Author:Gerald Seymour
The enigmatic MI5 intelligence analyst Jonas Merrick returns in this new novel for a fifth consecutive outing. I always mentally picture him as a George Smiley type figure as portrayed by Alec Guinness, but this new novel sees him languishing in a forgotten corner of Thames House as a punishment for past misdemeanours, counting out the days until his retirement. However, a proposed prisoner swap involving a British agent imprisoned in a Russian Gulag and the courier for an Albanian gang involved in laundering money for Russian oligarchs sees him pressed back into the thick of the action. The situation rapidly becomes vastly more complicated when it transpires that the kidnapped courier is the grandson and heir apparent of the criminal gang’s ruthless leader, and the whole operation soon seems to be spiralling inexorably out of control; heading inevitably towards a bloody confrontation. As with all these novels, the initial stages are quite slow as the author painstakingly sets the scene and introduces the main characters, but as things progress the pace picks up and the action and tension intensify, leading to a nail biting climax. Seymour is a past master of this type of novel, this being his 41st since he made his publishing debut with Harry’s Game fifty years ago, and this tautly plotted action packed thriller amply demonstrates he has lost none of his abilities despite being in his eighties now.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
This is an enthralling series that has steadily got better as it’s gone on, but it helps if you’ve read the preceding books so that you know the background stories of the main players.
One thing you’ve learned
A captivating read that maintains the author’s usual impeccably high standards.
Bumpity bump
I remember watching Harry’s Game. That was tense stuff! Good book too.