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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Slow Burn (Dan Shepherd #17) in Books
Aug 15, 2020
Number 17 already ... I can't believe it ... I never get bored of reading about Dan "Spider" Shepherd's escapades, scrapes and feats of derring-do! Mr Leather is extremely adept at keeping things fresh and exciting; these books never get old or feel like they are being re-hashed just for the sake of it and if you haven't yet read any of them, what is wrong with you!!! You don't even need to read them in order to appreciate them but be warned, once you read 1 you will want to read them all.
Here we have the topical and very believable and scarily plausible tale of home-grown terrorism, the use of drones as weapons by terrorists, the question of whether to allow jihadi brides to return to the UK and the minor story of Chinese spies. This sounds like a lot but don't be put off, it flows seamlessly and effortlessly and, for me, it feels like an accurate reflection of the life of an MI5 agent having to keep lots of plates in the air at once whilst trying to stop a disaster of epic proportions from happening.
This is an exciting read full of brilliant characters which is hard to put down ... yes I know this is a cliché but absolutely accurate in this instance. There is less of the personal story in this one and more action ... I wonder if this is because the next instalment sees Spider and his son, Liam, team up on an operation? Or is it going to delve into the Chinese intelligence angle? Whatever it is, I for one can't wait, so hurry up Mr Leather and write faster 😀
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased and unedited review.
Here we have the topical and very believable and scarily plausible tale of home-grown terrorism, the use of drones as weapons by terrorists, the question of whether to allow jihadi brides to return to the UK and the minor story of Chinese spies. This sounds like a lot but don't be put off, it flows seamlessly and effortlessly and, for me, it feels like an accurate reflection of the life of an MI5 agent having to keep lots of plates in the air at once whilst trying to stop a disaster of epic proportions from happening.
This is an exciting read full of brilliant characters which is hard to put down ... yes I know this is a cliché but absolutely accurate in this instance. There is less of the personal story in this one and more action ... I wonder if this is because the next instalment sees Spider and his son, Liam, team up on an operation? Or is it going to delve into the Chinese intelligence angle? Whatever it is, I for one can't wait, so hurry up Mr Leather and write faster 😀
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased and unedited review.
ClareR (5551 KP) rated The Doors of Eden in Books
Feb 28, 2022
The Doors of Eden is such a complex book to even start to describe, but here goes:
When Lee and Mal fall through a crack between worlds, we begin to see that there isn’t just one Earth, and they’re not all as ‘civilised’ as the one we inhabit. Lee manages to make it back to our Earth, Mal doesn’t.
Kay Amal Khan is attacked, and Julian Sabreur from MI5 is tasked with investigating. He sees some security camera footage that shows Mal - who is still missing, presumed dead - with a frankly enormous man, leaving Khan’s flat, with the men who were going to hurt him and/ or kidnap him (who knows) badly injured or dead.
Were any or all of these people after Khan’s research? Because the research seems to be proving that there are countless parallel Earths, and the walls between them are coming down - with no good end in sight.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this: creatures from different Earths, all with different values and wished. I mean, who’s to say that this couldn’t really happen (err… lots of scientists?)? It’s all so credibly written. And the interludes between chapters from another book:”Other Edens: Speculative Evolution and Intelligence” by Professor Ruth Emerson explains how these Earths evolved. It gives an explanation of the many characters from the different Earths.
There’s just so much interesting detail in this book. I finished it feeling that I really knew the characters, and that I had an understanding of these other Earths. I had to remind myself that they weren’t real (they’re not real, are they?).
This was an exciting, complex, just really interesting sci-fi adventure, and I took the dog for extra long walks, just so that I could keep listening (well, she was happy!). This isn’t my first Adrian Tchaikovsky book, and I’ll be reading/ listening to more - I haven’t been disappointed yet!
When Lee and Mal fall through a crack between worlds, we begin to see that there isn’t just one Earth, and they’re not all as ‘civilised’ as the one we inhabit. Lee manages to make it back to our Earth, Mal doesn’t.
Kay Amal Khan is attacked, and Julian Sabreur from MI5 is tasked with investigating. He sees some security camera footage that shows Mal - who is still missing, presumed dead - with a frankly enormous man, leaving Khan’s flat, with the men who were going to hurt him and/ or kidnap him (who knows) badly injured or dead.
Were any or all of these people after Khan’s research? Because the research seems to be proving that there are countless parallel Earths, and the walls between them are coming down - with no good end in sight.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this: creatures from different Earths, all with different values and wished. I mean, who’s to say that this couldn’t really happen (err… lots of scientists?)? It’s all so credibly written. And the interludes between chapters from another book:”Other Edens: Speculative Evolution and Intelligence” by Professor Ruth Emerson explains how these Earths evolved. It gives an explanation of the many characters from the different Earths.
There’s just so much interesting detail in this book. I finished it feeling that I really knew the characters, and that I had an understanding of these other Earths. I had to remind myself that they weren’t real (they’re not real, are they?).
This was an exciting, complex, just really interesting sci-fi adventure, and I took the dog for extra long walks, just so that I could keep listening (well, she was happy!). This isn’t my first Adrian Tchaikovsky book, and I’ll be reading/ listening to more - I haven’t been disappointed yet!
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Cruise the Storm (John McBride #2) in Books
Nov 12, 2019
A group of terrorist hijackers on board a cruise ship. An ex SAS soldier on board teaching watercolour painting. A huge storm bearing down on the ship.
This might sound like the plot of some Hollywood blockbuster full of explosions and witty one liners from the hero but Chilcott delivers something a lot more cerebral than that. The story and characters have a sense of reality and this is more like a game of chess between the chief hijacker and the crew, a game where the ship is the board and the pawns the passengers which the terrorists are only too willing to dispose of to meet their aims.
Keith Bourne is the founder and leader of the White Christian League, an extreme right wing terrorist organisation who specialise in violent demonstration and the odd mosque burning. Bourne wants cash to further his rather nasty aims and decides that hijacking a cruise liner will fit the bill nicely. MI5 have been watching him and manage to get one of their agents onto the boat in an attempt to thwart Bourne and his cronies.
John McBride is a watercolour artist of some renown who is drafted onto the cruise to teach any interested passengers how to paint in watercolours, the scenes in the various Mediterranean ports they will be visitng being ideal subjects. McBride also happens to be a former member of the elite SAS and when he is made aware of the plot to hijack the ship is able to advise the captain and MI5.
The tension cranks up nicely through the first half of the book, seen mostly from the point of view of Bourne and McBride as each becomes aware of each other and both their plans have to be changed by circumstance. Everything comes to a head on the night the storm hits the ship.
At this point, with everything poised on a knife edge of success or failure for both sides, Chilcott pulls a deft narrative twist and goes back and tells the story again from the point of view of the chairman of the cruise line and one of the passengers, once again building up to the crisis point. This has the nice effect of filling in details that were previously only mentioned but also did lose the momentum which took a while to get going again. It may have been better to tell the story purely sequentially but seeing events from different perspectives again was interesting.
The characters and situations are written with a real authenticity. There are no miraculous escapes, no amazing feats of marksmanship and this is a very real strength of Chilcott's writing. Everthing happens in a way that seems very authentic - and in the case of the actions of the hijackers, worryingly so. Every action and reaction of the characters is plausible and there are frequent points where the story could go one way or another just on a chance encounter or random event.
This realism also felt a little like a weakness to me. Some things happen which provide some dramatic tension at the time but ultimately don't really have a bearing on the eventual outcome. Although this is very much like real life, perhaps it is not what is expected in a thriller of this type. In particlar (and these aren't really spoilers) the ship is damaged in the storm but this doesn't really affect anything, and also what happens when events are told from the point of view of one of the passengers looks to be building to something interesting but ultimately fizzles away. I would have liked to see more of these sub plots carried forward to the end of the story.
Despite this, the book was a good and interesting read and I am looking forward to reading more of Chilcott's McBride novels. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes their thrillers character driven and cerebral rather than all action. Plus you will pick up some excellent tips on painting in watercolours as a bonus.
Rated: Some violence, language and sexual references
This might sound like the plot of some Hollywood blockbuster full of explosions and witty one liners from the hero but Chilcott delivers something a lot more cerebral than that. The story and characters have a sense of reality and this is more like a game of chess between the chief hijacker and the crew, a game where the ship is the board and the pawns the passengers which the terrorists are only too willing to dispose of to meet their aims.
Keith Bourne is the founder and leader of the White Christian League, an extreme right wing terrorist organisation who specialise in violent demonstration and the odd mosque burning. Bourne wants cash to further his rather nasty aims and decides that hijacking a cruise liner will fit the bill nicely. MI5 have been watching him and manage to get one of their agents onto the boat in an attempt to thwart Bourne and his cronies.
John McBride is a watercolour artist of some renown who is drafted onto the cruise to teach any interested passengers how to paint in watercolours, the scenes in the various Mediterranean ports they will be visitng being ideal subjects. McBride also happens to be a former member of the elite SAS and when he is made aware of the plot to hijack the ship is able to advise the captain and MI5.
The tension cranks up nicely through the first half of the book, seen mostly from the point of view of Bourne and McBride as each becomes aware of each other and both their plans have to be changed by circumstance. Everything comes to a head on the night the storm hits the ship.
At this point, with everything poised on a knife edge of success or failure for both sides, Chilcott pulls a deft narrative twist and goes back and tells the story again from the point of view of the chairman of the cruise line and one of the passengers, once again building up to the crisis point. This has the nice effect of filling in details that were previously only mentioned but also did lose the momentum which took a while to get going again. It may have been better to tell the story purely sequentially but seeing events from different perspectives again was interesting.
The characters and situations are written with a real authenticity. There are no miraculous escapes, no amazing feats of marksmanship and this is a very real strength of Chilcott's writing. Everthing happens in a way that seems very authentic - and in the case of the actions of the hijackers, worryingly so. Every action and reaction of the characters is plausible and there are frequent points where the story could go one way or another just on a chance encounter or random event.
This realism also felt a little like a weakness to me. Some things happen which provide some dramatic tension at the time but ultimately don't really have a bearing on the eventual outcome. Although this is very much like real life, perhaps it is not what is expected in a thriller of this type. In particlar (and these aren't really spoilers) the ship is damaged in the storm but this doesn't really affect anything, and also what happens when events are told from the point of view of one of the passengers looks to be building to something interesting but ultimately fizzles away. I would have liked to see more of these sub plots carried forward to the end of the story.
Despite this, the book was a good and interesting read and I am looking forward to reading more of Chilcott's McBride novels. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes their thrillers character driven and cerebral rather than all action. Plus you will pick up some excellent tips on painting in watercolours as a bonus.
Rated: Some violence, language and sexual references