I wanted to like this book. A historical thriller taking place at the end of the American Civil War in the southern US/Cuba, and seeming to address the ongoing racism and struggles the end of slavery creates, "Hidden Cargo" seemed like another perfect book for my BIPOC struggle centered fiction trend. Unfortunately, I couldn't help but dislike the characters and their actions too much to really enjoy this book.
Everett Townsend is a tad bit of a Mary Sue with just too many character flaws for me to stomach. He is privileged and brilliant, the captain of a ship at just 23, and with strong moral values against slavery. He is also incredibly handsome, sympathizes with any character that shows any hint of decency, and is the only good white man a couple of the Black characters encounter. And therein lies the problem. By being portrayed as the pinnacle of morality and honesty, and his only flaws/mistakes being products of misunderstandings and things out of his control, Townsend immediately became unlikeable for me and it was hard to root for him. Even the most objectively bad thing he does (cheating on his fiancee) is shown in a sympathetic light (he was trying to protect her by pushing her away) and was just too ridiculous for me to support.
Moreover, some of the other characters also appear to be caricatures of a sort. You have the spunky heroine, the mistrusting but morally correct Black man, the turncoat villain (who you can spot in the first 60 pages), and the aristocratic grandmother who is supposed to be sympathetic and a source of moral quandary for the hero, but is in fact just too off-putting for me to wonder why Townsend even hesitates to act against her.
I do appreciate this book for one thing, and that is attempting to craft a historical thriller in a new setting than most others out there. But what I was disappointed by was the complete lack of originality in any other aspect, most obviously characterization.
Everett Townsend is a tad bit of a Mary Sue with just too many character flaws for me to stomach. He is privileged and brilliant, the captain of a ship at just 23, and with strong moral values against slavery. He is also incredibly handsome, sympathizes with any character that shows any hint of decency, and is the only good white man a couple of the Black characters encounter. And therein lies the problem. By being portrayed as the pinnacle of morality and honesty, and his only flaws/mistakes being products of misunderstandings and things out of his control, Townsend immediately became unlikeable for me and it was hard to root for him. Even the most objectively bad thing he does (cheating on his fiancee) is shown in a sympathetic light (he was trying to protect her by pushing her away) and was just too ridiculous for me to support.
Moreover, some of the other characters also appear to be caricatures of a sort. You have the spunky heroine, the mistrusting but morally correct Black man, the turncoat villain (who you can spot in the first 60 pages), and the aristocratic grandmother who is supposed to be sympathetic and a source of moral quandary for the hero, but is in fact just too off-putting for me to wonder why Townsend even hesitates to act against her.
I do appreciate this book for one thing, and that is attempting to craft a historical thriller in a new setting than most others out there. But what I was disappointed by was the complete lack of originality in any other aspect, most obviously characterization.