Tim Stevens (3)

Amazon describes this as “a cracker of a thriller”, but I started to have my doubts about a third of the way in. I was really looking forward to an English spy thriller, but found the early part of the book quite laborious. I also found it a little confusing, having to go back and re-read some sections to ensure that I was keeping up with what was taking place. Less than half way through I decided that it had lost me, and, feeling somewhat frustrated by it, I gave up.
Having said that I can see that a great deal of research has gone into the book, that the hero may well be just what some people are looking for, and that there will be a readership audience for it – unfortunately that does not include me!… (mer)

If you like your books fast and furious with a fair amount of gore in them, then this could be for you. Calvary (what a great name) is a very complex character, and there are times when he is distinctly unpleasant, but there are enough occasions that give him time to show just how capable he is, and how sympathetic he can be. He makes decisions very quickly, and is obviously highly skilled with an incredible pain threshold – the description of the torture on his head is pretty precise and it is not something that any of us would wish to have delivered to us, but his powers of recovery are a little startling as well. I think that I would have been hospitalised for weeks if not months!
There are also a number of highly unpleasant characters, many of whom are well described and who develop into ones that I really did dislike, particularly Kodiak who is given his name because he resembles, you’ve guessed it, a very shaggy, and in his case, angry, bear with a very short temper. The action scenes, which follow one another very quickly, are luridly described and none of them could be described as less than violent.
There are a number of surprises in store for Calvary and the reader, with some quite unexpected developments.
A not entirely enjoyable read, but one, despite a fair number of typos, that did have me wanting to see how everything was going to work out. I may well come back for more!
… (mer)