Umpteenth Jules Verne but in a completely different style from what I've been used to, Face the Flag is rather dark. Still, there are several familiar elements, starting with a protagonist in these romantic heroes' lineage. Simon Hart, alias Gaydon, is dedicated, ready to do anything to succeed in his mission. Perfect? He is watching over a compatriot, the French inventor Thomas Roch. His latest invention, the Fulgurateur Roch (again, Jules Verne becomes a visionary or a prophet, the novel written in 1896), was refused by Western governments. People prefer to intern him rather than see his weapon between foreign or enemy hands. So, as his sanity wanes, he is held in a nursing home in South Carolina. But that was without counting on modern pirates.
Indeed, the Count of Artigas (obviously an assumed name behind which hides a formidable enemy) kidnaps the two French quite quickly. The trip on the schooner Ebba is a bit long; I quickly read this part. The arrival on the Back-Cup island rekindled my interest. It's a perfect landmark for modern pirates, not far from Bermuda, and it contains a massive cave in its hollow. It reminded me of the James Bond movies. Unfortunately, the action lags here too. However, they filled it with many adventures, but they are without consequences, tiny in direct connection with the main plot. Eventually, help arrives (it could not be otherwise), and by submarine, nothing less. It must say that the submersible was a relatively new military technology, still in experimentation. The twists and turns never end and lead to a glorious and unexpected finale. Facing the Flag is a pessimistic novel in which we can see the danger of weaponry. This fact makes it original, in my opinion, because I was not thrilled to read it.