The Mahogany Ship

Sam Reilly, Book 2

By: Christopher Cartwright

Narrated by: David Gilmore

An ancient shipwreck. A 200-year-old mystery. A plague that's destroying all marine life. A pyramid half a mile below the sea. And a puzzle that must be solved before it destroys the human race.

On the 18th of February, 1812, the Emily Rose became shipwrecked on the southern coast of Australia. The survivors are forced to walk nearly 1,000 miles through the unexplored land to reach the only settlement, Sydney Cove.

Nearly 200 miles inland, they come across the remains of a monstrous ship, far bigger than anything the British Navy had ever constructed. Through basic communication achieved with the natives, they learned that the ship had been there for a very long time...Maybe 1,000 years? Despite the details of the mysterious ship in the journals from the survivors of the Emily Rose, no evidence that the Mahogany Ship ever existed was found - until now.

Present day: A mining exploration in Australia takes a core sample 500 feet below the surface of a deserted mountain. The sample returns no evidence of gold deposits, but something much more valuable - a single Spanish Gold coin, dated 1518. Could the origins of this coin finally reveal the existence of the fabled Mahogany Ship?

At the same time, Sam Reilly and his team of ocean investigators are exploring the cause of a widespread death of sea life within the Gulf of Mexico. In a race against time to stop the irrevocable destruction of the world's marine life, the two mysteries may just be entangled, and failure to solve them both will result in the greatest threat to ever face the human race.

©2015 Christopher Cartwright (P)2017 Christopher Cartwright

Another fun Sam Reilly book

This is my third Sam Reilly book (I actually started towards the middle of the series), and it is a lot of fun. Now
I am starting to see the origins of the Master Builders, and a little more of the interaction between Sam and his dad.

I like the characters. They are old and reliable now...I can predict what they will do and I like them.

The narration is solid and seems to fit the characters well.

Overall very enjoyable.

A Very high standard for Book 2

It's good very good, It is a stand alone book so you don't need to have read the 1st Sam Reilly. Though I highly recommend Book 1 "The Last Airship" as well.
Great storyline well executed, and the narration is 1st rate.
Can't wait for the next adventure..

I received a free copy of this book at my request in exchange for an honest reveiw.

Very enoyable

I'm really digging this series and this entry was another plus. Fun characters on a great adventure. I will be starting the next book tomorrow!

Action, Adventure and Mystery

This book is a standalone listen and part of a series. I really enjoyed this book with all of its twists. I loved the historical element in the story as well. David Gilmore did a great job with performing the various characters in this book. The imagery was great too! I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. I will definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator. Without giving away spoilers, I loved the ending in this book. Kudos to Christopher Cartwright for such a great story and creating Sam Reilly.

Good Story, Narration Meh! Still worth a listen!

This was a really good story along the lines of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels. Sam Reilly is Dirk Pitt here. Sam is asked to help a billionaire find the lost Mahogany Ship which disappeared 400 years ago, but had a very special cargo on board. Sam and his father had been looking for this ship for as long as he could remember. Sam is excited at the prospect, but something doesn't seem quite right about the billionaire. Sam is right!

Shorter than Clive Cussler's books, but no less intriguing. I enjoyed the story a lot. There is a subplot about an underground pyramid and "the ancient ones" who were most likely aliens. Both stories do not end here, so I am looking forward to the next continuation.

I have to admit that the narrator is not so great. I listened to a box set of 2 novels and a short story which happened to be gay romances narrated by Gilmore. He is definitely not suited to the romance genre. His style fits a little better here, but not much. His delivery makes everything sound like "Father Knows Best" where everything is fine, just fine. He goes flat at times and then other times his sentences go up in strange places, not always the end like most people who's speech goes up. It makes some of the lines sound corny and 1950's hunky dory.

But if you get to know the rhythm of Gilmore's delivery, you get used to it and the story rises above. Cartwright has created a rousing series of adventures that I look forward to reading/listening to more of.

Adventure down under

Where does The Mahogany Ship rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Better then average with plot twists some fun and a great deal of mystery.

What other book might you compare The Mahogany Ship to and why?

N/A

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed having a two for one deal............. two plots with different characters in a far away
destination.

If you could take any character from The Mahogany Ship out to dinner, who would it be and why?

N/A

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Book 2 of the Sam Reilly series

To be honest, I was a bit concerned when I looked at reviews of this book before I bought it. Several reviewers were rather hard on it, saying that the story was sub-par. After listening to the book, I can see some of those arguments might be valid, but I also saw the greater purpose behind this volume. Book one introduced us to the main players in the series and gave us a good indication of the type of adventure novels we could expect. Book two, while having it's own mystery and adventure, was primarily used as a setup for the rest of the series. Clues are liberally strewn throughout the book of future adventures and hints at greater antagonists for our heroes to face. Upon completion of this volume, I have to feel that the villain portrayed here was a rather vanilla bad guy with little to set him apart from any other bad guy in such stories.

The writing here, as a whole, was better and clearer than the first book. So all in all the series is improving in my estimation. I think I will go on to book three and see how it goes. You might like it too.

Bottom line: The series is about archeological mysteries with the main protagonist being a billionaire genius and his team of friends/employees. Think"a rich Indiana Jones". Likable if not exactly personally relatable.

Ready for an Adventure?

So much excitement awaits you in this fast paced novel. An enormous ‘fabled’ ship, a Mayan pyramid—under the sea, a powerful weapon from long ago…

Sam Reilly is a character along the lines of Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt. While he manages to get into a variety of dangerous situations, so far he has always found his way out. That is put to the test in The Mahogany Ship.

One man has plans to manipulate Sam into a hunt for an archeological find he has chased since he was a boy. Irresistible to Sam, he is all in, even knowing there is more at stake than he is being told. With close calls in every mine, cavern, and setting, he and his team may not all make it out alive this time around.

The author’s descriptive writing will make you feel you are a part of the event. You’ll enjoy the rising tension and the dramatic scenes. The narrator, David Gilmore, has a good voice for the story. Read in an upbeat tone, he manages the various characters well too.

It’s all round fun and very entertaining. I’ll look forward to more of Sam and his crew.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Solid sequel

This second book picks up not long after the first. Pretty good action. Nice plot line. I really enjoyed the characters. Narration is excellent as well. Ends on a bit of a cliffhanger but definitely looks like it continues into the next book.

Sam's the man!

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

I was simply looking for an audio-book to fill time for my trip to Wyoming and back but was unable to find a mystery that wasn't filled with sex and lewd behavior. I got an email that had this book in it so I just had to look. Being a free copy, I had to take a peek and then downloaded it.

Overall, Christopher Cartwright did a great job writing this book, the flow was nice without any major plot or detail failures to distract from the story line. There was one place where Christopher Cartwright mentioned the bad guys had AK-47's then switched to UZI's then back to AK-47's, as an aficionado, that irritated me but was forgivable.

The theme of the "Master Builders" running throughout all of Christopher's books is very subtle, I wish he would pull more it this string or abandon it, that is the only choppy part of the series I don't care for. I do not find it to be a tease but an irritation to have it dangled in front of me and just get small chips served without any real explanation.

Well, that was the critical part, lets get on to the good stuff!

David Gilmore changed the narration just enough to let you know which character he was narrating and while he did the nearly same voice for everybody but Sam and Billy, it left you with a good sense of person.

The story followed a few different threads, one with Sam's dad that was completely fanciful but fun, one with Billy that was a little sexy without being over the top. Overall, the read flowed well, the story was solid and the fantasy mixed with mystery was adequate for a nice long drive.

I would get deeper into the story but you will want to hear this one for yourself, excuse me while I go back and purchase book 1, I want all the back story!