her. Said mother, a recovered opium addict, smuggles enslaved people to Havana (I'm not so sure how historically accurate that is), immediately reconciles with her daughter and they travel together, seeking Confidence John.

Ultimately, the book was disappointing. Disappointment number one: the reader never meets Confidence John, the puppet master who has brought all these characters together. Disappointment number two: the characters stew in their own emotions and interiority too much; when they do interact, it comes off as unrealistic. Disappointment number three: the ending was so sudden and and unresolved, I re-read the chapter, thinking I must have missed some pages, Though, there were pirates.

This book was an enjoyable glimpse into a family split by their father’s (and mother’s) self preservation. My only regret is that it ended much too abruptly for a stand alone novel. If you enjoy reading this author’s other books, you will like this, too.

Not sure how to rate this book. The violence was graphic and the language of the characters was R rated at times. The detailed violence and the fowl language did not add to the story. I would have rated this book much better without them.
The message of the book was good . There was revenge in the hearts of the characters. The book was short, but told a story that was interesting.
The book was more about the main characters, but I still don't feel like I know them that well. The characters lives were driven by a past that we did not find out much about. I would have liked to have read more about each main character and their past. I could have related to the characters better with more information.
I would not call this book historical fiction because there was not enough information in the book to set the time in history. As the characters moved around from place to place, there was very little information provided. When new characters were introduced we did not know much about where they came from. What the author shared seemed to be on a "need to know" basis. So I got just enough information to enjoy the book, but more would have been better.
This book would have been better with about a 100 more pages and the same story line.