Review: "The Scottish Prisoner" by Diana Gabaldon

From Goodreads:  London, 1760. For Jamie Fraser, paroled prisoner-of-war in the remote Lake District, life could be worse: He’s not cutting sugar cane in the West Indies, and he’s close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own. But Jamie Fraser’s quiet existence is coming apart at the seams, interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of Tobias Quinn, an erstwhile comrade from the Rising.

Like many of the Jacobites who aren’t dead or in prison, Quinn still lives and breathes for the Cause. His latest plan involves an ancient relic that will rally the Irish. Jamie is having none of it—he’s sworn off politics, fighting, and war. Until Lord John Grey shows up with a summons that will take him away from everything he loves—again.

Lord John Grey—aristocrat, soldier, and occasional spy—finds himself in possession of a packet of explosive documents that exposes a damning case of corruption against a British officer. But they also hint at a more insidious danger. Time is of the essence as the investigation leads to Ireland, with a baffling message left in “Erse,” the tongue favored by Scottish Highlanders. Lord John, who oversaw Jacobite prisoners when he was governor of Ardsmiur prison, thinks Jamie may be able to translate—but will he agree to do it?

Soon Lord John and Jamie are unwilling companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose dark castles hold dreadful secrets, and whose bogs hide the bones of the dead. A captivating return to the world Diana Gabaldon created in her Outlander and Lord John series, The Scottish Prisoner is another masterpiece of epic history, wicked deceit, and scores that can only be settled in blood.

My Thoughts:  Oh Jamie Fraser, I have missed you so.  I'll be honest and say that while I have read three of the Lord John books, I don't particularly love them.  Lord John Grey will never be one of my most favorite characters in the Outlander books.  But they are easy to read and they give me my Outlander fix while I wait for Written in My Own Heart's Blood (hurry please!).  In this book, you get to see more of Jamie than in the other Lord John books and it was cool to see what he had been up to during that period between Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager.  It was also interesting to see Jamie's feelings about the Jacobite cause and his reluctance to participate in that lost cause again.  I also loved reading his thoughts about Claire, his unborn child and William....I must admit I got a little gaga during these parts.  The story itself wasn't great and at times seemed kind of disjointed and cobbled together.  There were a lot of characters and each had their own agenda and it was difficult to understand how each person's agenda meshed with the story.  It was nice to see Jamie again but this book was just okay.  3 stars.