Tag: Spy

Mission Critical by Mark Greaney

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller31 Comments

Mission Critical Cover

Publisher: Sphere (Trade Paperback Edition – 26 February 2019)

Series: Gray Man – Book 8

Length: 513 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Bestselling author Mark Greaney returns with another entertaining and fast-paced instalment in his enjoyable Gray Man spy thriller series.

Court Gentry used to be a ruthless covert assassin known as the Gray Man, a highly skilled killer considered a legend in the clandestine circles.  However, times change, and Gentry now finds gainful employment as a CIA hitter, one of three elite agents that make up the Agency’s super-secret Poison Apple program.  Going under a new codename, Violator, Gentry is redirected aboard a CIA flight in Europe.  Tensions rise when the plane’s other passengers, a team of heavily armed agents, attempt to remove Gentry from the flight in order to protect their prize, a hooded man who may have knowledge that could identify a mole within the CIA.

Allowed to remain on the plane, Gentry finds himself thrust into the middle of a firefight when the plane lands in England.  A team of mercenaries ambush the plane, overcoming the CIA and MI6 agents waiting to meet the flight and taking the kidnapped man for themselves.  Gentry gives chase to the surviving mercenaries to regain the kidnapped man and soon finds himself investigating the case by himself.

As Gentry attempts to uncover what is going on in England, one of Poison Apple’s other operatives, the former Russian agent Zoya Zakharova, finds herself under attack in her CIA safe house.  With Zoya going off the radar, Gentry’s handlers are convinced that a mole within the CIA is tipping of a dangerous opponent.  Gentry and his team are soon the only agents who can stop a devastating attack that could bring the West to its knees.

Mark Greaney is a highly regarded spy thriller writer who has some substantial works to his name.  He was Tom Clancy’s co-author for legendary espionage author’s final three books, Locked On, Threat Vector and Command Authority.  Following Clancy’s death in 2013, Greaney continued to write an additional four novels in Clancy’s Jack Ryan Universe.  Aside from the books he wrote with Clancy, Greaney has his own series, the bestselling Gray Man series, which started in 2009 with the author’s debut book, The Gray Man.  Mission Critical is the eighth book in the Gray Man series.

This was an incredibly thrilling story which contains hell of a lot of action and espionage.  I really liked the sound of Mission Critical’s plot synopsis and was glad that I picked up a copy of this book, as the action and intrigue did not stop the entire time.  At over 500 pages long, I was worried that this might drag in some places, but I found myself fairly absorbed by the awesome plot and sufficiently pumped up by the huge number of firefights, close combat sequences and high-speed chases.

I loved the spy thriller storyline that was a prominent part of Mission Critical.  Greaney weaves together a number of plotlines to create a fantastic overall spy thriller narrative.  Because Mission Critical is told from a number of perspectives, including those of the protagonists and antagonists, the reader gets a great idea of all the action, spycraft and dirty tricks that both sides employ to complete their respective missions.  Greaney obviously has a large amount of knowledge about the espionage world, and I loved all his depictions about the inner workings of spy agencies, rogue operatives and the various tricks and techniques that agents employ.  I also liked Greaney’s depiction of the inner politics of the CIA and how that might impact on missions and the distribution of resources, as well as a look at the CIA’s relationship with other countries’ intelligence agencies.

I really liked some of the characters featured within this book.  The protagonist, Court Gentry (and I have to point out how much I love that name), is a solid and dependable badass agent to anchor this series.  He’s your typical thriller protagonist, with some badass skills and a reputation to match.  I loved his anti-authoritarian vibe, and I also quite enjoyed how he actually got his ass handed to him multiple times throughout the book, rather than being unbeatable in every encounter.  I was also impressed that Greaney kept showing him being slowed down by his injuries, rather than having him at 100% for every encounter like some other authors do.  Zoya is also a good protagonist for this story; let’s face it, a sexy Russian agent never goes amiss in a spy thriller.  The author dives into this character’s background quite a bit in Mission Critical, and her connections to the plot and the antagonists were explored in an intriguing manner.  The third Poison Apple operative, Zack Hightower, aka Romantic, was used a little less than his comrades, but he was a fun addition to the team, adding some humour to the story, especially when it came to his codename, as well as some complex history and camaraderie with Gentry.  The Poison Apple program handler, Suzanne Brewer, also adds some great things to the story.  A career-orientated CIA administrator, she has to try and play straight-woman to the three anti-authority, disrespectful operatives that are under her command.  The fact that she does not want to be working with these people and is at times actively sabotaging them to try and get a different posting adds some really intriguing elements to the story, and I liked watching her work against her agents for her own selfish ends.

Mission Critical is the eighth book in Greaney’s Gray Man series.  While this latest entry does feature a number of characters from the previous books in the series, readers are not required to have read any of the previous books to enjoy this story.  I felt that Greaney did an excellent job of explaining any elements from the previous entries in the series that become relevant throughout Mission Critical.  Fans of the Gray Man series will probably really enjoy the deeper examination of Zoya’s history and backstory, as well as her inclusion in the other Poison Apple agent’s operations.

Overall, Mission Critical was a deeply entertaining espionage novel that is bound to keep readers absorbed with its excellent action and thriller elements.  It is easily enjoyable for both existing fans of the franchise and new readers alike.  I had a lot of fun reading this book and I powered through all 500+ pages in fairly short order.  I am planning to keep an eye out for Greaney’s next book, Red Metal, a really cool-sounding war thriller that is coming out in July this year.

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Throwback Thursday – The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Thriller, Throwback Thursday24 Comments

The Dragon Factory Cover.jpg

Publishers: St. Martin Griffins

                        Blackstone Audio

Publication Date – 2 March 2010

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Reviewed as part of my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.

My quest to get through all of the books in Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series continues.  In this week’s Throwback Thursday I look at the second epic entry in what is fast becoming one of my favourite series of all time, The Dragon Factory.

It has been only a few months since former police officer Joe Ledger joined the elite and top-secret American intelligence agency, the Department of Military Sciences (DMS).  Working with the DMS and its mysterious leader, Mr Church, Ledger has helped save the country and the world from a variety of unique scientific threats.  Therefore, Ledger is extremely surprised when one morning a team from the NSA ambushes him and attempts to place him under arrest.

Without any warning, Ledger and the DMS find themselves caught in the crossfire between two rival organisations of rogue geneticists who have already drawn first blood against the DMS.  One of these organisations works on perfecting the world’s deadliest diseases, while the other seeks to create an army of genetically enhanced soldiers and terrifying animal hybrids.  Both of these factions are well funded, have remained hidden from the world’s intelligence agencies and have access to game-changing technology.  However, one has a terrifying vision for the future that they will go to any lengths to achieve.

As Ledger leads his team in an all-out war against these rival groups, they begin to uncover the full extent of these villains and the connection they have with Church and the DMS’s secret past.  The Extinction Clock has started to count down, and the entire world will be changed when it hits zero.  Forced to battle impossible odds, will Ledger be able to save the world again or will death and tragedy rain down around him?

Those who have been following my reviews in the last few months will remember that I first experienced Jonathan Maberry’s amazing Joe Ledger series when I read last year’s epic release, Deep Silence, which was among my top 10 reads of 2018.  Deep Silence was the 10th book in the series, and its clever writing, over-the-top elements and outstanding audiobook adaption made me immediately go back and check out the first book in the series, Patient Zero.  I found Patient Zero, with its focus on weaponised zombies, to be just as entertaining as Deep Silence, while also serving as an amazing start to the series.  Because of how much I enjoyed Deep Silence and Patient Zero, I decided to check out the other books in the Joe Ledger series as soon as possible.  The Dragon Factory is the second book in this series, and it continues the epic adventure started in Patient Zero.  Featuring excellent antagonists, fun new elements and a killer storyline, The Dragon Factory is an amazing book which I experienced in its audiobook format.

Having read the first book and the latest book in this series before reading this second instalment gave me an interesting insight when it came to reading The Dragon Factory.  While Patient Zero was a great book, I felt that The Dragon Factory is the book in the series where Maberry really hit his stride.  I found that this second book contained a much better combination of character focus, humour, intense action and the books fantastic science fiction elements.  The overall story of The Dragon Factory was absolutely incredible and extremely compelling, allowing me to rush through this book in no time at all.  I loved several of the twists that Maberry inserted into this book, although I did see the book’s big plot development coming from some distance away.  However, knowing it was coming did not lessen the impact for me, and it represents some amazing writing from the author.  There was a lot less horror elements in The Dragon Factory than the other Joe Ledger books I have read, but it still contains a healthy dose of mad-science elements, and I loved all the scientific discussions included throughout the book.

One of the best things about the Joe Ledger series is the wide range of viewpoints that the author employs to show the protagonist’s actions and to highlight the plots, schemes and planning of the various antagonists.  This allows the reader to get a much more widespread view of the various actions being taken by the book’s various characters, and the reader gets to see events that happened weeks before the book’s main storyline at various points throughout the narrative.  Maberry uses this to particular effect in The Dragon Factory, and it enhances many of the books various story elements.  I also loved how each of the main story chapters had a timer at the top counting down how many hours were left on the Extinction Clock.  I thought this was an extremely clever literary device that served at least two purposes in the book.  Not only did it add a real sense of dread to the story as the countdown leads closer and closer to a devastating event but it was also useful in highlighting the chronological order in which some of the chapters occurred, which was extremely useful during some of the later action sequences.

One of the most entertaining parts of The Dragon Factory was the amazing new villains that Maberry focused on.  In this book the protagonists find themselves up against two sets of geneticists, each with their own specialities and goals.  As the story progresses, the reader gets a deep understanding of both groups’ motives, plans, creations and the various moves and counter-moves they make against each other and the DMS.  Watching the two different groups attempt to attack or manipulate their rivals is an intriguing part of the plot, and it was fascinating to see the impacts the protagonist’s actions had on their villains schemes and overall plans.  Having geneticists as the villains not only allowed Maberry to create a series of memorable and destructive creatures for the protagonists to fight but it also added some very fun edges to the conflicts between the rival villain establishments.  While the motivations of one group are quite a basic, the motivations of the other group are very over the top, and the full list of their fictional crimes is quite insane.  I honestly laughed out loud when certain details about this group were revealed towards the end of the book, but it was an extremely out-there twist that I loved so much.  Maberry does a really good job of fleshing out all the main antagonists, which I think helps create a much richer and more enjoyable story.

Maberry is a bit of an action fanatic, so those readers who are looking for some fictional fights have come to the right book.  There is a huge range of different action sequences throughout this book as the DMS and the two rival groups of evil scientists unleash their forces against each other.  I am always amazed at the level of detail Maberry is able to convey in his action sequences, as he paints a vivid picture of the combat while also discussing the various tactics and techniques behind them.  For example, when the main protagonist engages a skilled opponent in an epic knife fight, not only does the reader get a great description of the battle that’s taking place but they also get an understanding of the various moves being utilised and the advantages and disadvantages of the different knives.  I really enjoy the way that the author goes into the psychology of the fight, and it really shows how much research and thought has gone into these sequences.  The genetically enhanced super soldiers and weird animal hybrids are pure fun, and provide the reader with some extreme and wildly entertaining pieces of violence.  An easy choice for any action junkie, you will not be disappointed with this read.

Joe Ledger continues to serve as a fantastic protagonist for this series, and I love his uber-sarcastic personality.  Ledger is the only point-of-view character whose chapters are told from the first person perspective.  This is an interesting differentiation which highlights Ledger’s importance to the plot and helps showcase his fighting ability.  Ledger, like Maberry, is a martial arts enthusiast, and the author uses his character’s first person perspective to really show off his fight scenes and show the devastating fight moves that he can perform.  The first-person perspective also allows Maberry to explore the unique psyche of his protagonist, as Ledger’s mind is broken up into three separate personalities following a traumatic event in his childhood.  This has always been an interesting character trait for Maberry’s protagonist, but it was especially intriguing to see how Ledger and his mind react to certain traumatic events that occurred in this other book.  Mr Church continues to shine as the best secondary character in this series, and his calm persona, mysterious past and the sheer badassery that comes off him are absolutely amazing.

Without question, the best way to check out The Dragon Factory is in its audiobook format, which goes for a very enjoyable 16 hours.  The main reason for this has to be the incredible narration from Ray Porter, who has narrated all the books in the Joe Ledger series.  The narration a great way to absorb all the action, plots and science, and Porter does an amazing job of vocalising all of the characters, especially Ledger and Mr Church.  I loved the way that Porter was able to capture Ledger’s sarcasm and humorous edge for most of the book, and then turning on a dime to capture the harder and more vicious parts of the character when he gets enraged or upset.  The voice work on Mr Church is once again exceptional; every time he voices the character I can almost see the calm and mysterious figure, and I love how Porter makes him sound like a cross between Tom Hanks and JFK.  This is some first-rate voice work, and I find it adds an incredible amount to this excellent story.

After absolutely loving Patient Zero and Deep Silence I never once doubted that I would enjoy The Dragon Factory.  I was amazed by how much fun I had with this book, which I found to be insanely addictive and near impossible to stop listening to.  Featuring all of the elements of this series that I already loved, as well as some outstanding new features, this was an insane read that I cannot recommend enough.  Without a doubt this needs to be experienced in its audiobook format, and Porter has to be one of my favourite audiobook narrators at the moment.  I am already planning to dive into the third book of this series, so keep an eye out for my review of it in the next month.

My Rating:

Five Stars

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Flight Risk by Michael McGuire

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, ThrillerLeave a comment

flight risk cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication Date – 7 January 2019

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From Australian thriller author Michael McGuire comes a fast-paced story of death and mysterious disappearances in the skies which takes the reader on a high-octane thrill ride.

Every day, thousands of planes fly across our skies, transporting huge numbers of people and goods from one end of the world to the other.  Many countries’ economies depend on the successful flights, and people have placed their trust in these machines to carry us.  So when a plane mysteriously disappears without a trace off the coast of Australia, it sends shockwaves throughout the entire system.

Ted Anderson is a disgraced former pilot who has found work as an investigator in a top-secret Australian government intelligence agency.  Sent by his bosses to find the missing plane, Ted travels to Indonesia to investigate the pilots.  But as he uncovers strange clues in one pilot’s apartment, another plane disappears, and then a third.  Like the first plane, no trace of these other missing aircrafts or their passengers can be found, and no organisation is claiming responsibility for the disappearances.

As the world descends into chaos and most people refuse to fly any more, a sudden need to escape from a squad of Indonesian police sees Ted forced onto a CIA plane to New York.  While waiting for a flight home to Australia in a nearly deserted JFK airport, Ted observes a suspicious pilot about to leave on a trip to the Ukraine.  With all his instincts screaming that this pilot’s plane will be the next one to disappear, Ted makes an insane choice and gets on the plane.

This is the second book from McGuire, following his 2017 political thriller debut, Never a True Word.  This sounded liked an exciting thriller from a relatively new Australian author, and I was eager to see how McGuire would present an Australian espionage edge to this sort of story.

Following several high-profile disappearances or crashing of airplanes in recent years, the potential dangers of air travel have been made obvious to most people; therefore it was a bold choice by the author to focus a story around this.  A lot of the suspense in this novel is based on the realistic dread that the characters within the story must be feeling as they contemplate the disappearances occurring.  The sequence where the protagonist finds himself waiting in a plane that is potentially about to disappear is particularly harrowing, and the reader is able to feel the protagonist’s apprehension and worry.  The results of these missing planes are also pretty gruesome in places, which adds to this storyline’s intense nature.  I felt that McGuire did a fantastic job of crafting a fairly interesting mystery thriller out of this story premise.  The eventual reveal of who or what is behind it is pretty intriguing and sets up some potential follow-up novels that will be worth checking out.

One of the main things you can say about this book is that it is extremely fast paced, which allows the reader to read through it rather quickly.  There is barely a quiet moment, as the protagonist jumps from one situation to the next, attempting to uncover who or what is behind the disappearing airplanes.  I rather liked this fast-paced approach to the story, as it fitted with the intense story content and reflected how quick and intense real-life intelligence agencies would jump into investigating events such as the disappearing planes featured within Flight Risk.  This book is not as action-packed as you would expect from a thriller novel, but the author is still able to convey an exciting and compelling tale that keeps the reader on their toes.  In addition, there is an extremely electrifying sequence in the air which serves as the book’s set piece.  These inclusions mean that Flight Risk is very easy to read, which provides the reader with vast amounts of fun and some significant thrills in the right places.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about Flight Risk was the portrayal of how an Australian intelligence organisation would react to a devastating event such as those examined within this book.  It was pretty cool seeing an Australian intelligence agent being at the centre of this world-wide event, and I enjoyed getting a look into his viewpoint about intelligence gathering.  I thought it was intriguing to see McGuire’s depiction of the differences between Australia’s intelligence assets and other countries, such as America.  For example, the Australian protagonist gets an iPad and some fake IDs as his gear, while his American counterpart gets a whole team and a military jet to investigate the disappearing planes.  I enjoyed this realistic and noticeable difference between the American and Australian agents and their resources, and thought it added a unique element to the book.  I also thought that the author’s examination of the world-wide implications of multiple disappearing planes was very clever and I liked the author’s look at the economic and social aspects of such an event.

Overall, I found Flight Risk to be an exciting new novel from Australian author Michael McGuire and I enjoyed the fast-paced action, enjoyable thriller elements and an intriguing new examination of Australia’s spy agencies and their place in the world’s intelligence communities.  I did find the overall lack of any significant female characters a bit concerning, but I enjoyed the book’s story and thought this was a great piece of Australian thriller fiction.

My Rating:

Four stars

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Throwback Thursday – Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday16 Comments

Promise of Blood Cover.jpg

Publishers: Orbit

                        Hachette Audio

Publication Date – 16 April 2013

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Reviewed as part of my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.

One of the saddest realities of being a bibliophile is that no matter how hard you try or how much spare time you have, no one can read every great book that comes out every year.  I am no exception to this rule, as for years I was mainly focused on the historical fiction genre.  While this is a fantastic genre to focus on, it did mean that I missed out on many of the biggest science fiction and fantasy releases for the last several years.  Ever since I expanded my attention to a range of other genres, I have been seeking out and reading a number of different fantasy or science fiction books and series, many of which I have or will review on my blog and on Goodreads.  One of the series that I have heard constantly praised by friends, fantasy fans and other book reviewers is The Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan.  Nearly every fantasy reviewer and their dog has read and said good things about these books and, as a result, The Powder Mage trilogy has long been at the top of my to-read list.  So when I was recently able to fit the first book in the trilogy, Promise of Blood, into my reading schedule, I thought I would try it out and see if it lived up to everyone’s hype.

The Powder Mage trilogy are the debut novels of fantasy author Brian McClellan, and are a flintlock fantasy series, which is a modern fantasy sub-genre that features pre-industrialisation civilisations who utilise flintlock firearms with fantasy elements.  The Powder Mage trilogy started in 2013 with Promise of Blood, which the author followed up with a new book in 2014 and 2015.  Following the success of his initial trilogy, McClellan introduced a second trilogy, the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy, which is set 10 years after the events of The Powder Mage trilogy.  This second trilogy is still ongoing, with the third and final book set to be released in November of this year.  In addition to these two main trilogies, McClellan has also written a number of novellas and short stories set in the same universe as his main books, which expand on his fantasy world.

McClellan has created a new and captivating fantasy world in order to contain the stories in his two main trilogies.  The Powder Mage trilogy is primarily set in the nation of Adro, one of nine nations that were founded thousands of years ago by the god Kresimir, which are together known as The Nine.  By the start of the first novel, Promise of Blood, the nations of The Nine have reached a level of technology equivalent to Europe’s pre-industrial revolution period, with flintlock firearms in heavy use.  Magic is also common in this world, with the nations of The Nine containing three separate levels of magical ability.  These include the privileged, extremely powerful sorcerers who can wield a range of devastating elemental abilities; the marked, lesser mages with more specific gifts; and the knacked, who have one specific magical talent, like a perfect memory or not needing to sleep.  The privileged of The Nine are generally organised into sorcery cabals, with the most powerful organised into a Royal Cabal loyal to the King of their nation.

Promise of Blood starts with Field Marshal Tamas, the highest-ranked military officer of Adro, leading a bloody coup against his country’s corrupt king and nobility.  During the coup, Tamas and his powder mages, marked whose abilities are powered by gunpowder, assassinate every member of Adro’s Royal Cabal.  However, every member of the Royal Cabal said one thing before they died, “You can’t break Kresimir’s Promise”.  In order to find out the meaning of these mysterious words, Tamas hires former police inspector Adamat to investigate.  While Adamat sets out to uncover meaning behind these mysterious final words, Tamas begins the difficult process bringing order to his country.  However, it soon becomes apparent that staging the coup was the easiest part of his endeavour.

Tamas’s coup provokes a war with the Kez, one of Adro’s rival nations in The Nine, whose previous attempts to control Adro’s king, led to Tamas overthrowing him.  As Tamas deals with assassins, Royalists, deposed nobles and Kez magicians, it soon becomes apparent that someone on Tama’s council has betrayed him.  Brought in by Tamas to investigate who betrayed him, Adamat finds his loyalties tested when mysterious figures target him and his family.  At the same time, Tama’s estranged son, Taniel Two-Shot, embarks on a hunt for a surprisingly powerful member of the Royal Cabal who escaped Tamas’s powder mages.

Both Adamat and Taniel’s missions reveal dark secrets about the formation of their country.  With dark omens in the sky and ancient legends come to life, can Tamas and his forces stop the destruction of Adro, or will the mysterious forces arrayed against them succeed in their mission to summon forth an ancient power?

To be honest, even before I heard about this trilogy from other book lovers and reviewers, I thought the synopsis was pretty cool and the idea of gunpowder-wielding mages was an interesting concept.  I listened to the audiobook format of Promise of Blood, narrated by Christian Rodska, which goes for a lengthy 19 hours.  Now the question is; did this book live up to the hype?  The answer is yes.  I loved this book, I thought it was massively creative, filled with incredible action, had some complex, if mostly male, characters and made use of some excellent fantasy elements.

I really enjoyed the story within this book and I thought it was an amazing combination of intrigue, action and fantasy storytelling.  I liked the idea of starting the book just as a successful coup had taken place and the focus on the immediate aftermath of such a significant event.  The story is essentially broken into three main parts.  About a third of the book is told from Adamat’s point of view and really focuses on the intrigue elements of the story.  Adamat at first investigates “Kresimir’s Promise”, which is a fairly interesting part of the book, as it dives into the history of the country, and quickly reveals that shadowy forces are at play behind the scenes.  This initial investigation only lasts for a short part of the book, before Adamat is drawn into the larger investigation about the traitor in Tamas’s council.  This is a very well done investigation part of the book as the reader is presented with five suspects, each of whom is hiding several secrets and many of which have suspicious employees.  In addition, Adamat has to deal with a mysterious figure who is blackmailing him, and who keeps the identity of his employer secret.  These multiple layers of intrigue and lies ensures that the reader is looking in several different directions and have a much harder time guessing who these antagonists are.

Another third of the book is told from Taniel’s point of view, and follows him as he first hunts down a powerful privileged, and then finds himself stuck in the middle of a large battle for the survival of Adro.  While there are quite a lot of reveals about some of the book’s underlying fantasy elements in this part of the book, the main focus is on the action, as Taniel and his allies fight a number of opponents, and Taniel reveals while he is known as Two-Shot.  There is some interesting character work in this section as Taniel works through his feelings for his father, finds himself having to choose between obeying orders and the life of his best friend, and him coming to terms with his weird relationship with the powerful female character, Ka-poel.

The final main part of the book is told from the point-of-view of Tamas himself, and deals with the fallout from his coup and the multitude of issues he has to deal with in the aftermath.  The parts of the book focusing on Tamas are the most important chapters within Promise of Blood, as they bridge the other two sections of the book due to Taniel and Adamat not really interacting too much during the book.  The Tamas chapters have the best balance of Promise of Bloods’ excellent combination of fantasy elements, intrigue and action.  Throughout these chapters, Tamas is constantly forced to deal with the political infighting and betrayals occurring all around him, while also being targeted by assassination or capture by his various enemies.  Tamas also encounters a number of hints about the true nature of the fantasy events impacting Adro, including from a bizarre chef, and I loved the layers of intrigue that surrounded something most of the characters believed was a myth.  I really liked Tamas as a character, and I found him to be an intriguing combination of a calm, tactical genius and an absolute rage monster.  Despite alienating most of the people around him, especially Taniel, deep down Tamas is a good man who has been forced to make the hard decisions no-one else will.  However, when enraged he is an absolute terror to behold, especially to someone who has crossed his friends or family, and during these scenes of anger he gives several of the best lines, such as the one that appears on the cover:  “The age of kings is dead, and I have killed it”.  He is an absolutely great character and a fantastic focus for this trilogy.

In addition to these three main characters, a small portion of the book is narrated by female character Nila.  Nila’s character really is not explored too much in Promise of Blood, although she is given a good introduction, and I understand she will become a much bigger character in the next books in the trilogy.  On top of the main characters, there are several excellent side characters who really make this book extra awesome.  This includes Tamas’s bodyguard, Olem, a sarcastic and funny man who acts as Tamas’s moral compass for much of the book, and who also has certain ideas about people shooting his dog.  There is also Sousmith, Adamat’s bodyguard, a former boxer who acts as a fun foil to Adamat’s detective character.  While several characters at the Mountain Watch are also enjoyable, you have to love Ka-poel, the mute, witch who serves as Taniel’s spotter.  She has some crazy magic to her, and I have a vague feeling (without knowing anything about the plot of the future books) that she is some sort of young god or something.  I liked the way that Ka-poel was able to express everything, despite being a completely non-verbal character, although the implied romance between her and Taniel was a tad weird, especially as it started the moment he realised she was older than she looked.

The world building in this book is extremely impressive and it serves as an outstanding introduction to the key elements of the series’s universe.  While the other magical and fantasy elements of this book are pretty awesome, I especially loved the powder mages, and their magic is easily the best part of the book.  The powder mages have a unique blend of abilities, all of which are powered by eating or snorting gunpowder.  Consuming the powder gives them focus, enhanced perception, great strength and stamina.  In addition, they have control over gunpowder, igniting at will, and using their abilities to manipulate bullets in flight.  Each of the characters have different abilities on top of that.  Tamas can ricochet bullets around a room; Taniel can fire bullets further than anyone else, as well as firing two bullets at once; while another powder mage, Vlora, can ignite powder from a distance.  These characters in battle are absolutely fantastic, and I love it when these characters, especially Tamas, fully unleash their abilities.  The fight scenes between the powder mages and the privileged were exceptionally amazing, and I loved the contrast between the more traditional fantasy magic of the privileged and McClellan’s more unique powder magic.  That being said, when the privileged unleash their abilities they can be much more destructive, and some of their fights are pretty impressive.

I had a wonderful time listening to the audiobook format of Promise of Blood, and I thought that it was a spectacular way to enjoy this amazing story.  The action sequences, especially when the magic and bullets are flying, really come to life when narrated, and audiobooks always help me absorb complex new fantasy worlds such as the one in this series.  Rodska’s narration is really well done, and I found that he really captured the essence of the characters.  I especially thought he got the gruff and powerful voice of Tamas down perfectly, and it was an extremely realistic personification of the character’s voice.  I really hope that Rodska does the narration for the other books in McClellan’s series, and I would easily recommend the audiobook format of Promise of Blood to anyone interested in this series.

Overall, I really loved Promise of Blood and I found that it lived up to its substantial hype.  It’s easily a five-star novel in my eyes.  I loved this book so much that I am planning to listen to the remaining books in The Powder Mage trilogy as soon as I can, and I will probably also try and listen to the first two books in the Gods of Blood and Powder before the final book comes out in November.  McClellan is a fantasy genius, and anybody who loves action and explosions should invest the time to read this book.

My Rating:

Five Stars

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Throwback Thursday: Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller, Throwback Thursday44 Comments

Patient Zero Cover.jpg

Publishers: St. Martin’s Griffin

                       Blackstone Audiobooks

Publication Date – 3 March 2009

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Reviewed as part of my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.

A couple of weeks ago I listened to and reviewed the latest book in Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, Deep Silence, and found myself hooked on the insane, mad science based thriller adventure.  After enjoying Deep Silence and giving it a five-star review, I started checking out some of the previous books in the Joe Ledger series that I had not had a chance to read before, and found myself enjoying the plot concepts of the other books in the series.  The moment I finished listening to Deep Silence, I immediately jumped back to the first book in the series, Patient Zero, to review as part of my Throwback Thursday series.

When Baltimore detective Joe Ledger is assigned to a joint terrorism taskforce, he thinks it is an opportunity to fight back against the people responsible for 9/11.  What he was not expecting was to have a crazed man try to bite him on his first raid with the taskforce after discovering a warehouse filled with terrorists.  His elation about a job well done is destroyed when he encounters one of the terrorists again later that week.  There is just one problem: Ledger knows that he killed him during the first raid.  Someone has created a terrifying bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies, and worse, they have supplied this virus to a destructive terrorist organisation that plans to release it within the United States.

As the full extent of the horror being unleashed against them is revealed, Ledger finds himself recruited into a newly created covert organisation that was set up to handle extraordinary threats such as this.  Known as the Department of Military Sciences (DMS), this organisation wields the latest technology and the country’s brightest scientists under the command of the mysterious Mr Church.  As a member of the DMS, Ledger leads an elite team of combat specialists in the field in an attempt to contain any attempts to unleash the virus on the population and to destroy those who have already been infected.  As Ledger’s investigation progresses, he uncovers an elaborate conspiracy that will have devastating impacts for all of humanity.  But with the fate of the world in the balance, it soon becomes clear that there is a traitor within the DMS who has no qualms about unleashing a zombie apocalypse.

I have to admit that after absolutely loving Deep Silence, I had very high expectations when I started reading Patient Zero.  Luckily I was not disappointed and found that Patient Zero had a fantastic action based storyline that makes good use of its mad science elements to create an intense and very enjoyable novel that sets up all the elements for this future series.  I also chose to check out the first book in this series in its audiobook format, which, at just under 15 hours, is a great way to enjoy this high-octane story.

Hands down, the best thing about this novel has to be the zombies and the way that Maberry has created a compelling and intricate thriller story around this classic horror story concept.  The thriller aspect of this is really clever.  Rather than being the central antagonists themselves, the zombies are a tool being utilised in a wide-reaching conspiracy that the protagonists have to unravel in order to figure out the origins and endgames of the book’s true antagonists.  These thriller elements are quite detailed, and Maberry utilises a number of chapters told from the antagonists’ point of view to add some depth to the conspiracy and showcase the extent of their plot, as well the problems these groups have.  The protagonists also have to deal with potential traitors in their ranks, advanced science that they do not understand and a surprisingly organised, devious and well-equipped terrorist organisation.  All of this is an extremely captivating thriller storyline, and I love how Maberry has managed to utilise the book’s zombie element to help flesh this out.

Maberry has also created a unique and intriguing zombie origin for this book that is based on potential real-life science.  The zombies in this book are the result of a disease rather than a supernatural calamity.  They have been created by some advanced science and extreme mutations of existing diseases and viruses, such as prion diseases.  As a result, Maberry and his characters spend a lot of time examining the potential science behind this zombie virus, which pulls the reader in as they consider how close something this crazy could be to a reality.  I was really struck by the way that Maberry tried to show the horror that these creatures would inflict on the people who encounter them, and the sheer terror that they inflect on normal humans.  The point-of-view protagonists spend significant time explaining how terrifying and emotionally damaging it is to have to encounter and fight these infected people, as well as how guilty they feel about having to kill them.  There are quite a few parts of the book where the characters discuss how damaging these events are to them, and it really adds some emotional gravitas to this story.  Maberry is a prominent author of zombie fiction, so it is no surprise that he is able to create quite a number of awesome and terrifying scenes featuring the zombies as they attack and kill all around them.  There are also some interesting zombie deviations that appear and offer some unique elements to the story.  Overall this is an incredible and memorable addition to this story and one that will really appeal to fans of zombies and the horror genre.

Action is a major part of the Joe Ledger series, as the protagonist leads an elite special forces unit against all these elite scientific threats.  As a result, there are a huge number of action sequences throughout this novel and the reader is constantly left with a racing pulse.  There are so many great fast-paced elements throughout Patient Zero for action junkies to enjoy.  Maberry is always great at describing special forces tactics in his stories, and I enjoyed seeing them used against the unique threats in this book.  There are a number of excellent firefights throughout the story, and the author has a great mind to examining the psychology of a gun battle.  Maberry’s love of martial arts and close-combat fighting once again shines through in Patient Zero, as his protagonist is an expert fighter who has innumerable hand-to-hand fights with a number of different opponents.  While the above actions scenes are all extremely awesome, the best scenes have to revolve around the desperate fight between these elite soldiers and the horde of zombies that they encounter.  These scenes are really fantastic and watching the special forces characters fight tooth and nail against a horde of zombies becomes a captivating and powerful part of this book.  There are quite a few crazy action scenes throughout Patient Zero for the reader to look out for and which are defiantly a highlight of the book.  I personally found that listening to these scenes in the audiobook format really brought me into the centre of the action, and it was an excellent way to enjoy this element.

Patient Zero is an excellent introduction to the Joe Ledger series and contains a number of elements that will continue into the rest of the series.  I came to this book having first read the 10th and latest book in the series, Deep Silence.  As a result, I was really intrigued to see what characters were introduced in the first book and which ones do not appear in the final book of the series.  There are some interesting differences between Patient Zero and Deep Silence that I found quite fascinating.  For example, the opponents and technology in this first book are a lot more realistic, as Maberry has yet to start utilising the Lovecraft-inspired aliens which feature in some of the later Joe Ledger novels.  The head of the DMS, the mysterious Mr Church, also comes across as a much colder character in this first book, as well as someone who is more comfortable with civilian deaths and sacrifice if it results in the survival of the rest of the world.  That being said, there are some familiar elements.  Ledger is still an incredibly sarcastic and funny protagonist, and the author tries to highlight a huge range of varied viewpoints to show the whole range of the plot the DMS is trying to unravel.  Patient Zero serves as a great introduction to the DMS, and I really enjoyed seeing the early days of this organisation.  I also love how everyone is quite confused about what this organisation is and the mystery around Mr Church, who appears to have an incredible amount of influence and power in Washington.  For example, at one point he actually tells the president of the United States that he is wasting his time and hangs up on him in, an action an incredulous Ledger describes as “bitch-slapping the president”.

Patient Zero is an incredible first novel in Jonathan Maberry’s incredible Joe Ledger series and one that serves as a fantastic introduction for readers unfamiliar with this series.  Featuring all sorts of mad science, impressive action sequences, a five-star thriller storyline and a ton of amazing zombies, this is an outstanding novel and one that proves very hard to put down.  After loving this book, as well as the latest book in this series, Deep Silence, I am now fully determined to read the rest of the books in the Joe Ledger series.  Fully expect to see a review for The Dragon Factory very soon; I have no doubt that I will really enjoy that book as well.

My Rating:

Five Stars

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Deep Silence by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller33 Comments

Deep Silence Cover.png

Publishers: St. Martins Griffin

                        Macmillan Audio

Publication Date – 30 October 2018

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From horror legend Jonathan Maberry comes the 10th book in his weird-science based horror, thriller, science fiction Joe Ledger series, which takes the reader on a wild joyride through a world gone mad in this five-star adventure.

I have to admit that Maberry is not an author that I have had much experience with before.  The only work of his I have previously read was a fun short story that was featured in a volume of zombie short stories he jointly edited with George A. Romero in 2017 that I previously reviewed here.  However, I am extremely happy that I decided to check out this latest book as it exposed me to this incredible series, which I enjoyed immensely.  I can think of no greater praise for this novel then to say that upon finishing it, I immediately dropped everything and started reading the first book in the series, Patient Zero, which I will be reviewing in the next few weeks as part of my Throwback Thursday series.

I chose to listen to Deep Silence on audiobook rather than read a physical copy.  The audiobook format of this book is just under 16½ hours long and is narrated by Ray Porter, who has worked on several other books in the series.

In this latest book, a Russian splinter group have developed a powerful weapon with pieces of alien crystal seeded throughout the planet.  This new weapon can cause devastating earthquakes on a level never before seen and has the potential to destroy the entirety of the United States.  The weapon also has a chilling side effect: it causes people around the epicentre of the quake to engage in violent acts of madness, from suicide to ferocious attacks on others.  The first attack targets Washington, with mass violence erupting around the Capitol building.

America’s only hope may be the top-secret rapid response organisation, the Department of Military Sciences (DMS).  For years, the DMS has been the only line of defence against the insane science America’s enemies are utilising and developing in this new age of wonders.  From deadly diseases, ancient forbidden technologies, extreme acts of genetic manipulation, the latest forms of cyber and electronic attack, and even weaponised zombies, the DMS, led in the field by Captain Joe Ledger, has managed to stop all these threats and more.  Utilising the latest military and espionage equipment and the best and brightest soldiers and scientists America has to offer, the DMS operates just outside the government and can go further than any other agency can.

However, while the DMS attempts to combat this latest threat, they find themselves hindered by a megalomaniac President whose stupidity and paranoia make him more afraid of the DMS than the group unleashing earthquakes across his country.  As Joe and his team attempt to hunt down the origins of this attack they must contend not only with a dangerous Russian force but also with agents of their own Government and devices that can drive even the most dedicated DMS agent insane.  But as the Russians attempt to force the eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, the greatest threat may come from the creatures the technology was stolen from.

Deep Silence is the 10th book in Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, which started in 2009 with Patient Zero.  Maberry has been writing since 2006, with his debut book Ghost Road Blues forming the first book in the Pine Deep Trilogy.  Since then, Maberry has written a huge number of books, most of which have a horror theme or focus.  Apart from his Joe Ledger series, Maberry is probably best known for his Rot & Ruin series, a young adult zombie apocalypse series.  Aside from his fictional novels, Maberry has also written several comics for Marvel as well of a number of non-fiction books, which tend to focus on Maberry’s passions for martial arts and the supernatural.

Deep Silence is an exceptional book that combines together a number of genres, including science fiction, thriller, horror, military fiction and spy thrillers into one very captivating narrative.  The end result is a non-stop thrill ride that perfectly utilises the series’s bizarre nature and advanced science to create a devastating threat and a larger-than-life protagonist to face it.  There are so many amazing elements to this book, from its continuation of an enjoyable series, to the very weird elements that come into play, to the excellent writing style and enjoyable characters.  Once I started reading this book I just could not stop, and it is easily one of my favourite books of this year.

From what I understand, the Joe Ledger series started off mostly focusing on the mad sciences that humans are able to create and use against each other.  However, in recent books, the series has taken on a more Lovecraftian vibe, with unknown aliens, space demons and incredibly insane technology.  Deep Silence in particular seems to relate back to several of these previous alien technology based novels, as the devices, technology and motives that the book’s antagonists utilise are closely related to the adventures that occurred in previous books.  That being said, there is still the continuous use of more advanced human technologies utilised by many of the book’s characters, especially those working for the DMS.  All the crazy gadgets that they use are pretty impressive, but none (with one or two major exceptions) are outside the realm of possibility and reflect technologies that could potentially exist.  Indeed, in the introduction to Patient Zero, Maberry actually confirms that most of the technology he describes in his books is currently used or could soon be used by intelligence organisations around the world today.

One of the challenges of coming into a series late is the reader’s lack of knowledge about the universe’s background information, lore and the development of its main characters and the extent of their relationships.  Maberry does an incredible job bridging this gap throughout Deep Silence, providing the reader with descriptions of previous events, recaps of character descriptions and history and making use of a number of references to previous missions and adventures captured in the other books in the Joe Ledger series.  There are also a number of scenes that appeared to be callbacks to previous books, although the author was able to describe the pertinent details of these events.  As a result, I was never lost at any point and really appreciated the recaps and detailed descriptions the book’s various point-of-view characters provided throughout the novel.  It also made me very curious about some of the previous books in the franchise, and I am now very interested in checking out some of these insane and fun-sounding adventures.  As a result, Deep Silence is an excellent book if you want to get an idea of what the Joe Ledger series is all about.  At the same time, established fans of this long-running series will be interested to see the significant changes that occur to the book’s main characters, as well as the scenes detailing where the series will potentially be going in the future.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about Deep Silence was the way that Maberry presents the book’s narrative from multiple perspectives and across a range of different time periods.  Because of this, the reader is given a far wider view of the overall narrative.  Not only do they get to see the protagonists attempting to investigate and stop what is going on, but they get to see the antagonists coming up with their plans, discovering and researching their doomsday device over a period of years and then implementing their mission.  This also allows the reader to get a far deeper understanding of the antagonist’s objectives and mindscapes in committing these acts and what it costs them mentally and emotionally.  Nearly all the fun and eccentric characters working in the DMS get a few scenes told from their point of view.  This provides the reader with some high level, but easy to follow, scientific discussions, hacking sequences and the utilisation of incredibly exciting-sounding advanced espionage technology.  There is also a focus within Deep Silence of the politics around and behind the DMS, and how the organisation’s leader, the mysterious Mr Church (who is totally an alien, right?), deals with these situations.

While all of the other point-of-view characters are entertaining and it is intriguing to view their sides of the story, the best character has to be the series’s main protagonist, Joe Ledger.  Ledger is the extremely dangerous and slightly disturbed leader of the DMS field team, and has been at the forefront of all the adventures in this series.  It is interesting to note that Ledger is the only character in this book whose story is told from the first person perspective, which is fortunate because Ledger is one of the biggest smartasses in fiction, especially within the privacy of his head.  Nearly every single piece of the book told from Ledger’s point of view is filled with jokes, wisecracks, and exaggerated or sarcastic thoughts.  Ledger has some incredibly humorous observations about the world around him, especially the eccentric characters he encounters, and his thoughts are just as likely to be self-deprecating as they are to be insulting about the people he has to deal with.  He is also an eccentric being who does some incredibly funny things, from having fun with his opponents to humming the Mission Impossible theme as he breaks into a safe.  However, beneath this humorous exterior there is a deeply damaged character who is severely impacted by events that have occurred before and during this series.  Maberry spends significant time diving into this character’s history and psyche, which quickly gives the reader, even readers previously unfamiliar with the series, a good understanding of his life and the events that define him.  His deep and fractured mind becomes a key part of this story, especially when it encounters mind-altering alien crystal and events beyond the realm of human comprehension.  All of this helps create an amazing and incredibly relatable central character whom the reader becomes incredibly drawn to, and as a result, Ledger is one of the best things about this book.  Special mention should also be given to Ledger’s combat dog Ghost, who appears in nearly all the same scenes as Ledger and is just as much of an enjoyable character as his owner.

While the mad science elements and characters are great, Maberry has also ensured that this is the perfect book for those action junkies looking for fast-paced thrills.  Ledger is an absolute beast throughout this book and engages in a number of fantastic fights in a variety of different scenarios.  Maberry channels his love of martial arts through this character and includes a number of detailed and very quick fight scenes as Ledger dismantles his opponents with efficient skill.  The other characters are no slouches and there are number of great action sequences I enjoyed.  Two of my favourites have to be two separate and extended sequences which see Ledger and DMS’s Echo Team engage in massive fire fights with a range of opponents.  These scenes are absolutely incredible and make the reader feel like they are really in the middle of a gun battle.  The author takes pains to try and highlight how methodical and calm professional teams can be during battles while also highlighting the various strategies and combat advantages used.  The multiple perspectives come into play here perfectly, as the different members of Echo Team engage in various encounters around the main battle, really highlighting what an effective special ops team can accomplish in the field.  Maberry enhances the fun and the action to a crazy degree by also utilising the advanced technology available to the DMS agents.  This not only includes some insane and deadly weaponry, which is very cool in action, but also other pieces of advanced technology such as drones, body armour, goggles, and enhancements for Ghost that help turn the battles into massive and enjoyable set pieces.

Nothing, however, can top the sheer insanity that unfolds when the book’s antagonists unleash their super weapon against the world.  Maberry’s descriptive and skilled writing really brings these scenes to life.  The sheer devastation of the earthquakes that he describes is just incredible and very disturbing.  But nothing is more crazy or electrifying then the scenes where the people who are affected by the strange energy given off by the weapon go insane and start participating in a violent rampage against themselves or against each other.  Maberry pulls no punches here and all the violence is on full display, from terrible acts of violence against anyone around them to disturbing suicides or episodes of self-harm.  In many of these scenes the author attempts to get into the head of these characters and watch them slowly unfold from within.  This mostly prevalent with his protagonist, Joe Ledger, but other characters’ thoughts are shown.  Let’s just say you’ll never look at the Beatles song Revolution 9 the same again.  The biggest example of this insanity happens around the Capitol building in Washington DC, and quite frankly it reminded me of the church scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service, with the protagonists stuck in the middle of a crazy mob.

One of the more intriguing parts of Deep Silence is the side character of the President of the United States of America.  While this character is never explicitly named in the book, he is clearly supposed to be a Trump analogue.  The character is an easily manipulated, short-tempered, Twitter-obsessed moron who puts his own needs far above those of the country he is governing.  The resemblance to Trump is uncanny, and Maberry does an incredible job mirroring his arrogance and personality throughout the book.  While this character is a great addition by itself, Maberry spends a lot of time exploring how a character like this would deal with the advanced technology and extreme catastrophes that are a major part of this series.  The results are frustrating for the reader as they are forced to sit there and watch this character make all the wrong decisions and serve his own agenda or self-interest.  It was also very intriguing watching this President go up against the DMS as he routinely targets the department out of fear and ignorance.  The new political reality of Washington becomes a major factor throughout Deep Silence, and Maberry is understandably critical about how things are being run and the insanity currently gripping Washington.  It was very interesting to see Maberry incorporate the current unpredictable political reality of America into his new book, and readers will be very intrigued to see how this might impact the future of his long-running series.

I listened to the audiobook version of Deep Silence, narrated by Ray Porter.  The audiobook version does go for over 16 hours, so it’s one of the longer ones I have listened to lately.  That being said, due to its exceptional content, I found myself making a variety of excuses just to keep listening to this audiobook, and got through it very quickly.  The audiobook is an incredible way to experience this book, and I would highly recommend it, mainly because of Ray Porter’s narration.  Porter absolutely nails all of the characters and provides a number of amazing voices to fully capture the diverse accents and attitudes of this eccentric group of characters.  I was particularly enthralled with the calm, cool voice he gifted to the DMS Director, Mr Church, which really reminded me of Tom Hanks’s voice.  Special mention should also be given to his narration of the President.  The narrator created a fantastic Trump-like voice that fully conveyed the character’s high opinion of himself, as well as his dismissive and arrogant nature.  I actually had a visceral reaction when I heard that voice the first time, it was that good.  Porter’s narration for Joe Ledger was also perfect, as he does an incredible job portraying Ledger’s high-energy musings and the full tone of his personality.  Porter’s voice peaks and rises to meet the full intent of any of Ledger’s sentences, and he is a master at conveying Ledger’s innate sarcasm.  At the same time, he is also able to make his voice more serious and subdued during the darker scenes in which Ledger is deep within his head or his memories.  This is sterling work from Porter, and one of the best audiobook narrations I have ever listened to.  As a result, I highly recommend that the audiobook version of Deep Silence as the best way to experience this novel.

Bestselling author Jonathan Maberry once again takes his audience on a captivating thrill ride in the Joe Ledger Series.  Deep Silence provides the reader with an extraordinary and very engrossing story that proves extremely hard to put down.  Equally enjoyable for established fans of this long-running series and new readers who have yet to experience Maberry’s work, readers can and will have an incredible amount of fun with this book.  Best enjoyed in audiobook format, Deep Silence is guaranteed to make you a dedicated fan of the author and easily gets a five-star rating from me.

My Rating:

Five Stars

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The Red Ribbon by H. B. Lyle

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery, Thriller1 Comment

The Red Ribbon Cover.jpg

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date – 23 August 2018

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Return to pre-World War I London for another compelling spy adventure in H. B. Lyle’s second book, The Red Ribbon, which is set in the same universe as Sherlock Holmes and features three exciting characters with an intriguing look at early 20th century British history and espionage.

In London, in 1910, Captain Vernon Kell is still attempting create a secret intelligence service capable of protecting England from foreign spies and infiltrators.  Despite the early success of the Secret Service Bureau, Kell’s organisation is constantly under pressure from the country’s politicians and is in danger of being absorbed into Special Branch of London’s police.

Unfortunately, Kell’s only agent, Wiggins, is distracted with his own cases and unwilling to play the political games needed to help the service survive.  Wiggins is the former leader of Sherlock Holmes’s street urchin surveillance organisation, the Baker Street Irregulars, and has picked up a few of his old master’s deductive tricks while retaining his lower-class charm and street smarts.  Wiggins is obsessed with finding the infamous anarchist, Peter the Painter, the man responsible for the death of one of Wiggins’s oldest friends, and is scouring the streets for him.

Looking for a missing girl on behalf of one of his contacts, Wiggins begins to investigate a mysterious embassy located in the affluent neighbourhood of Belgravia.  The embassy is actually a high-class brothel frequented by the rich and powerful of London.  When another girl associated with the embassy is found murdered, Wiggins attempts to find justice; however, the embassy is under the protection of someone Wiggins knows well: Tommy, a fellow former member of the Irregulars.

However, Wiggins’s personal investigations intersect with his work for Kell, as the two of them hunt for the source of a series of leaks at the highest level of government.  With the help of Kell’s wife, the suffragist Constance, Wiggins and Kell must find the connection between the events occurring around London in order to keep the country safe from sinister foreign influences.

The Red Ribbon is the follow-up to Lyle’s debut novel, The Irregular: A Different Class of Spy, and is the second book in the Irregular Spy Thriller series.  This is a great series that will appeal to a huge range of readers, as Lyle combines compelling historical fiction elements with a thrilling espionage story that has fictional links with one of the most iconic book series of all time, Sherlock Holmes.

The story within The Red Ribbon is split between the book’s three main protagonists and takes a look at each character’s different and exciting adventures.  Wiggins and Kell continue their missions from the first book, and while their investigations are ostensibly separate from each other, they eventually intersect in several clever ways.  The relationship between Wiggins and Kell is an important part of these two storylines, as Kell despairs of Wiggins’s personal investigations and wants Wiggins to solely work missions for the service.  The third focal character is Kell’s wife, Constance, who was a supporting character in the first book.  Constance becomes a much more significant character in The Red Ribbon, as the book focuses on her involvement with the suffragist and suffragette movements.  Both Wiggins and Kell become involved with Constance’s storyline in different capacities, while Constance provides significant assistance with her husband’s espionage work.  With three semi-connected stories, it does at times feel like there is too much going on for one cohesive narrative.  However, each of the stories comes together quite well in the end and provides the reader with an extremely captivating overarching narrative.

Having three separate storylines allows Lyle to highlight the differences in social classes during this historical period and highlights how different groups of people were treated.  Kell, as the influential gentleman, is forced to constantly deal with the upper-class politics and attitudes during his attempts to keep the service going.  Wiggins, who was raised on the street, deals more with the average Londoner and experiences the poverty and desperation many of them encounter.  He must also deal with the distain of the upper classes in the course of his espionage work.  While he is clearly the most competent agent in the entire British service, he is constantly looked down upon and ignored by his government superiors.  There are also several instances where Wiggins is assigned to infiltrate labour movements, something he is very reluctant to do due to his world views and background.  This divide often serves to create some significant tension with Kell, who, despite fully understanding Wiggins’s value, skills and point of view, is often exasperated by him.  The beefed-up storyline around Constance allows the reader a significant look at the suffragist movement and the early battles these women fought for equality.  In The Red Ribbon, Constance joins the much more militant suffragettes, and is constantly infuriated by the reactions of the male politicians and their oppressive policies.  The oppression of women also becomes a major point of conflict between Kell and Constance which results in a decline in their relationship, although the final payoff of this storyline is quite sweet.  I really enjoyed the way that Constance and Wiggins developed a fun comradery in this book, as their poor treatment by the upper-class men allow them to bond, with Wiggins even teaching Constance some anti-surveillance techniques.

Lyle cleverly incorporates several important historical events into this book, such as the funeral of Edward VII, the Black Friday suffragettes and suffragists protest outside Parliament and the Siege of Sidney Street.  These events are quite significant in their own right, and Lyle spends substantial time filling in their background and ensuring the reader is aware of why they are happening and why they are important.  However, they also serve as very compelling background events for the plot of The Red Ribbon and work well to enhance this already fascinating story.  In addition to these intriguing and important historical events, Lyle has also packed a number of historical figures into this story.  Quite a few prominent politicians and British civil servants have significant roles in the plot, including a young Winston Churchill, which makes the story feel a lot more authentic.  The author’s continued use of the enigmatic Peter the Painter as one of the book’s principal antagonists is another brilliant stroke, and the reader is provided with some intriguing theories about who he actually was and what his eventual fate was.  Lyle does slightly go overboard by adding in some other famous historical figures in small cameo roles, and the shoehorning in of people such as Charlie Chaplin and members of the 1910 British Antarctic Expedition seems a bit unnecessary.  That being said, it was amusing to watch Chaplin use his drunken tramp routine to help Wiggins escape a conflict in a theatre.

One of my favourite components of this book was the author’s detailed and unique look at British espionage and counter espionage in the early 20th century.  One of the book’s protagonists, Captain Kell, is an actual historical figure who is credited for creating Britain’s domestic spy service, which morphed into the modern MI5.  This fictionalised account of the early days of this organisation are quite fascinating, especially when the author looks at some of its early challenges, the political battles Kell might have had to face, and the sort of work this organisation was originally looking at.  In addition to the domestic espionage work, the protagonists of The Red Ribbon find themselves drawn into one of the most infamous espionage incidents of the era: the capture of British agents Captain Trench and Lieutenant Brandon in Germany in 1910.  This is a highly fictionalised account of the incident, as Lyle has inserted Kell and Mansfield Cummings, one of the founders of MI6, as being there.  It plays marvellously in Kell’s overall storyline, while also featuring some great scenes as the three protagonists’ attempt to evade arrest by the Germans.  Trench and Brandon are not portrayed in the best light, as Lyle has used them to further the class prejudices in Britain, portraying the two soldiers as quite incompetent spies who are captured as a result of wilfully ignoring Wiggins’s advice due to him not being a gentleman.

Another fun part of The Red Ribbon is the connection the book shares with the Sherlock Holmes novels.  The Irregular Spy Thriller series is set in the same universe as the Sherlock Holmes books.  Wiggins was mentioned several times in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original works as the leader of the Baker Street Irregulars.  As a result, Wiggins comes across as a rougher Sherlock Holmes, who uses the classic deductive method while also fighting, drinking and speaking in a lower-class manner.  As in the first book of this series, the great detective himself makes a brief appearance, providing Wiggins with a case-breaking suggestion, while casually enjoying his retirement.  The use of the Sherlock Holmes elements is definitely a defining element of the book, and while it is mostly used to draw interested readers into this historical spy thriller, Lyle successfully uses it to create a unique and enjoyable main protagonist.

B. Lyle has followed up his superb 2017 debut with another fun and exhilarating read. Continuing to use his Sherlock Holmes inspired character to great effect, Lyle weaves a full and captivating narrative that presents several unique stories chock full of adventure, mystery and interesting historical content. The Red Ribbon is an amazing second outing from Lyle which also sets up an exciting concept for a third book in the series.

My Rating:

Four and a half stars

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Red War by Kyle Mills (based on the series by Vince Flynn)

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller21 Comments

Red War Cover

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date – 25 September 2018

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From the minds of two outstanding thriller writers comes Red War, the latest book in the iconic Mitch Rapp spy series.  This newest addition is an exhilarating and action-packed espionage novel that incorporates a captivating look at modern global politics into its exciting and enjoyable narrative.

For years, Russian president Maxim Krupin has ruled his country with an iron fist, and even recent setbacks to his ambitious plans in the Middle East have not lessened his power or influence.  However, Krupin is about to encounter an opponent even he may not be able to overcome: cancer.  With an inoperable brain tumour impacting his actions, the once calculating and selectively destructive strongman begins openly targeting all his enemies and opponents in order to retain his power and to distract attention away from his illness.

The Americans, especially the CIA, are alarmed and surprised by the Russian president’s sudden and unpredictable moves.  Uncertain of the motivations behind them, the CIA assign legendary covert operative Mitch Rapp to investigate and counter Krupin’s more aggressive moves, including the attempted assassination of Krupin’s former problem solver, Grisha Azarov.  When Rapp and the CIA uncover proof about Krupin’s medical condition, they begin to realise just how desperate and dangerous their opponent is.  With Russian troops massing on the border of Europe, it appears Krupin may even be willing to start a war with the West in order to maintain his position.  With World War III just around the corner, Rapp is given an impossible task: infiltrate Russia and assassinate the man many consider to be the most powerful person in the world.  Will Rapp and his allies succeed in this dangerous mission, or will their actions lead the world to the very brink of a nuclear war?

This is the 17th book in the Mitch Rapp series, which began in 1999 with the first book, Transfer of Power, which was written by Vince Flynn as a follow-up to his 1997 debut, Term Limit, which is set in the same universe as the Mitch Rapp books.  Following Flynn’s death in 2013, the series was continued by fellow thriller writer Kyle Mills, who has written 17 books since 1997, including the last three Mitch Rapp novels.  The Mitch Rapp books are a fast-paced and action-packed series that focuses on American espionage, and often features the titular character’s brutal war on Islamic terrorists.  Some who are unfamiliar with the books may have seen the film adaption of Flynn’s 2010 prequel novel, American Assassin, which was released in 2017, featuring Dylan O’Brien of Teen Wolf and The Maze Runner fame, as well as Batman himself, Michael Keaton.

In this latest book, Mills continues the series trend of providing the reader with eventful and compelling adventures.  Red War is chock full of action and combat as the protagonists attempt to counter the Russian president, the president’s personal assassin and the whole Russian army.  Readers will find plenty to keep them entertained, from small tactical skirmishes around the world between American and Russian covert forces, to large-scale battles and wars, with some devastating results.  While the main protagonist, Mitch Rapp, is starting to get a little old, he is still the same killing machine he has always been, and he powers through the vast majority of his opponents.  However, some of the other characters he encounters are the cream of the Russian army and have been enhanced by a combination of extreme training and performance-enhancing drugs.  This results in some very hectic shoot-outs and fight sequences, although there is very little doubt that Rapp will succeed.  A lot of these fights are tactical in nature as Rapp seeks to outsmart larger or more formidable forces he finds himself up against, resulting in some scenes with slower pacing that are used to create a more intense, but equally exciting, action sequence.  In addition, there are some fairly outrageous sequences throughout the book that readers will really enjoy.  For example, in a later part of the book Rapp suddenly finds himself leading an unusual army against his opponents, and a scene earlier in the book he decides to utilise a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in a fight after he starts “getting sick of these drugged-up, thirtysomething terminators whom Krupin was churning out”.

Mills has also made sure to include detailed examinations of the various intelligence-gathering and espionage techniques that his characters employ, as well as several scenes exploring the opposing nations planning and tactical sessions.  It is always fun to read about fictional tactical and intelligence meetings, especially in novels like Red War, when you see both these discussions from both sides of the conflict in order to focus on the various moves and countermoves each opposing side utilises.  In Red War, the motivation behind the Russian president’s actions is revealed to the reader within the first few pages of the book; however, all the American characters, and even some of the Russian characters, have no idea why he has escalated his campaign against his opponents.  It is very captivating to watch the various actions Krupin takes to not only stay in power, but also hide his illness from his own people.  As the book progresses and this becomes harder for him to manage, it is interesting to see the Americans begin to put the pieces together and see how well their theory fits into place.  Both the American and Russian characters do a lot of espionage and counterespionage moves throughout the novel as the Americans attempt to uncover the Russian leader’s unpredictable next move, while Krupin and his agents attempts to take out his various rivals while also frustrating the Americans.  The descriptions of these espionage moves and techniques feel very realistic, and there is enough going on to keep any lover of spy fiction very happy.

One of the most compelling and notable things about Red War is the way that it brushes on current politics and uses many recent real-world events in its story, by either referencing them or attributing them to the book’s fictional characters.  One of the main antagonists, the Russian president Krupin, is an athletic and powerful strongman that is clearly supposed to be a fictional version of Vladimir Putin, with several similar character attributes, including a propensity to use staged hunting propaganda shots out in the snow to promote his rugged, masculine image.  Many of Krupin’s actions and decisions throughout the book match those of Putin, down to the character revealing he utilises social media to influence international politics.  As a result, while the book focuses on a fictional antagonist, the reader is left thinking about what would happen if something similar were to happen to Putin or another world leader, and how other nations would respond.  The American and Russian characters discuss geopolitics throughout the book as they make their plots and plans, and many of the events they discuss have happened in the real world.  This allows the readers, especially those familiar with current world affairs, to enjoy a much more realistic read, especially when the characters look at real world events to justify their actions or responses.  These real-world inclusions help to turn Red War into a much more intriguing read for the readers that does an amazing job capturing its audience’s attention and interest.

Despite being the 17th book in the Mitch Rapp series, Red War is a very approachable book that is very easy for readers unfamiliar with the series to enjoy.  A perfect read for those who are intrigued by a fun and exciting plot concept, Red War delivers all the action and espionage you could possibly want, with some incredibly fascinating insights and references to modern global politics.  Mills has once again forged an incredible story from Vince Flynn’s original thriller universe, and fans of this series will not be disappointed by this latest offering.

My Rating:

Four and a half stars

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City of Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Young Adult11 Comments

City of Bastards Cover

Publisher: Hyperion

Australian Publication Date – 31 July 2018

World Publication Date – 5 June 2018

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Young adult fantasy author Andrew Shvarts has a dramatic return with City of Bastards, an explosive and incredible follow-up to his electrifying 2017 debut.

After her father’s declaration of rebellion against the crown, Tilla, bastard daughter of Lord Kent, turned against him by rescuing the king’s daughter, Princess Lyriana, from his clutches.  Fleeing her father’s lands in the west of the Kingdom of Noveris, Tilla, Lyriana, and Tilla’s boyfriend, Zell, make the journey to the capital city of Lightspire, the opulent and magical city where Lyriana’s father reigns.

Attempting to put aside the horrors she experienced while fleeing from the west, Tilla settles down in a life of luxury as a student in the city’s prestigious university.  However, not everything is as shiny and golden as Tilla had hoped it would be.  She faces ostracism from the most of the city’s population as her father continues to wage war against the kingdom.  On top of that, Zell appears unsatisfied with city life and is growing distant from her.  Tilla and Lyriana are still mourning the death of Tilla’s brother, Jax, and not even their hard partying lifestyle is making them feel any better.

Their new lives are only destined to last for so long before disaster strikes.  When Tilla finds her roommate dead, she knows that a mysterious mage she encountered is behind the death.  But no-one seems willing to believe her, and the death is quickly ruled a suicide and pushed under the rug.  When she is then attacked by the rogue mage, something considered impossible, Tilla begins to realise that there is something very rotten in the heart of the Lightspire.  With her father apparently keeping the king’s invincible army of mages at bay, and shadowy cultists sowing chaos in the city, Tilla uncovers a terrible plot that could shake the entire foundation of the kingdom.  With the king’s inquisitor hunting her as a traitor and the whole word turned against her, can Tilla and her friends stop the evil unfolding in front of them before it’s too late?

City of Bastards is Shvarts’s second book, and is the sequel to last year’s release, Royal Bastards.  This is a fantastic new series of young adult fantasy books, with a third entry already planned for 2019.  These books are marketed towards a young adult audience, but this is a series that will also prove to be massively appealing to older readers as well.  Fair warning to parents: this is probably not the best series for younger readers, as the huge amounts of drugs, drinking, sex and teen angst make this books more appropriate for an mid to older teenage audience.

This novel contains a truly captivating story of intrigue and murder in the heart of a magnificent and magical city.  Shvarts combines some excellent thriller and fantasy elements together to create a superb overall narrative, which includes a large-scale conspiracy that proves to be particularly impressive.  There is a well-written and absorbing investigation angle getting towards the conclusion of this plot, and the full scope of this conspiracy is very elaborate and uses some intriguing magical elements.  There are a number of surprising twists, betrayals and dramatic reveals that will hook the readers, while the conclusion of the story is epic in its size and consequences.  Overall, this is an extremely compelling fantasy thriller story that has not been simplified for a younger audience.

Shvarts has also created an intricate and intriguing cityscape that serves as an excellent setting for the story.  There are some memorable locations visited throughout the course of the narrative, and the author does a fantastic job showing the differences between the richer areas of the Lightspire and the districts where the everyday citizens live.  Exploration through the city by the protagonist highlights this class difference and the corruption of the rich, all of which forms a significant story element later in the book.  The author also introduces some fascinating fantasy elements, such as large-scale magical messages, unique methods of transportation, rebellious anti-magic fanatics, the kingdom’s hidden magical heart and substantial catacombs under the city that hold dark and powerful secrets.  All of these elements play a significant role in City of Bastards’ story, and meld in perfectly with the protagonist’s investigation and the vast underlying conspiracy.

The entirety of City of Bastards is narrated by the book’s protagonist, Tilla.  Shvarts does an amazing job of capturing the essence of a modern teenager in the book’s narration, and the reader really feels that they are accompanying a rebellious young woman on her quest throughout the city.  As a result, the book is filled with sarcasm, funny jokes, humorous observations and a certain amount of complaining about the situation.  The story is also infected with a bit of teen angst, which is amusing to see amongst storylines dealing with the future of a civilisation and will no doubt prove to be relatable to many readers.  In addition to the humour, this narration also allows the reader to see the protagonist’s many vulnerabilities throughout the course of the story.  Overall, the protagonist’s narration adds a lot to this book, and is definitely one of its more appealing features.

A highlight of the book has to be the realistic focus on trauma and the powerful consequences of the first book.  Some of the very best young adult books are those which do not shy away from heavy topics, featuring gritty and realistic portrayals of trauma and PTSD as they try to highlight the often unseen or unconsidered costs of their character’s attempted heroism or battles for survival.  In City of Bastards, Tilla, Lyriana and Zell spend a significant amount of time dealing with the terrible things the encountered in the first book, including the death of Jax, Tilla’s brother and Lyriana’s love interest.  Lyriana’s transformation is the most dramatic, as is she suffering not only from Jax’s loss but also from the guilt and trauma following her decision to break her oath of pacifism and kill someone with her magic.  As a result, she turns from the sensible and respectful character she was in Royal Bastards to a hard-drinking wreck who acts out in a number of different ways and has a hard time dealing with her feelings.  Tilla is also traumatised by the death of Jax, and while at times she seems to be processing it better, her depression is compounded by the dramatic changes in her life and the outright disdain that many characters show her.  Overall, this realistic portrayal of trauma and vulnerability in the characters is very well written and adds a real emotional edge to the story.

City of Bastards is an amazing piece of young adult fantasy that makes substantial use of its new setting to create an epic, conspiracy-laden storyline that proves to be exceedingly captivating.  This is a powerful sequel to Andrew Shvarts’s first book, and fans of Royal Bastards will be entranced by the author’s focus on the first book’s devastating consequences.  This is one of the best pieces of young adult fiction of 2018.  I had a real hard time putting this book down, and it comes highly recommend.

My Rating:

Four and a half stars

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AWOL: Agent Without Licence by Andrew Lane

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller, Young AdultLeave a comment

AWOL Agent Without Licence Cover.jpg

Publisher: Piccadilly Press

Publication date – 12 July 2018

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From a veteran author of young adult fiction comes this brilliant spy thriller that introduces a younger audience to the joys of modern espionage.

Kieron Mellor and his best friend, Sam, are typical teenagers living the ‘greeb’ lifestyle in Newcastle, England, with their biggest problem revolving around how to get tickets to the next rock show.  But when they witness a man being kidnapped in their local mall, they are thrust into the world of covert espionage and a plot to unleash untold destruction on the world.  Noticing that the kidnapped man has dropped a set of glasses and an earpiece, Kieron picks them up, only to discover that they are part of a high tech virtual reality kit that can provide the user with a database of information about anything they see.  They also connect Kieron to Bex, a secret agent on mission in Mumbai who is in desperate need of his help.

Bex’s handler, the man who was kidnapped, was using the technology currently in Kieron’s possession to remotely assist Bex with her mission.  Bex was observing a deal for information about nuclear weapons, but the disappearance of her handler resulted in her losing her target.  With no other options, Bex is forced to utilize Kieron and Sam’s help in order to complete her mission and stop an act of mass destruction.  However, the Newcastle teens have problems of their own; a fanatical right-wing extremist group and a mole inside Bex’s organisation are hunting them for the missing glasses, and they have no intention of leaving any witnesses alive.

Agent Without License is the first book in Lane’s AWOL series of young adult spy thrillers.  The second novel in this series, Last Safe Moment, is already set to be released later this year and will continue to follow the characters introduced in this first book.  Lane already has significant experience writing novels for a younger audience, with eight books in his bestselling Young Sherlock Holmes series, as well as his Lost Worlds and Crusoe Adventures books.  Other works from Lane include his science fiction based Netherspace series and several books set in the Dr Who extended universe.

The AWOL series is aimed towards a younger generation of reader and has been advertised for children in the 9-12 age range.  I felt that this book is an ideal read for that demographic, and it reminded me of some of the books that really caught my imagination when I was that age, including the Artemis Fowl and Alex Ryder novels.  While there is some violence and implied deaths within the storyline, it isn’t overly graphic and won’t traumatise the younger readers.  That being said, the overarching spy storyline isn’t dumbed down, and its intended audience will enjoy the realism and the references to events, ideologies and prejudices that currently affecting the real world.  There are also discussions about some mature themes, although nothing is too extreme or adult.  These small inclusions will be appreciated by the younger audience, as they will enjoy seeing some of these mature issues which they are likely already aware of included in their fiction.  Lane does make the obligatory attempts to tap into modern youth culture in order to appeal to his readers’ interests; fortunately, however, he does not go too overboard with his attempts like some authors do, and readers are not inundated with a flood of unnecessary pop culture references.  The author has also included multiple examples of the two teen heroes outsmarting older antagonists.  This is always a fun feature for the younger audience to enjoy, and these teen protagonists have some very inventive, and in some cases quite direct, solutions to the problems they encounter.  Overall, Agent Without License will prove to be an excellent read for the audience in its suggest age range.  Older readers will also have a blast with this book and enjoy the fantastic spy thriller elements.

For his AWOL series, Lane has leveraged his significant espionage experience to create intriguing novels with a sense of realism to their spy aspects.  In Agent Without License, the author lays down a foundation of tradecraft and spy techniques for the reader to enjoy as his protagonists attempt to save the world.  Lane explores the basics of spying in this book and provides information about current espionage agencies and how they impact on real world politics.  As a result, this is a fun and informative introduction to the spy thriller genre, and the younger readers will appreciate the exciting and mature content of this story.

One of the best parts of Agent Without Licence is the advanced technology that the protagonists use to help complete their mission.  This technology comes in the form of glasses and an ear piece, and is known as Augmented Reality Computer Capability (ARCC).  The ARCC is essentially Google Glass on steroids, and allows the operator to access information on anything they, or the person they are connected to, can see or interact with.  This is an awesome piece of fictional technology that sounds like an item espionage operatives could possibly already have access to.  Watching the young protagonist, Keiron, become acquainted with and learn to operate the glasses is an enjoyable part of the story which plays in well with the book’s espionage elements.  The information that Keiron obtains for himself and Bec is quiet interesting, and the ARCC technology provides them with threat analyses, escape routes, background history of the buildings they are going into, facial recognition and recording capabilities.  This is a seriously cool part of the book, and the technology’s presentation and use is a great element that will make the readers eager for glasses like these to appear on the market.

Agent Without License contains two separate but connected storylines and alternates between the two different point of view characters in each chapter.  One of the storylines focuses on Keiron in Newcastle, while the other follows Bex in India.  These storylines overlap throughout the chapters, and the characters are in constant communication with each other.  The different storylines are usually occurring at the same time, although Lane does occasionally move one storyline slightly ahead or behind to create some dramatic thrills.  Some of the most intriguing scenes feature Kerion communicating information through the ARCC glasses to Bex.  There is a fantastic interrogation sequence in which Bex uses the ARCC technology to stay in communication with Kerion as he provides her with the tools to crack her target and get the answers she is looking for.  This breakup in storylines also helps highlight the differences in espionage ability between the trained operative, Bex, and the amateur but highly skilled teenagers, Kerion and Sam.

Andrew Lane has produced a wonderful and highly enjoyable novel that is a fresh and exciting take on the teenage spy book and an excellent gateway into the world of spy thrillers.  Agent Without Licence is an ideal read for its intended younger demographic, while at the same time containing a range of mature story elements that will appeal to all ages.  This is a fantastic first instalment in a great new series that is highly recommended for young readers looking for a great adventure story.

My Rating:

Four stars

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