The Nautical Chart

The Nautical Chart (2000) Arturo Perez-Reverte
Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden

It took me awhile to get into The Nautical Chart. The other books I have read by Arturo Perez-Reverte have drawn me in immediately, but not so for this book. I started reading the book back in December, but kept picking up other books to read instead of going back to read this one.

Coy is a sailor who has had his license suspended. Thus, he is stranded on land, in Barcelona, without a clue as to what he will do with himself until he can go back to sea. At loose ends, he wanders into an action of naval objects, and a nautical chart, made by Salcedo Urrutia is sold after a nasty bidding war.

From there, Coy is drawn into a strange situation involving the chart, sunken ships, and far more trouble than he expects.

One problem I had with the story was that it started very slowly, and I wasn’t sure whether I cared for the main character, Coy, or not. I eventually decided I did like Coy, and I eventually did get into the story, but it took almost 100 pages, which was frustrating.

The second issue I had with the book is that although I did not know precisely where the story was going (in fact, several of my guesses were remarkably wrong) I was pretty sure where the relationship between Coy and Tanger was going (nowhere good).

In tone, the book reminded me more of The Queen of the South than of The Flanders Panel, with a liberal salting of strong language and naughty bits. I suppose the strong language and naughty bits were to be expected, considering that the main character is a sailor, but they just weren’t my favorite parts.

However, I much preferred the translation of this book to the translation done of The Queen of the South. Although Spanish words and terms were used, they were either explained, proper names, or the meaning was clear from the context.

Although this was a good book, I just did not like it nearly as well as I liked The Flanders Panel and The Fencing Master. If this was the first Arturo Perez-Reverte book I read, I am not sure if I would have searched for more of his books to read. The story was interesting, I ended up really liking Coy and El Piloto, and I really wanted to know what happened. But this book just seemed to run much slower than his other books, and I found myself skimming in places.

If you’re looking to start reading Arturo Perez-Reverte, this is not my recommendation for a starting place. I think that The Flanders Panel and The Fencing Master would be a far better place to start.
Rating: 6.5/10

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