Sharpe's Siege — Bernard Cornwell

TRAPPED WITH HIS BACK TO THE SEA, MAJOR RICHARD SHARPE AND A HANDFUL OF MEN MUST STAND AGAINST A BATTALION OF FRENCH TROOPS

Sharpe's mission seemed simple: capture a small unguarded French coastal fort, cripple Napoleon's supply lines, and retreat across the sea. But behind the lines, Sharpe's old enemy, Pierre Ducos, awaits Sharpe's arrival with a battalion of French soldiers and a vicious commanding general who keeps the scalps of his dead enemies as trophies.

Outmaneuvered by Ducos's treachery and abandoned by his own men, Sharpe has only two choices: to escape with the aid of the charming, unscrupulous American mercenary Cornelius Killick, or die.