200,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Overnight NZ-wide delivery | 📍 Visit our Auckland bookstore • Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

Blood of the Oak

A Mystery of Revolutionary America
By Eliot Pattison
0.0 (0 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Blood of the Oak is the fourth installment in Eliot Pattison's Bone Rattler series, set in 1765 during the escalating unrest against English rule marked by the Stamp Tax dissent. Protagonist Duncan McCallum delves into a web of ritualistic murders linked to the theft of an Iroquois artefact and a secret network of runners backing early political dissent. Captured and enslaved in Virginia, Duncan allies with Native American and African slaves to devise a daring escape and strike against a conspiracy led by English aristocrats aiming to crush resistance. Historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and George Washington appear, enriching a fresh narrative on America's struggle for freedom intertwined with its natural and cultural roots.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$5600

International Supplier

This title is in-stock with overseas suppliers. While it is not available locally, we fly books in weekly from the US and UK to our Auckland warehouse for immediate dispatch.

AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 2-3 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This gripping historical thriller will appeal to readers who enjoy intricate mysteries set against vividly realised 18th-century backdrops, fans of historical fiction exploring the American Revolution, and those interested in narratives involving Native American and early colonial experiences.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The fourth entry in the Bone Rattler series moves ever closer to the beginning of the American Revolution and advances the protagonist Duncan McCallum to 1765 and into the throes of the Stamp Tax dissent, which marked the beginning of organized resistance to English rule.

As the story unfolds, Duncan is drawn into the mystery of ritualistic murders that are strangely connected to both the theft of an Iroquois artifact and an additional series of murders and kidnappings connecting to the network of secret runners supporting the nascent committees of correspondence—engaged in the first organized political dissent across colonial borders. In following the trail, he encounters a powerful conspiracy of highly placed English aristocrats who are bent on crushing all dissent. Duncan is captured by its agents and sent into slavery in Virginia beside the kidnapped runners. Inspired by an aged native American slave and new African friends, Duncan decides not just to escape but to turn their own intrigue against the London lords.

Included in the novel's cast of characters are figures from our history who have their own destinies to fulfill in the next decade, including Benjamin Franklin (writing from London), Samuel Adams, the early Pennsylvania rebel James Smith, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and, very briefly, a soft-spoken militia officer named Washington.

Blood of the Oak takes a fresh view on the birth of the new American nation, suggesting that the "freedom" that became the centrepiece of the Revolution was uniquely American, rising not just from unprecedented political discourse but also from the extraordinary bond with the natural world experienced by frontier settlers and native tribes.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Blood of the Oak has been praised for its complex plotting and vivid historical detail, with Kirkus noting its "baroque style highly suggestive of the period and unblinking portrayal of American history's dark lessons." Previous entries in the series have garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly for evocative language, tight plotting, and stirring adventures, establishing Pattison's skill in blending history and mystery.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781619029071

Publisher: Counterpoint

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 14 March 2017

Country: United States

Imprint: Counterpoint

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 228.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 304

Collections

Crime & Thriller Eliot Pattison Fiction General Fiction Historical Crime & Mystery Historical Fiction

About the Author

Eliot Pattison is the author of The Skull Mantra, winner of an Edgar Award and finalist for the Gold Dagger, Water Touching Stone, Bone Mountain, Beautiful Ghosts, Prayer of the Dragon, Bone Rattler, The Lord of Death, Eye of the Raven and most recentlyOriginal Death. Pattison resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, two horses, and two dogs on a colonial-era farm.

Also by Eliot Pattison

View all
  • Soul of the Fire
    In Eliot Pattison's Soul of the Fire, Shan Tao Yun and his old friend Lokesh are abruptly dragged away by Public Security. He is convinced that their secret, often illegal, support of struggling Tibetans has brought their final ruin. However, his fear turns to confusion as he discovers he has been chosen to fill a vacancy on a special international...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Paperback
    $5900
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Bone Mountain (Inspector Shan Tao Yun #3)
    By Eliot Pattison
    $7100
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Water Touching Stone (Inspector Shan Tao Yun #2)
    By Eliot Pattison
    $8200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Ashes of the Earth
    Ashes of the Earth
    Thirty years after a global holocaust, the colony of Carthage still struggles to build its new world. While steam engines and other early industrial technology have empowered its economy, the fragile society is undermined by secret crimes, rifts between generations, government censorship, and a legacy of casting out those who suffer from radiation sickness. Embittered survivor Hadrian Boone—once a revered...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Beautiful Ghosts (Inspector Shan Tao Yun #4)
    By Eliot Pattison
    $6500
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Eye of the Raven
    Eye of the Raven
    With the aid of the Native American Shaman Conawago, Duncan McCallum has begun to heal from the massacre of his Highland clan by the British. But his new life is shattered when he and Conawago discover a dying Virginian officer nailed to an Indian shrine tree. The authorities arrest Conawago and schedule his hanging. As Duncan begins a desperate search...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Original Death
    Original Death
    Despite the raging war between the French and British, Scottish exile Duncan McCallum has begun to settle into a new life on the fringes of colonial America. He travels the woodlands with his companion Conawago, even joining the old Indian on his quest to find the last surviving members of his tribe. However, the joy they feel on reaching the...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Savage Liberty
    Savage Liberty
    Following a tortuous path of sabotage and treason, exiled Scotsman Duncan McCallum must survive his enemies long enough to glimpse the emergence of the American Revolution in this thrilling Publishers Weekly Best Mystery of the Year. When a ship arriving from London explodes in Boston Harbor, both the peace of the colonial city and Duncan McCallum's life are shattered. Summoned...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Freedom's Ghost
    Freedom's Ghost
    As the drumbeat of the American Revolution grows ever closer, Scotsman-turned-American-patriot Duncan McCallum must navigate treacherous cultural and political waters if he's to secure a fighting chance for the fledgling nation in this gripping installment of the acclaimed Bone Rattler series. After narrowly avoiding death in London at the hands of the king's secret agents, Duncan McCallum returns to colonial...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Hardback
    Sold Out
  • Freedom's Ghost
    Freedom's Ghost
    As the drumbeat of the American Revolution grows ever closer, Scotsman-turned-American-patriot Duncan McCallum must navigate treacherous cultural and political waters if he's to secure a fighting chance for the fledgling nation in this gripping installment of the acclaimed Bone Rattler series. After narrowly avoiding death in London at the hands of the king's secret agents, Duncan McCallum returns to colonial...
    By Eliot Pattison
    Paperback
    Sold Out

Browse lists from our team

The Latest at Book Hero

View all

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    Adam and Eve
    THE FINAL NOVEL FROM THE MASTER STORYTELLER Armistice Day 1918. Two children are born on the same day, hours – but worlds – apart. One the son of a shepherd, the other the daughter of an Earl. Adam and Eve. Their births mark the end of one war. Their love will change the outcome of another. 'If there were a...
    By Jeffrey Archer
    $3900
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    By Matthew Reilly
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • King’s Ransom
    On Sale
    18% off
    New Release
    Eve's Pick Eve's Pick
    King’s Ransom
    Five innocent hostages. Five private investigators. A fiendish ransom game. Has Detective Sam Speedman met his match? A fast and deadly Matthew Reilly thriller. A DARING ABDUCTION The richest man in the world has been kidnapped. Along with four of his children. THE DEADLY CHALLENGE The kidnapper's demand: the five best private detectives in America must come to the missing...
    By Matthew Reilly
    Hardback
    $3700
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The French Illusion
    Bestselling author John Grisham delivers a new gripping, suspenseful page-turner about aParis honeymoon gone horribly wrong - and the nightmare that follows. After Paul and Chelsea Tanner's fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would...
    By John Grisham
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Chain Reaction
    Jack Reacher, \"the coolest continuing series character\" (Stephen King), returns in a brand new, pulse-pounding read from Lee and Andrew Child. The world’s bestselling hero is back in a brand new, high-octane adventure! ‘She knew that finding Reacher would not be easy . . .’ Washington DC. General Susan Turner needs help from the only guy she knows will get...
    By Lee Child and Andrew Child
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Family Cross
    In the gripping new thriller in James Patterson's globally bestselling series, Alex Cross faces his most personal case yet as a ruthless conspiracy targets Washington's most vulnerable... and his own family. Discover the latest gripping thriller in the globally bestselling Alex Cross series - now the inspiration for the original series CROSS on Prime Video starring Aldis Hodge as Alex...
    By James Patterson
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    The Heights
    In The Heights by #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sir Ian Rankin, murder comes to London's most exclusive high-rise - and every resident is a suspect... MURDER COMES TO LONDON'S MOST LUXURIOUS HIGH-RISE: AND EVERY RESIDENT IS A SUSPECT. The Heights: a gleaming, high-end high-rise looming over Hyde Park. Newly built from steel and smoked glass, it is a billionaire's playground offering sumptuous suites...
    By Ian Rankin
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    26% off
    New Release
    Death Row
    With all hope of an appeal fading away, the fate of a condemned murderess takes a shocking turn in a breathtaking short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid! A thrilling novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden! Death is coming for her… unless she finds the truth first. Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering...
    By Freida McFadden
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Signed Copy
    On Sale
    12% off
    Dying Days
    Award-winning writer delivers a pulse-pounding espionage thriller. Missing soldiers, MI6 secrets and European partisans collide in a deadly game where the lines between lies and reality are fast disintegrating. In the dying days of the Second World War, a new conflict is about to ignite. May, 1945: After fighting to liberate Europe from the Nazis, Tito's Yugoslav Army and Allied...
    By Anthony Byrt
    Paperback
    $2800
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    22% off
    New Release
    Fury In Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (In Death 63)
    In the new crime thriller from the bestselling author, Lt. Eve Dallas journeys into the darkness where murder is born… NYSPD homicide detective Eve Dallas has seen a lot in her time but even she is shocked by the savagery of a beating which leaves a wealthy biotech executive dead in his home office. The victim’s corpse is so mangled...
    By J. D. Robb
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On Sale
    25% off
    New Release
    Tom Clancy Pressure Depth
    Jack Ryan Jr leads a team of divers in a race to beat the Chinese Navy to a weapon of terrible destructive power in the latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Jack Ryan Jr. is on Guam to work on a project for Hendley Associates. It's a perfectly ordinary insurance matter, but trouble finds the Ryans...
    By Jack Stewart
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Country Road Murders
    On Sale
    13% off
    The Country Road Murders
    From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a pulse-pounding thriller about justice, vengeance and the roads that lead us home. No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades — LEE CHILD Cross Rivers is the kind of small town where everyone knows your name – and your secrets. Silas Tucker...
    By James Patterson
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 190,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.