Raider's Wake, the sixth book in James L. Nelson's ongoing Norsemen Saga, left Thorgrim Ulfsson, aka Night Wolf, cast ashore on the coast of Ireland -- again -- with his various longships wrecked or stranded after an ongoing battle with a Frisian merchant fleet. Loch Garman picks up with Thorgrim trying to salvage what's left of his ships, making what repairs he can and heading -- he hopes -- back to his Norwegian home.

But, as the preceding six books have shown us, the gods do not look with favor on Thorgrim's attempted forays into the sea. For whatever reason, he seems destined to remain in Ireland a little longer.

While he and his remaining men have the shipbuilding skills necessary to restore his ships to seaworthiness, they won't get far without sails. So, with his two ships secured on the banks of Loch Garman, at the mouth of the River Slaney, he visits the monastery of Ferns, which he has been told can make the cloth he needs to outfit his fleet. The abbot at Ferns, although leery of dealing with heathens from across the sea, agrees to provide the cloth in exchange for silver -- and a promise to help defend Ferns against a minor Irish lord who is trying to raid the monastery and steal a treasure rumored to be there. To that end, Thorgrim is partnered with Brother Becc, a horribly scarred former soldier who has taken religious orders at Ferns and leads the men-at-arms under the monastery's command.

Meanwhile, Thorgrim's 17-year-old son Harald takes a band of men along the coast to reclaim two additional ships that were grounded and stripped of their sails in the previous adventure, but should otherwise be intact. His mission is simply to use the oars to bring those ships to his father's base on Loch Garman ... but unfortunately Airtre mac Domhnall -- a minor Irish lord -- has gotten there first and has hidden the oars. Airtre agrees to return them and let the Norsemen leave unhindered -- if they agree first to help him raid a nearby monastery and steal the treasure rumored to be there.

You see where this is going, right?

The incompatible bargains are further complicated when Harald and Airtre exchange hostages; Airtre passes off a servant as his son, but Harald offers himself. However, when things don't go Airtre's way, he decides the common rules governing the treatment of hostages no longer applies.

The situation turns ever more grim as the various forces at play here move in aggressive patterns across the landscape, ever spiraling closer to Ferns and the fabled treasure -- if it's even real. Before the final climactic confrontation -- which is sidelined for a few chapters to allow for a long-overdue one-on-one duel -- there will be escapes and rescues, grievous wounds and not a few deaths. Will Thorgrim get his Irish cloth? Will the abbot protect his treasure? Only time -- and James L. Nelson -- will tell, but you can be sure the book ends with another adventure already pending for the next book in the series. All I'll say about that is ... Brother Becc is not a happy man.

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