Red Notice by Andy McNab is a total winner with suspense, a tight plot, exciting finale and somehow manages throws in a real romance. Loved it.
This top gear thriller starts darkly with Georgian soldiers invading villages to rape and kill. It's a retaliation move that was grim enough, I wondered if I should continue. The impetus was about the funding of the 1996 Georgian War and British pipeline interests that controlled it. SAS Officer Tom Buckingham leads a team to capture Laszlo, the man behind it. He was hiding out in London, but manages to escape the authorities on the Eurostar through the Chunnel.
Meanwhile, Tom's girlfriend has decided to move back to France, and when he hops aboard the Eurostar to win her back, neither of them realize Laszlo's men are also aboard. Chaos ensues when the train stops midway through the Chunnel and everyone is taken hostage. As Laszlo and his team of twelve battle hardened villains await the prize of millions in gold bullion, and the Chunnel now rigged to explode, Tom has to secretly maneuver his way around the train to knock them off single handed. Off-duty, unarmed and injured, Tom has no contact with the mounting military outside the Chunnel - and someone on his own team is determined he won't get out alive! Exciting and tense, it's exactly what you want in a thriller.
Tom is a terrific hero, smart and capable. McNab maintains a balance between the action and the hero that is believable and involving. There is palpable romance between Tom and Delphine - it's better written than I would have expected from this type of book. The grand finale was satisfying without going over the top. I see now that there are two more in the Tom Buckingham series and I'll seek them out.
Andy McNab is the pseudonym for a former SAS soldier who has created quite a myth around himself. Found in a carrier bag on the steps of a hospital, he grew into a covert SAS soldier fighting on five continents and in the Gulf War. He became the most highly decorated serving soldier when he left the SAS. He now writes action bestsellers.
2012 / Tradeback / 461 pages
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