Fever-ridden, raving, and trapped in a cabin on his own ship, Long John Silver is on his way towards England and the hangman's noose. But Silver vows to exact revenge upon his captor by disclosing their secrets in a journal. This book is that journal.
Silver's stories parallel Treasure Island (and include new characters like Edward peach, Silver's first mate, and Solomon, a man fleeing the Spanish repression), giving us the "true story" of Silver's life – from his childhood as a starving street urchin in Bristol's back alleys, to his ascent, via murder, to pirate captain. We witness his global quest to unravel a string of ciphers and find the world's greatest treasure, and his ultimate betrayal by the man he has treated like a son.
But that's not all; for Silver's legacy is his treasure, and within the pages he hides a code that locates it – if the reader dares look.
This is a savage, heart-pounding novel "by" one of the Canon's greatest villains and full, as Silver himself says "of treasure, as there is such pleasure in the telling of it, like nipping from a glass of brandy in the eventide, a long eventide made of odds and chances with a red dawn in the reckoning. And, he should be sure not to leave out the blood".
