Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 28 November 2023)
Series: Standalone/Book One
Length: 327 pages
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Legendary actor Sir Michael Caine presents his debut novel, the fun and ultra-exciting thriller, Deadly Game, which follows a maverick cop investigating a case with world-changing implications.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who was surprised when they saw that Michael Caine was releasing a novel in late 2023. While I absolutely love Michael Caine as an actor, I didn’t realise he had any aspirations as an author, so Deadly Game was easily one of the more interesting releases of last year. As I am a fan of unusual thrillers, I naturally had to get my hands on a copy of this book, especially as it had an interesting plot behind it. While I was mainly intrigued by its author, Deadly Game proved to be a wonderful and compelling book that I had a great time reading.
Plot synopsis:
DCI Harry Taylor has no respect for red tape or political reputations – but he’s great at catching criminals.
And all his unorthodox skills will be needed as an extraordinary situation unfolds on his a metal box of radioactive material is found at a dump in Stepney, East London, but before the police can arrive it is stolen in a violent raid.
With security agencies across the world on red alert, it’s Harry and his unconventional team from the Met who must hit the streets in search of a lead. They soon have two wildly different suspects, aristocratic art dealer Julian Smythe in London and oligarch Vladimir Voldrev in Barbados. But the pressure is on. How much time does Harry have, and how many more players will join the action, before the missing uranium is lighting up the sky?
Caine had an interesting story idea for Deadly Game that I think worked quite well. The mysterious and violently taken radioactive material amps the stakes of the book right off the bat, and it perfectly sets up the story about DCI Harry Taylor’s team being let off the leash to hunt down the material without any oversight or restrictions. The early goings of this story are a lot of fun, and I liked the build-up of different villains who might be involved in the theft. The book got particularly fun when Caine introduced the two rival crime lords, Julian Smythe and Vladimir Voldrev, who come in as major suspects to the crime. Due to their connections, it is likely that at least one has the material or knows where it is, and their extreme hatred for each other means that they are willing to trade stories about their rival to the police. I loved the fantastic way that Caine portrayed both these over-the-top villains, and their introductory scenes with the protagonist, as well as some of the fun background that went into them, were highly entertaining, especially as they both played off the serious protagonist extremely well.
The second half of Deadly Game is where the fun really begins, as Taylor and his team get close to finding the material, only for their various opponents to get the drop on them in several ways. There are some great scenes here, and I liked the efficient way in which Taylor and his team deal with the neo-Nazis for example. However, things take a pretty major turn near the end, and it was a bit surprising just how far Ciane took this part of the story. I loved the sudden darker tone that resulted, and it made for quite an intense final third of the book. Everything leads up to the big confrontation with the hidden antagonist of the novel, and I really loved the fun, well-planned out and utterly over-the-top twist that resulted here. It was somehow simultaneously smart and ridiculous, and I loved everything about it. The story wraps up quite nicely from there, and there are hints that Caine might have some sequels in the works, which I personally wouldn’t mind, as I had a lot of fun with the outrageous narrative in Deadly Game.
Deadly Game had a quite a unique feel to it that revels in its roughness and over-the-top nature. Something about how the characters talked and acted felt very cockney, and it honestly reminded me a lot of some of the author’s tough-guy roles in film. While certain elements of this writing style aren’t going to appeal to everyone, I had a fun with it, and particularly enjoyed the amazing action scenes, the intriguing characters, and the elaborate and fun scenarios that emerged. While some of the characters, both protagonist and antagonist, are a little silly and weird in places, they still proved to be a fantastic group of people to follow, and the resulting chaos from their actions makes for an excellent story. The main character’s portrayal as a cop who hates politics and red tape and just wants to get the job done wasn’t amazingly original, but it worked for the story being told, and Caine did try to make him somewhat nuanced. I think that Caine got the right balance of intrigue, mystery, suspense and action throughout the course of Deadly Game, and I was very interested in finding out who was behind the events and how things unfolded. There was something cinematic in a lot of the resulting scenes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Caine had a film adaptation in mind whilst writing it. Indeed, a Guy Ritchie directed version of Deadly Game could be pretty fun, especially if they got Hugh Grant in to play either of rival gangsters.
Overall, I had a great time with Deadly Game, and it proved to be an awesome and interesting debut from the legendary Michael Caine. While not everyone is going to love this novel, I felt it was really entertaining, and it was great to dive into its outrageous plot, especially with some of the big moments and twists towards the end. As such, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for something exciting, and if the idea of a thriller written by Michael Caine appeals to you, then you’ll probably enjoy Deadly Game. It will be interesting to see what happens to this in the future, and I personally wouldn’t mind some sort of adaptation or sequel at some point.
The Unseen Library 