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Atomic Secrets

Enjoyable romp through a plausible alternative history Continue reading

Friday, December 15, 2023 in Reviews

Zero Limit

This is billed as “Artemis meets Gravity“, but it would be more accurate to say “Deep Impact meets Eastenders“. The main plot element is that a rogue asteroid mining operation accidentally puts the rock on a direct impact course for … Continue reading

Friday, May 3, 2019 in Reviews

The Spy. Why?

While this is an enjoyable read, it prompts one big question. Why did the author feel that a heavily fictionalised re-telling of this utterly thrilling true story was needed? In the preface Gross says that he wants to tell “the … Continue reading

Sunday, April 21, 2019 in Reviews, Thoughts on the World

Darwin’s Cipher

I like a good techno-thriller, but since the death of Michael Crichton and with Phillip Kerr moving onto German detectives and unpleasant tales of first-person murdering pickings have been thin. I have enjoyed the works of Daniel Suarez, and the … Continue reading

Saturday, April 20, 2019 in Reviews

The One Man

Overall this is a cracking WWII thriller, set around the concept of an Allies break in into Auschwitz to rescue a specific prisoner who holds information vital to the Manhattan Project. Andrew Gross has done a great job of capturing … Continue reading

Friday, September 30, 2016 in Reviews

All Tide Up

Like it’s predecessor, Man Up!, this is a knock-about farce based around the capable but somewhat cursed sports agent, Patrick Flynn. This time the key protegé is a nymphomaniac Russian tennis player, but otherwise the cast of gangsters, hit-men (& … Continue reading

Monday, April 25, 2016 in Reviews, Thoughts on the World

Influx

Daniel Suarez is billed as the new Michael Crichton. While a few of his novels have come onto my radar, this is the first I have read. Based on this showing there’s a great deal of promise, but the fairly … Continue reading

Friday, April 15, 2016 in Reviews

Man Up

This is a comedy thriller very much affecting the style of Carl Hiaasen. Hiaasen’s latest, the hilarious Bad Monkey, uses almost exactly the same Floridan and Bahamian locations, and reading this book almost immediately afterwards did feel a bit like … Continue reading

Tuesday, April 29, 2014 in Reviews

Resistance

This is a fascinating book, although its title and blurb are rather misleading. I was expecting something along the lines of a Welsh Defiance (the story of the Belorussian Otriads which successfully battled the Nazis behind the Eastern Front), or … Continue reading

Saturday, April 26, 2014 in Reviews

World War Z – The Book

“The World At War” with Zombies! Continue reading

Saturday, July 6, 2013 in Reviews, Thoughts on the World

El Dorado Blues

Like the predecessor novel, Wahoo Rhapsody, this is an enjoyable romp which charges on at an impressive pace. As a complete antidote to all the “Templar Treasure” novels of recent years, while this does feature a long-buried fabled treasure, which … Continue reading

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 in Reviews

Utter Folly

As good as Tom Sharpe at his best Continue reading

Monday, April 15, 2013 in Reviews