The second part of the thrilling Brethren of the Coast trilogy Thomas Marlowe, former pirate and captain of the Guardship, lives prosperously on his tobacco plantation near Williamsburg with his lovely wife Elizabeth. But when King James, the huge ex-slave who is in command of Marlowe's sloop, kills the crew of a slaveship - a blackbirder - and makes himself the most wanted man in Virginina, Marlowe is forced to go and hunt him down. Setting off in pursuit of the blackbirder, struggling to maintain control over his crew - rough privateers, set only on plunder - Marlowe follows James's trail of destruction all the way to the shores of Africa. There, in the slave port of Whydah, James and Marlowe face a common threat - and their final showdown.