Book #43 The Break Line

The Break Line by James Brabazon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A state sponsored killer, Max McLean, sent on a final mission to Sierra Leone to kill a ‘professor’ who appears to be working with the Russians. Max is a UKN, an Unknown, his very existence denied by those who use his services. Has he been sold out? Is he expected to return after his mission?

I cannot reveal the true identity of the ‘professor’ without revealing too much of the plot. But he has created an army of berserkers with the use of a precursor to the Ebola virus, made them immune, devolved into an original state, men without fear or regret or judgement, unrestrained by their own humanity - true prelapsarian. It all sounds like a preposterous theory.

I struggled to complete this book. It is so full of the most horrific violence I have ever encountered in the written word. Much of it truly sickening. The Break Line came close on several occasions to becoming a DNF but I felt obliged to finish as this is an ARC and I owed it to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read. The ending does have redeeming features as it provided answers to what really happened ‘out there’.

It just wasn’t for me.

With thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley.

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Book #42 The President is Missing

The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A rollercoaster ride over a long weekend when the very existence of everything American faces a cyber-threat of such magnitude it will return the country to the ‘dark ages’. This key word is known only to POTUS and his six closest aides: the NSA head, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense, the CIA director, the secretary of homeland security and the Vice President - and yet… someone has leaked this trigger to the enemy.

President Jonathan Duncan is facing a select committee hearing. The Speaker of the house seems determined to have him impeached for allegedly having a ‘phone conversation with the world’s most wanted terrorist - Suliman Cindoruk. POTUS invokes executive privilege. Why? For reasons only known to himself the president leaves the White House, his covert departure known only to his oldest friend and White House counsel, Danny Akers. The president is missing. Speculation as to why leads to a media frenzy. No-one knows where he is or what his intention is. But what faces the USA is certain destruction of everything dependent on the internet - and in this day and age that means - everything. And this book is truly unputdownable…

I have read some ridiculous comments about this book. Why? Because Bill Clinton is a co-author? Really? What happens when two highly intelligent individuals cooperate on a political thriller (and I say that without prejudice) results in a story so riveting, so breathtaking, so pulse-racing, that took me behind the machinations of US politics into a world of subterfuge and nail-biting tension.

I recommend The President is Missing without reservation.

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Book #41 Your Closest Friend

Your Closest Friend by Karen Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Whoa! Hold on a minute - let me catch my breath. Your Closest Friend sizzles with tension and menace. I thought I had already read my best book of 2018. Wrong. This is it!
Starts at breakneck pace as Cara finds herself caught up in a terrifying terrorist attack on the streets of London - her certain death prevented by Amy, who drags her into a doorway and up a flight of stairs to a storeroom above Pret. In the darkness and desperate to survive Cara divulges to Amy her darkest secrets about her marriage, her husband, her affair…

Days after the attack Cara is back home, back at work as a radio producer, when her life starts to spiral out of control. She starts to receive anonymous threats. And when Amy reappears as if by coincidence Cara turns to her for support - her closest friend? Or her worst nightmare… She invites Amy into her home to help with her family.

This is a psychological thriller that will shred your nerves with its relentless pace. Your Closest Friend is a real page turner. It never lets go. It grabs you from the get go - feel your pulse racing. The effect is hypnotic as you read on knowing that dreadful events are inevitable to a final twist that really had me holding my breath.

A stunning read, better than Gone Girl with a whiff of Single White Female. I doubt that I will read anything better this year.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK-Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this e-book.

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Book #40 I Never Lie

I Never Lie by Jody Sabral
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alex South is an alcoholic. She suffers blackouts and memory loss. A key element of the story with constant reminders that I found tedious:

”I’m going to start my detox tonight, after I’ve had my last fix.”

“I’m pissed off that I wasn’t able to detox yesterday. It sucks, actually…”

“As normal as one can be when in the midst of a detox.”

*I’m desperately in need of alcohol this morning, just to get going.”

Besides being an alcoholic, Alex is a TV journalist who left her long-time boyfriend Greg in Manchester after suffering a miscarriage. In London she regains some notoriety until a drunken rant on air puts her career on hold. She is given another chance to cover a series of murders occurring in East London, close to where she lives. But the demon drink continues to ravage her every day; carrying vodka around in a water bottle, chugging wine by the bottle at home and suffering huge hangovers…

The plot is split between current day and diary entries (in italics) from the previous year. Entries that become more embittered as the story moves on. Who is writing the diary? There is a link here with Alex that keeps the suspense going as Alex not only struggles with her alcoholism but online dating, which happens to be a key element in the murder investigations.

I Never Lie is well written and the pace does pick up towards the end. But were all the references to detoxing and binge drinking really necessary? It became a major irritation for me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Book #39 Call for the Dead

Call for the Dead by John le Carré
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where it all began, fifty-seven years ago. The first John le Carré book to feature George Smiley. My third read of a modern classic. This was and remains a true reflection of the cold world of espionage. Smiley is required to interview a civil servant, Samuel Fennan. It's a routine security check, but the following day Fennan apparently commits suicide. Or did he? On the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. What, if anything, do the East Germans and their agents know about this man's death? Does the East German Steel Mission have a rôle to play in this gripping tale of deceit?

For those of you who have read the Smiley canon you will know that the Fennan debacle features in future plots. Le Carré was (is) brilliant at following threads through decades of suspense.

These latest editions from Penguin Modern Classics feature wonderful art-deco covers, which alone make them attractive to own.

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Book #38 The Whitstable Pearl Mystery

The Whitstable Pearl Mystery by Julie Wassmer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A delightful, cosy read, combining seafood, murder and the multitasking Pearl Nolan. Set in the small seaside town of Whitstable on the North Kent coast; resonates with me as I was born in a small village not many miles away and know the area well - Seasalter, Tankerton, Whitstable, Cliftonville, Margate. So many locations mentioned like the quirky Walpole Bay hotel where my wife and I spent a memorable holiday a few years ago.

Pearl owns the Whitstable Pearl restaurant specialising with oyster and other seafood dishes. The area is well known for its oyster industry. Pearl is assisted by her vibrant mother, Dolly and the young woman, Ruby. Pearl is a former policewoman and has a mind to start a private investigation service.

Add DCI Mike McGuire and Pearl's son Charlie to the mix and you have the makings of the perfect mystery story. Characters you cannot help but like in a very well written plot.

Oxford had Morse, Brighton has Roy Grace and it appears that Whitstable has Pearl Nolan.

I loved it.

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Book #37 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The jewel in the crown of the espionage canon. I first read The Spy… in the early 70s with a second reading in the 90s, I believe it was. This has been my third reading. Having recently read A Legacy of Spies, which filled in so many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that had tormented fans for more than fifty years, I just had to revisit the Smiley era.

George Smiley was introduced in Call for the Dead in 1961. He returned in 1962 in A Murder of Quality, his only story set outside the intelligence community. Then, in 1963, comes the masterpiece: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold which remains the best spy story I have ever read (I agree with Graham Greene). It is a recognition of the quality of Le Carré’s writing that I could remember the book so well, almost quoting some passages verbatim.

The story relates a complicated act of deadly triple-bluff created by the British Secret Service against its enemies in the German Democratic Republic, the Abteilung. Alec Leamas is at the centre of the plot - believes he is on a clever undercover mission of revenge but clever British brains have other motives… Le Carré laces the plot with multifarious complexities as Leamas comes to realise that he has been used by his own side - fooled, manipulated and misinformed. Leamas has travelled deep into the heart of Communist Germany, ostensibly to betray his country. Smiley tries to help the woman, Liz Gold, that Leamas has befriended with devastating consequences…

The Spy… is a dark, brutal, totally believable tale of espionage during the Cold War. Spies, summed up by Leamas to Liz Gold: ”What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. Do you think they sit like monks in London balancing the rights and wrongs…” This is a terminally fatigued Alec Leamas and the ending of the story still leaves me devastated.

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