Jacky’s last adventure was mainly a land-locked battle so now we return to her deep diving roots when British Intelligence forces her to search for sunken treasure.

Now I know Meyer intends to keep Jacky and Jaimy star-crossed until the very end but he does a great job in giving them a sweet reunion and such joyful hopes for their marriage to snatch it away right as she’s about to walk down the aisle. I was shocked by that turn of events. Just shocked.

Anyway British Intelligence sends Jacky to Havana to dive for the forgotten treasure of Santa Magdalena. Luckily, she and Jaimy get to spend a lot more time together in this book compared to the last four. They even reunite on the Dolphin with the rest of the Brotherhood, Dr. Tilly, and other old friends like Lord Allen and Captain Hannibal Hudson.

The only downside is the return of Flashby who hasn’t learned his lesson down by the Mississippi and Jacky’s own greedy sea urchin self. Once again, some of Jacky’s morally grey sense of one-upsmanship and greed get her into hot water. But I appreciate that sort of sneakiness and pride goeth before fall from her. It makes her interesting and hopefully the exploits she gets up to here will remind her not to get so ahead of herself again.

Besides that Meyer has fun introducing such anachronism as Jacky helps invent the first prototype for flippers and helps free an enslaved woman, Jemimah. Now she doesn’t bake pancakes here but she is a very good cook. It also allows Meyer to pad the book with an ongoing story of Brother Rabbit. As you know, Meyer is very fond of sharing folk tales and such from different aspects of British and American life. He also gets some page time to the horror and injustice of slavery.

The book is filled with lush historical descriptions of old Havana, the upcoming end of the Golden era of piracy and introduction to how to train your chicken for a cockfight which keeps the action going even though there isn’t much sea-battling.

There is also the “return” of one Flaco Jimenez, Spanish pirate with flair and a love for Jacky. I put return in quotation marks because Jacky had met him during her piracy/priveteering events of Under the Jolly Roger. But it’s been several months so I don’t really remember him. However, the inclusion of several exposition-laden flashback points me to believing he is retconning some of the story and this is technically the first time we, the readers, meet him. Either way, the return or the first meeting, Flaco is a flamboyant soul that is such fun to see on the page. He keeps one guessing as to whether he is on Jacky’s side or not.

The book is a half and half as it is clear that Meyer is padding for time as he has Jacky and her friends explore Havana. But the hair-raising final battles and Jacky’s greed backfiring on her in the worst ways makes it a satisfying chapter in Jacky’s long series of adventures.