Reviews

The Pirate by Harold Schechter

brobocop187's review

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4.0

To learn about the un-emotional monster that is Albert Hicks was interesting to say the least.

squish_reader893's review

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4.0

I love these little bite-size historical true crime books!!

bloodonsnow's review

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4.0

I have always appreciated Schechter's framing of historical crime with information about the historical period. Even in this novella he offers framing in such a way that you're learning about the time period as well as learning about the person in question. It never feels too pulpy or judgemental.

isabellesbooks's review

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3.25

My favorite part of this book was the epilogue!

nikkideeley's review against another edition

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4.0

The Pirate is a true crime account of the murderer Albert Hicks who killed his victims out at sea and then subsequently stole from them.

A very interesting account of the case and the publicity it received. I found the additional information about PT Barnum’s interest very intriguing too. The intracity of the law and the charges added another layer to this account which was told in a direct, informative manner.

catcole1895's review against another edition

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5.0

Quick, quality read

This is a quick, quality read. Any true crime fan should set aside the short time to read this story. Very well written.

teriboop's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a short story about the true-crime of Albert Hicks, a man who boarded a sloop in 1860 off the coast of New York and killed the captain and two mates before robbing them and sneaking via a lifeboat in the early morning. The story follows the gruesome discovery of the ship, the capturing and trial of Hicks and the outcome of his sentencing. Schechter is well known for his true crime stories.

This is a quick read and is great to read as a "Kindle in Motion" that should be read via the Kindle app on an iPad or Kindle Fire to check out the fun moving graphics.

alliereads's review against another edition

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4.0

Interesting

Great read. Sets the bar high for the rest of the collection. Makes me want to look into the authors other novels.

sunflowerfoxglove's review

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dark informative fast-paced

3.75

polsen's review

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5.0

I loved this. Super fast read… very well researched for such an old case. Some of it comes across as “filler”, but considering how old the case was, I enjoyed it because it was information about the time and how law worked back then… and direct quotes from people in the case that were so fun to hear!