As usual, I won't delve into the summary of the book. Thanks to Wikipedia, there one can already read finely written summaries of these novels.
I won't lie - this one was a bit tough to follow. Jack is a temporary Commodore in this novel. As such, both he and the reader must keep tabs on all the captains and ships under him as well as the enemy abroad.
Overall, it was another classic Patrick O'Brian novel.
I finished this one about a month ago, but am now just getting around to posting it here. I've almost finished Desolation Island too. I should be writing that one up here in a week or so.