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| NEW in Crime and Suspense: |
| P. D. James with a new Dalgliesh crime novel: The Lighthouse |
| John le Carré The Mission Song |
| Ruth Rendell: End in Tears |
| Ian Rankin: The Naming Of The Dead |
| Robert Goddard: Never Go Back |
| John Grisham: The Innocent Man |
[05.04.04] Pre-order Deep Black - a new Andy McNab book to be released on November 4th 2004.
[11.01.04] Pre-order The Increment - Chris Ryan's latest book, to be released on June 3rd 2004.
[01.11.03] The Real Heroes of Telemark tells the true story of the sabotage against the heavy water plant at Rjukan, destroying Hitler'shope of a nuclear bomb. Bravery, cunning and endurance over and beyond the call of duty on the part of the SOE (a forerunner of SAS) agents parachuted into Norway made this operation, which met with much problems, possible.
[29.08.03] Chris Ryan's Ultimate Survival Guide was released on October 2nd.
[15.06.03] Greed, a new thriller from Chris Ryan, was released on June 5th 2003. Ex-SAS Matt Browning, desperately broke, is hired by the MI5 to form a team to part al-Queda from some of their money. The hi-jacking goes according to plan, but then things start to go seriously wrong... Fast action, but the characters are a bit cardboard. I read it all in one setting, though, so it can't be bad.
[30.04.03] Pre-order Dark Winter - McNab's latest book, to be released on November 6th 2003.
| UK readers go HERE |
Andy McNab
Andy McNab (pseudonym) is an interesting new author of action thrillers, books based on his own experiences as a soldier in the famous SAS Regiment.
McNab fought in the Gulf War, and was caught by the Iraqis and underwent hard interrogation.
He later left the SAS, and has written a number of novels about Nick Stone, ex-SAS and now a deniable operator for the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service).
While not wholly believable, his books shows us the workings of an undercover operator, down to the gritty details of how you shit and pee when you can't leave your post, nor any tracks of your having been there.
He has written to autobiographical books:
- Bravo Two Zero about his experiences in the Gulf War
- Immediate Action about his life as an elite soldier and how he became one
The Nick Stone thrillers are:
| Remote Control | |
| Crisis Four | |
| Firewall | |
| Last Light | |
| Liberation Day: Nick Stone is tricked or coerced into an operation against Al-Qaeda money laundering networks in Europe. With his team, he stakes out places where money are to be delivered, in order to find the money launderers. While McNab is good at describing action, his surveillance scenes are filled to the brim and beyond with detail, making them too long-winded. His characters are quite shallow, but his action is good making this, all in all a readworthy thriller. | |
| Dark Winter: Nick and a female operator has to find Bin Laden-associated terrorists and stop them from committing large-scale biological warfare operations in central London, against an unsuspecing civilian population. There is a lot of fast-paced action here, and less of the painstaikingly (boringly) described surveillance scenes. A side story is Nick's constant problems with taking care of Kelly, having to bully her grandparents in order to be able to serve both Kelly and his own unscrupolous master. While the action is up to class, I am a bit disappointed that McNab does little to exploit the dangers of the biological agent in order to build up the tension in this novel. The havoc that would have become the result of such a terrorist attack is underplayed, instead of being an overshadowing consideration. And I am also a bit surprised that McNab lets Nick botch up things to the extent he does here, with such devastating consequences. The ending is very sad, but not gripping - McNab has never built up any character but Nick, so I can't say I feel I've gotten to know anyone but him - hence no sadness for others. All in all: better than Liberation day but not an outstanding thriller. | |
| Deep
Black SHIPPING NOW! from UK
The story starts with a preamble: Unable to act, Nick in 1994 has
to witness cold-blooded killings of Bosnian moslems by Serbs. When Jerry, a photographer, in 2004 contacts Nick in order to get help with tracking down a moslem leader they both saw in Bosnia, Nick agrees to come with him. They go to an occupied Baghdad, but end up being thrown out by the Americans. The then continue to Bosnia, where they eventually come into contact with the man they are searching for. In the end, it turns out Nick has been double-crossed, and much is quite different from what it has seemed. While there is a lot of well-written action here, and the 1994 episode is both gripping and well-told, I had problems following or finding an over-all line in the story. There is, of course, a plot here, but I find it unconvincing so I am a bit disappointed over this book. |
Bravo Two Zero also was adapted for TV
Further reading or seeing about the SAS regiment:
- The SAS at war This is the histoy of the first years of the SAS
- The SAS: Savage Wars of Peace The sequel, about the post-war years
- Heroes of the SAS The personal history of the men who made their mark in the history of the SAS
- The Complete Encyclopedia of the SAS
- True Stories of the SBS Not about the SAS, but its rival outfit, the Special Boat Service
- DVD: The
Story Of The SAS
Andy McNab - The Ultimate Warrior
The SAS in Action - Search Amazon.co.uk for more literature on SAS. You'll find a number of novels, and there are other things named SAS than the regiment, but with some patience you'll find your way.
- More Special Forces books.
Another of the soldiers of Bravo Two Zero has written his account of what happened, and a number of thrillers, under the name of Chris Ryan. His book about Bravo Two Zero is called The One That Got Away
The Real Bravo Two Zero by Michael Asher (also ex-SAS) represents yet another account of the events. Asher retraced the route and events of Bravo Two Zero ten years later, and tells a slightly different story from McNab and Ryan.
[30.04.03]A must
for the reader of modern crime novels, The
Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction gives a encyclopedic
view of post-war crime fiction. For non-English readers it is a drawback
that very little non-English material is included, but it is a great fountain
of facts about English language authors. Its scope is strictly crime,
leaving thrillers out - it still fills 780 pages, so you'll have more
than enough to read.
More Mammoth
Encyclopedias or Mammoth
Books of a surprisingly wide range of subjects - Erotic photography,
Shaggy Dog stories, Murder and Science and so on....
© janeriks Jan Erik Frantsvåg 2001 Reg.no. NO 983 140 831
Contact me by e-mail: mn@janeriks.no
