Dark Arena by Jack Beaumont

On January 13, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller4 Comments

Dark Arena Cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (ebook – 3 January 2024)

Series: The Frenchman – Book Two

Length: 456 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Former French spy Jack Beaumont presents a powerful and captivating sequel to his awesome debut with Dark Arena, a gripping read with a compelling look at European espionage.

Back in 2021 I was lucky enough to receive a copy of an outstanding debut spy thriller, The Frenchman. Written by Jack Beaumont, the pseudonym of a former operative in France’s foreign secret service, The Frenchman was an incredible read that followed a French spy who attempts to stop an elaborate terrorist plot. Featuring some amazing authenticity and a great story, The Frenchman was an exceptional read and it ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2021. I have been eager for Beaumont to follow up The Frenchman for some time, and I was extremely excited when I received an advanced copy of this long-awaited sequel, Dark Arena, especially as it quoted one of my Canberra Weekly reviews up front. The first new novel I read in 2024, Dark Arena was another outstanding read from Beaumont that combined a powerful, character-driven narrative, with a complex look at recent European events and the potential underlying intrigue surrounding it.

When a member of the DGSE, France’s foreign secret service, is brutally murdered in front of his family by a team of Russian agents, Alec de Payns is brought in to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his attack. De Payns soon discovers that this bloody operation is related to a recent piece of intelligence the DGSE recovered, which identifies hostile actions the Kremlin is authorising throughout Europe.

Infiltrating a secret meeting of businessmen, terrorists and Russian mercenaries aboard a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean, Alec discovers details about a mysterious assassination plot that could tip the balance of power in Europe. Determined to intervene for France’s advantage, de Payns and his team attempt to uncover the target of the assassination, as well as the underlying reasons for the death sentence. But the more they dig, the more they begin to suspect that someone is manipulating the DGSE into a confrontation with the Russians.

Closing in on their targets, de Payns soon discover the full extent of their opponent’s plans, and the DGSE are soon left with hard decisions, especially as intervening could impact France’s energy security. Caught between dangerous superpowers and with a war on the horizon, can de Payns and his team make the right choice, or will doing the right thing cost their country terribly?

This was a superb and extremely clever spy thriller sequel from Jack Beaumont, who expertly follows on from his debut with another outstanding novel. Dark Arena is an incredible read, which I think I enjoyed even more than The Frenchman, due to its excellent twists and compelling examinations of European politics and espionage.

Dark Arena proved to be quite a thrilling read that got more intense the further you get into it. Starting off with a shocking but important introduction that shows a French agent killed for the information he recovered, Dark Arena quickly moves onto the main plain, as Beaumont’s protagonist, Alec de Payns, is reintroduced and set to investigate. The initial chapters of the book are a little slow as Beaumont reasserts his steady and methodical pace, but there are some vital and fascinating story elements introduced here, especially around the conspiracy the DGSE are hoping to unravel and the protagonist’s fraught personal life. I enjoyed the slow build-up that Beaumont showcased here, mainly because it added the authenticity of the plot. The story really starts to kick into high gear once de Payns begins his infiltration of a luxury yacht, and the scenes set aboard there are loaded with risk, threat, cunny tradecraft and realistic depictions of information gathering.

Dark Arena’s plot speeds up a lot more in the second half as de Payns and his colleagues begin to investigate several different angles and potential enemy agents. The reveal that the Russians are planning an assassination is quite intriguing, especially as Beaumont ties it into the invasion of Ukraine, and it adds a certain layer of extra realism and intensity to the overall plot. While I won’t go into too much detail about this here, I felt that Beaumont did an outstanding job working his complex narrative into these major real-world events, and it was fascinating to his take on some of the events leading up to the invasion and the world politics that ensured it happened. There are also some great reveals surrounding the origin of the information that the DGSE and other European intelligence agencies have been working off, especially as it appears they are being manipulated by outside sources. The protagonist’s personal life also gets thrown front and centre in the narrative, and while I wasn’t the biggest fan of the many coincidences that brought together his family with his mission, it was compelling to see him balance the two. The full discovery of the various plots being orchestrated around Europe proves to be quite clever, and the resulting chaos as the DGSE tries to intervene despite a dangerous political situation results in some captivating moments. There are some intricate action sequences, encounters between rival spies, and some big reveals, including finally getting a payoff regarding a character introduction from The Frenchman. This ended up being a fantastic and awesome story, and I hope that we get some form of sequel to it soon.

I deeply enjoyed how Dark Arena was showcased as Beaumont has a very distinctive writing style, that relies heavily on detail and authenticity to enhance his compelling spy thriller storyline. The focus on tradecraft and the multiple complex aspects of real-life espionage and intelligence work is so damn fascinating, and the author does such a good job of making all these elements seem so realistic. Nearly every action the characters makes is loaded with intricate detail as Beaumont explains the reality of the intelligence officer’s life, and you will be enthralled by the various intricate ways that the characters attempt to outwit and avoid their opponents. While references to these actions might seem a bit repetitive at times, I thought it was a great way of hammering home just how careful these characters need to be, especially after the shocking opening scene. I really loved how much detail Beaumont shoved into every page of Dark Arena, and it made the resulting plot pop as you absolutely believed this was the sort of thing real spies would go through. This already elaborate narrative is further enhanced by the multiple layers Beaumont added to the plot as he follows various members of the DGSE as they attempt to unwind the multiple mysteries presented to them throughout the book. While I did occasionally feel that Beaumont was using too many characters, the various betrayals, secrets, and complicated loyalties that emerge from the various perspectives, including from a few antagonists, helps to create a powerful espionage tapestry, and I loved how well this amazing story came about. While Dark Arena is a sequel to The Frenchman, most readers should be able to dive straight into this second novel, as Beaumont makes the plot of this book quite accessible and any necessary details from The Frenchman are covered again here. Everything about this book is so well written, and I have a lot of love for Beaumont’s meticulous and distinctive style.

While there are several great characters in Dark Arena, the one who gets most of the focus is protagonist Alec de Payne. A dedicated DGSE field agent, de Payne is a fascinating figure who serves as the heart and soul of the series. His depiction as an agent is always very fascinating as Beaumont channels most of the espionage authenticity through his scenes. However, the most compelling aspect of de Payne’s character lies within the struggles he has balancing his secretive profession with his life as a husband and parent. Already away for long periods of time and constantly forced to lie to his friends and family, de Payne finds himself struggling more than ever in Dark Arena, especially when it comes to his relationship with his stressed wife. Thanks to the events of The Frenchman, which saw his family temporarily kidnapped, De Payne finds himself pushed even further to the brink as his is suffering from paranoia and anger following the threat to his loved ones. This really impacts his personal life, and the conflicts he experiences at home provide a powerful layer of drama to the plot, which I felt contrasted nicely with the intrigue and espionage of the rest of the book. While elements of de Payne’s personal life do blend into his professional career, it is mostly kept separate, and I loved seeing the dichotomy between a stressed family man and an accomplished spy. De Payne was such an incredible protagonist to follows as a result, and I felt his amazing story was a major highlight of this exceptional read.

Jack Beaumont provides an outstanding follow up to his epic debut with Dark Arena. Once again featuring his ultra-authentic take on spies and international espionage, Dark Arena has a captivating and realistic plot that takes his excellent and complex characters into the heart of a recent history. Intense, addictive, and so damn intricate, Dark Arena was an exceptional read from a rising star in the spy thriller game.

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Burner by Mark Greaney

On March 19, 2023January 2, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Thriller18 Comments

Publisher: Sphere/Audible (Audiobook – 21 February 2023)

Series: Gray Man – Book 12

Length: 16 hours and 37 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

The epic and captivating Gray Man series by legendary thriller author Mark Greaney returns with another exciting spy thriller entry, Burner, which thrusts the protagonists into the middle of some major real-world events.

Nothing starts off the thriller field of 2023 quite like the latest Gray Man novel from leading author Mark Greaney. Greaney is a very impressive author who has been killing it throughout the genre for years. Not only has he produced some cool standalone books, such as last year’s exciting action romp Armored, or the cool military thriller he co-wrote with Hunter Rawlings IV, Red Metal (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019), but he has also written the exceptional Gray Man spy thriller books. Following legendary assassin Court Gentry, better known as the Gray Man, as he gets involved in several deadly situations, the Gray Man books are one of the leading spy thriller series and I have deeply enjoyed the epic and powerful adventures that Greaney has so far released. I personally have had an exceptional time with several of the Gray Man books, including Greaney’s debut novel, The Gray Man (which got a film adaptation last year), as well as the later entries such as Mission Critical, One Minute Out (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and Sierra Six (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022). His latest release is the outstanding Burner, which was one of my most anticipated novels of 2023. The 12^th book in the Gray Man series, Burner was a particularly intense read with a fantastic story behind it.

Alex Velesky is a Ukrainian expat living in Switzerland, whose comfy life as a notorious mover of immoral money has been hollow ever since the death of his family back in Ukraine at the start of the invasion. Going through the motions, Velesky is suddenly given an opportunity to strike back at Russia when a disenfranchised Russian intelligence agent provides him with a trove of secret financial data. This data, when combined with information from his own bank, reveals all the Russian bribes paid out to the West, and could damage not only Russia’s foreign intelligence apparatus but also the delicate negotiations to re-open the Russian economy to the wider world.

Immediately targeted by Russians determined to kill him and reclaim the data before it can leak out, Velesky finds himself hunted throughout Switzerland. His only chance of survival seems to lie in rogue intelligence officer Zoya Zakharova, a woman hunted by her former employers in both Russia and the CIA, who is determined to get him and his information to New York, where it can be deciphered and released. But Velesky and Zoya soon find themselves being stalked by an elite unit of Russian military operators who have no qualms about killing anyone in their way.

However, the Russians aren’t the only people interested in the data, as the CIA wants to claim it for themselves. Determined to keep their interest in it quiet, the CIA reach out to Court Gentry, the Gray Man, to capture Velesky before the Russians do. However, Court is unaware of the full significance of the data he is reclaiming, and that he will have to compete against the love of his life, Zoya. Soon caught between the competing interests of the CIA and Russian intelligence, Court and Zoya decide to work together to keep Velesky alive. But with the dangerous data revealing dark dealings in the highest levels of government, can even these two legendary spies survive?

Wow, Greaney really can’t miss when it comes to the Gray Man books. Burner was another exceptional novel that had me hooked from the very beginning all the way to the final, devastating encounter. The blend of exceptionally written action scenes, spy thriller elements, complex characters and the utilisation of contemporary issues makes Burner really stand out, even alongside the other epic Gray Man books. This was another easy five-star rating from me as Greaney once again shows why he is currently leading the spy thriller genre.

Burner’s story is a pretty impressive and intense thrill ride that takes the reader across multiple continents in a blaze of glory and excitement. The book starts whilst the Russian invasion of Ukraine is ongoing and introduces the reader to interesting new character, Alex Velesky, who receives information about all of Russia’s illegal financial transactions from a disaffected Russian operative. If he can take this information, as well as data stolen from his bank, to a certain forensic accountant in New York, he will be able to disrupt Russia’s international intelligence efforts while also weakening their position against Ukraine. However, he soon finds a deadly Russian kill team on his tail, and is only saved by reluctant operative Zoya Zakharova, who eventually believes his story and attempts to get him to New York. However, the Russians and the CIA both want the data, and this drags in Court Gentry. On the run from the CIA and unsatisfied with his current job sinking Russian mega-yachts, Court is given a chance to get back into the agency’s good books by helping them recover the data. This sees him engage in a massive fight in Caribbean, before flying to Europe to find and capture Velesky and begin searching for him and the Russians. This results in a brilliant collection of scenes as the various sides engage in elaborate tradecraft to try and outsmart the others, resulting in a particularly epic extended sequence on a train. The resulting carnage and revelations make for some exceedingly gripping content and sets the final third of the book up extremely well. I protagonists are forced into a series of deadly battles on a tight timeline to achieve their goals. There are surprises, shocking deaths, elaborate fights and the resolution of several character arcs, all of which wraps up with a particularly epic, split-scene sequence that ends everything on a high note. I was engrossed in this exceptional narrative the entire way through, and it will be very interesting to see where Greaney takes this series next.

Greaney brings all his impressive writing skills to the table with Burner, and his ability to set a dramatic and powerful scene honestly turns the already outstanding narrative into something truly special. While I did find a few pieces of dialogue to be a bit weak and robotic, and Greaney did decide to fit in the annoying trope that two women working together must be bitchy to each other, this was mostly a very strongly written spy thriller book. Like all the previous Gray Man books, Burner has an outstanding pacing to it that quickly draws the readers in and ensures that they stick around for the entire ride. The action scenes are brutal and have a great veneer of realism that ensures that you can easily imagine every punch, shot or stab. The focus on tradecraft is a particularly fascinating element to the entire story, and you must love the multiple scenes that show the characters utilising their training to outmanoeuvre their opponents. Greaney also brings in the perfect blend of intense action focused scenes and story building, real-world issues, and character moments throughout the course of Burner and there honestly wasn’t a single moment that I wasn’t hooked on everything that was going on. Burner also proves to be a rather interesting and significant entry in the wider Gray Man series, which long-running fans are going to appreciate. While Burner can easily be read as a standalone novel thanks to the author’s concise and effective description of prior events, this book does continue several interesting storylines from the previous books, including Court’s fugitive status, his relationship with Zoya, and the examination of both main characters’ places in the world. Several recurring characters from the series also make their return here, including some entertaining antagonists, and I loved how Greaney worked them into the plot. I had a lot of fun seeing some of these call-backs to previous stories and plotlines, and Greaney leaves this book in an interesting place for the future.

I really need to mention Greaney’s exceptional use of multiple character perspectives throughout Burner. Greaney casts a very wide net when it comes to the perspectives being followed and while primary characters, such as Court Gentry and Zoya Zakharova, do get a lot more focus, you also see a lot of events occurring through the eyes of other characters, including several antagonists. This gives the reader a much more expansive narrative that not only lets you understand the motivations of every significant character but also allows you to see how the antagonists are responding to the actions of the protagonists, which adds intensity to the plot. However, the best advantage is the way that Greaney utilises these perspectives to make some of his biggest sequences really pop. In these key sequences, the point of view constantly moves around the various characters as the story unfolds and this helps to produce a particularly intricate and powerful viewpoint of how events are going down. This is particularly evident in the book’s best extended sequence where multiple point-of-view characters, including Court, Zoya, Alex, the antagonistic Russian hit team, a lone CIA agent and more find themselves converging on a train to Switzerland. As the scene continues, Greaney keeps quickly moving the point-of-view around from one of the characters to the next, including a couple of minor characters who are mostly there as witnesses. Watching every character’s reactions, moves and countermoves really enhances the power of the scene as Greaney first uses it to build up tension before the inevitable firefight begins, and then switches it up to ensure that the resulting battle is even more epic as you see every shot both sides make. Greaney uses this excellent balance of perspectives through several of Burner’s key scenes, including the big finale, and each sequence comes off much better as a result. I cannot emphasise how effectively Greaney utilised this throughout Burner, and it was a major highlight for me.

One of the most distinctive things about Burner was the excellent and memorable use of contemporary events to enhance the already enjoyable spy thriller narrative. Greaney has never shied away from referring to current conflicts, politics and events, and in Burner he goes for the most infamous current conflict in a big way by strongly featuring the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Greaney pulls no punches when describing the conflict and he artfully and powerfully paints the entire invasion as the act of barbarism and greed that it is. While no political leaders are names, multiple Ukrainian and Russian characters are featured throughout the plot and through them Greaney examines multiple sides of the conflict, ensuring that readers are fully aware of what is happening, who is responsible, and just how bad things are. The Russian government are shown to be extremely corrupt, starting the war and then poorly preparing their own troops, all in the name of obtaining more money for the Russian elites to exploit. This focus on corrupt money is a major part of the plot as the characters spend the entire book trying to identify funds being syphoned out of Russia to the West, either to escape sanctions or to be used for bribes or operation money by Russian intelligence. The discussion about bribes to influential westerners is pretty interesting, especially as it seems to be a dig at certain politicians and news reporters, and it ended up being a very fascinating plot focus. While it might seem a little insensitive to use a current conflict in a thriller novel, I personally felt that this was a master touch by Greaney. Having the book focused on something that is such a big part of current world events ensured that I was even more invested in the story while rooting for the protagonists to succeed. I really must compliment Greaney for using his book to shine a light on this conflict, and I feel that his warnings about how the war could end are very important.

I also need to highlight the great characters contained within Burner as Greaney brings back several of his best recurring protagonists, while also introducing some cool new figures. This includes series protagonist Court Gentry, who has another outstanding adventure in Burner. Court is his usual fun and effective self in this latest book, and it was great to see him utilise his skills and over-the-top abilities to achieve the mission. Despite this, there isn’t an awful lot of character development around Court in this one, except for updating his status with the CIA. Instead, most of the character development in this book was reserved for major recurring character and Court’s love interest, Zoya Zakharova. Zoya last appeared in the 10^th book, Relentless, which saw Court abandon her to keep her alive after he became wanted by the CIA again. This had a major impact on Zoya’s psyche due to her previous abandonment issues and this, combined with the guilt she feels for being a former Russian spy, sends her into a massive spiral, and at the start of Burner she is an alcoholic, cocaine addicted mess. A lot of her storyline deals with her attempts to move forward from her guilt, and she takes the mission with Alex Velesky to redeem herself. Greaney does an outstanding job of showcasing Zoya as a woman in crisis, and I felt that this was an interesting and realistic jump in her character arc, especially after everything she’s been through in the series. Naturally her life gets even more complicated once she is reunited with Court, which forces her to deal with some major feelings. Greaney smartly keeps these two characters apart for a substantial part of the book and they are unaware of each other’s presence even while working the same case. This means that when they finally do meet, the emotional pay-off is even more rewarding, and there are some great sequences with them as the story continues. This ended up being a very substantial story for both characters and it was great to finally get some closure on the open relationship threads.

Aside from Court and Zoya, most of the other major characters are new additions to the Gray Man series, and Greaney does an outstanding job of building these characters up quickly during their initial appearances in Burner. The most prominent of these is Alex Velesky, a Ukrainian banker working in Switzerland who ends up with the incriminating Russian data and is motivated to expose it after the death of his family. Greaney frames an exceptionally good redemption arc around Alex in Burner as the character, who is feeling guilty for the years he’s spent illegally moving Russian money, attempts to finally reveal all the crimes he’s been apart of. Alex’s entire arc is masterfully written by Greaney, and he proves to be an outstanding part of this book. The other major new character was Angela Lacey, a rookie CIA operative who is sent to work with Court. Shown to be a bit naïve, yet highly capable, Angela proves to be an interesting inclusion to Court’s mission, and he ends up become a bit of a mentor to her. Angela is forced to grow up a lot in this book, especially when manipulated by her superiors, and it looks like Greaney has some interesting plans for her in the future. Other great characters include a deadly new Russian assassin Luka Rudenko, slippery recurring antagonist Sebastian Drexler, and even Court’s old CIA handler Suzanne Brewer, who is up to her old diabolical tricks. All these impressive characters add a lot to the plot of Burner, especially as Greaney takes the time to explore all their motivations and deeper secrets, and their inclusion results in some amazing sequences and confrontations.

While I did receive a paperback copy of Burner, I ended up listening to this awesome book on audiobook, mainly because I have had some great experiences with the Gray Man audiobooks in the past. The Burner audiobook ended up being another excellent production that I managed to knock off quickly, even with a run time of over 16 and a half hours. In my opinion, this audiobook format greatly enhanced the already epic story contained within Burner in several notable ways. Not only does the action sequences really pop as you have them read out to you, by the format also works well to enhance the tension of some of the extended sequences involving multiple characters. Just listening to all the players making their moves at the same time really drags you into the intense and explosive scenes and I was riveted through the scene on the train, or the final massive battle. It also helped that Burner once again featured the exceptional vocal talents of Jay Snyder, who has lent his voice to all the previous Gray Man audiobooks. Snyder, who was already one of my favourite audiobook narrators, has an outstanding voice that really fits the spy thriller genre. His performances always capture the intensity, chaos, and destruction of any scene he narrates, while at the same time he manages to move the book along at a quick pace that really keeps the audience drawn in. Snyder also has an excellent and fitting range of voices that he deploys throughout the audiobook, and I loved hearing the voices he assigns to some of the returning favourites. His tone for Court Gentry fits perfectly, and all the other major player get some great voices with well performed accents. All this ensures that the audiobook is an incredible way to enjoy the latest Gray Man novel and I cannot recommend the Burner audiobook enough.

I could go on more about Burner (trust me, I really could), but I think it is fair to say that I deeply enjoyed this latest Gray Man novel from Mark Greaney. Greaney has been on a roll with his last few Gray Man books, and I honestly think that Burner is one of the better novels he has released recently. The impactful story, great characters, compelling content and impressive writing ensured that I was enthralled throughout the entirety of Burner, and I honestly couldn’t put it down at times, especially during some of the big action sequences. This was such an epic book, and I can already guarantee Burner is going to end up as one of my top books and audiobooks of 2023. Highly recommended!

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Red Winter by Marc Cameron (based on the series by Tom Clancy)

On December 20, 2022March 21, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller3 Comments

Red Winter Cover

Publisher: Sphere (Trade Paperback – 13 December 2022)

Series: Jack Ryan series

Length: 419 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for another adventure from classic spy thriller character Jack Ryan as Marc Cameron once again visits Tom Clancy’s iconic universe for an amazing read with Red Winter.

Now, I am the first to admit that I have more than a few gaps in my reading knowledge, especially when it comes to some of the classic, long-running crime fiction or thriller series. Perhaps one of the most significant of these are the works of Tom Clancy, whose books, particularly those featuring protagonist Jack Ryan, are very highly regarded and have resulted in many films and other adaptations. The Jack Ryan novels have continued for years, even after Clancy’s death, with several authors contributing great new stories to the wider series. Well, I am about to dip my toe into Clancy’s universe for the first time by checking out the new Jack Ryan novel, Red Winter. Written by established thriller author Marc Cameron, who has already contributed several recent entries to the series, Red Winter was an intriguing and enjoyable read with some great spy thriller elements to it.

Berlin, 1985. The crushing stalemate of the Cold War continues as the East and the West engage in their usual espionage games. The most valuable piece on the board is an apparent Stasi source embedded deep within the CIA, providing invaluable information to the East Germany intelligence agency. However, the espionage balance is about to tip once again, when a young American embassy worker is handed a note in mysterious circumstances, apparently from a high-ranking member of the Stasi who wishes to defect to the West with a trove of information.

Unwilling to trust the CIA team in West Berlin, the traitor requests that a new face journey to East Berlin to discuss his upcoming defection. Forced to look outside the box of their usual operatives, the CIA decide to send Jack Ryan to make contact. Accompanied by a talented agent and shadowed by a deadly CIA killer, Ryan begins the dangerous journey to East Berlin to determine the legitimacy of their new source. However, there are few places more dangerous for a CIA agent like Ryan than East Berlin, and he soon finds himself surrounded by tricky foreign agents, deadly assassins and desperate informers, all of whom pose a dire risk to Ryan and his mission.

However, the plan gets even more complicated when an experimental US military aircraft crashes down in the Nevada desert, right in front of an undercover Stasi agent. Securing a vital piece of military hardware, the Stasi agent flees across America, aiming for an extraction by his masters while the FBI, Air Force and local police hunt for him. Desperately needing information on the Stasi agent in America before it is too late, Ryan must work hard to bring the defector to their side and find out where the fugitive is going. But with the KGB, Stasi, and the CIA traitor moving in for the kill, can Ryan escape East Berlin with the information he needs, or will the stolen technology allow the East to once again heat up the Cold War?

Red Winter was an excellent and highly exciting spy thriller novel that takes readers back to the classic Tom Clancy setting of Cold War Europe. Marc Cameron has produced a very entertaining and compelling read here, and I was swiftly sucked into the awesome story. The narrative itself has a lot of moving parts to it as Cameron focuses on several closely related storylines or character arcs at the same time. While much of the focus is on Ryan and his comrades as they attempt to infiltrate East Berlin and make contact with the defector, you also get familiar with several other great characters in the vicinity. This included the CIA mole, an East German singer who is being abused by a Stasi agent, members of the various spy agencies working on both sides of the Wall, and a deadly American operative who is shadowing Ryan to keep him alive. The book also shows the hunt for the fugitive Stasi agent in America, who is attempting to flee with the stolen military equipment. This American part of the book is further split between different perspectives, with the reader seeing events from the eyes of both the Stasi operative and the FBI agent hunting them.

These diverse storylines come together extremely well, and I really liked the interplay of different characters and plot lines in the second half of the book. There are some great storylines going on throughout the plot, with my personal favourite being the compelling fugitive scenes in America. The sequences set in Germany are also very intriguing, especially as Cameron provides some excellent descriptions of tradecraft and the various counterplays by the spies, as both sides battle it out for espionage supremacy. I really appreciated the dark dive into life within East Germany during this period, and the compelling looks at several East German characters who are attempting to survive added some intensity to the book. There is also an excellent look at the traitor with the CIA and their complex position and their reasons for betraying their country are an excellent part of the plot. While the first half of the book is pretty intense, everything kicks up a notch once Ryan and his colleagues arrive in East Germany. There are a ton of destructive and high-impact action sequences here which really get the blood pumping and keep the story going at a very fast pace. I deeply enjoyed the cool action sequences, especially as Cameron does a great job of writing them realistically, showcasing the talent of the professionals and Ryan’s lack of fighting ability. There are a few good twists towards the end and Cameron keeps the conclusion hopeful, but dark, highlighting that there are very few heroes in the Cold War. Red Winter was an amazing and very fun spy thriller, and I loved how this compelling narrative came together.

I also had a lot of fun coming into to this series as a Tom Clancy newbie. My only experience with Tom Clancy and the Jack Ryan books comes from some of the film adaptations, such as The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games. However, I found that this was more than enough to enjoy Red Winter, and my lack of any real knowledge of Tom Clancy’s original books didn’t really hamper me at all. While I am sure that I missed out on a bunch of clever throwbacks, Cameron did a great job of reintroducing all the key characters so that new readers can follow their storylines. There are multiple references to some of the previous events that occurred canonically before the events of Red Winter, but none of them have any major impacts on the story, and I felt that any thriller fan could dive in here with a minimal amount of knowledge and still enjoy the fantastic story within. Red Winter also apparently serves as a bridging novel between The Hunt for Red October and The Cardinal of the Kremlin, with Ryan meeting several of the supporting characters from The Cardinal of the Kremlin in advance here. I felt that this was a very clever inclusion by Cameron, and fans of Clancy’s original work are going to love seeing some of the intriguing hints of the events that are to come. This also ends up being the first canonical time that recurring character John Clark sees Jack Ryan, having travelled to Berlin to help him, although Cameron uses circumstance and training to make sure they don’t actually talk. Personally, I thought this was a great introduction to the wider world of Clancy’s writings, and I will have to try and read some of his earlier works when I get a chance.

Overall, I had a wonderful time reading Red Winter and I really enjoyed Marc Cameron’s latest addition to Tom Clancy’s spy universe. Cleverly adding to the well-established Jack Ryan series, Red Winter features some awesome spy action while perfectly showing off the dangers of Berlin during the Cold War for all spies and government agents. Fast-paced, action-packed, and loaded with some classic Tom Clancy moments, Red Winter was an intriguing and captivating novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

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Oath of Loyalty by Kyle Mills (Based on the series by Vince Flynn)

On September 29, 2022March 29, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Thriller6 Comments

Oath of Loyalty Cover

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook – 13 September 2022)

Series: Mitch Rapp – Book 21

Length: 9 hours and 23 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Fantastic spy fiction author Kyle Mills continues his excellent stewardship of the late, great Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series, with the new action-packed thriller, Oath of Loyalty.

I have had a lot of fun with some cool spy thriller series over the last few years, but one series that keeps on pulling me back in is the ultra-compelling Mitch Rapp series. Originally written by Vince Flynn, the Mitch Rapp series follows rugged American spy Mitch Rapp as he wages a brutal war against America’s enemies. While sometimes a little too nationalistic for my tastes, the Mitch Rapp series nonetheless has some outstanding and inventive scenarios in its arsenal, with the protagonists forced to take on some dangerous enemies and crazy situations. Since Flynn’s death, the series has been taken over by Kyle Mills, who has continued the tradition of compelling high-concept spy action. I have had a great time reading Mills’s recent contributions to this series, with awesome reads like Red War, Lethal Agent, Total Power and Enemy at the Gate, all of which were extremely fascinating stories that proved very hard to put down. As such, I am always very keen to check out the new Mitch Rapp adventure, and I was really drawn into the fascinating plot of the 21^st Mitch Rapp novel, Oath of Loyalty.

After a lifetime of protecting the country he loves from terrorists, enemy nations and foreign spies, the shoe is on the other foot as Mitch Rapp finds himself as America’s most wanted man. The corrupt and paranoid President Anthony Cook is determined to shape America into a personal kingdom that he and his calculating wife can rule for years. However, after Mitch Rapp foils Cook’s plan to destroy his greatest rival, Rapp is now in the firing line.

Convinced that Rapp will attempt to assassinate him, especially as his actions have resulted in the death of one of Rapp’s oldest friends, Cook attempts to eliminate him, only to have Rapp slip through his fingers. With neither side wishing to be at war with the other, the President and Rapp manage to negotiate a truce through former-CIA director Irene Kennedy, by which Rapp will remain untouched if he agrees to leave America and stay in plain sight for as long as the Cooks control the White House. However, the ambitious new head of the CIA is determined to win the President’s influence and manages to convince Cook that Rapp still plans to kill him. To stop Rapp from coming after them, the new administration decides to attack those closest to him by leaking the identity and location of Rapp’s partner, Claudia Gould, to her many enemies.

Soon, everyone Claudia and her dead assassin husband ever crossed is out to get her. Despite Rapp’s violent reprisals against her attackers, the threat increases dramatically when one of Claudia’s old enemies hires the infamous Legion. Legion is a completely anonymous team of assassins who rely on secrecy and never meet their client in person. No one knows who they are; all they know is that once Legion accepts a contract they don’t stop until their target is dead, no matter how long that may take. With their country turned against them, can Rapp and his allies save Claudia from this new threat before it is too late, or will he lose another woman he loves?

Kyle Mills continues to showcase just how awesome a Mitch Rapp novel can be with this fantastic new entry. Perfectly utilising all the typical action, intrigue and political insight that the latest Mitch Rapp books have all been known for, Oath of Loyalty features a fantastic narrative that I really got stuck into. This was another impressive and fun spy thriller read, and I ended up powering through this book in no time at all.

Oath of Loyalty had another excellent Mills narrative that took the protagonist on a wild adventure of survival, revenge, and political upheaval. The start of the book contains a detailed prologue that replays the closing scene of the prior novel, Enemy at the Gate, which was a good recap to start off with. The rest of Oath of Loyalty seamlessly follows on, showing Mitch Rapp in the crosshairs of the new President and his corrupt administration. After a great escape sequence, Rapp flees to South Africa and arranges a truce, and begins to watch the decline of America from afar. However, the President is far from done with him, and his fearmongering advisor convinces him to keep Rapp occupied while they prepare for his potential retaliation. Rapp is forced to defend Claudia and her daughter from several dangerous assassins, which includes one particularly impressive action sequence as Rapp fends off an entire hit squad by himself. This results in some A-grade vengeance as Rapp goes after Claudia’s enemies in retaliation, which naturally includes some very over-the-top results.

However, the characters find themselves in dire straights when one enemy hires the unstoppable Legion assassin team, who specialise in elaborate kills. Mills sets up Legion extremely well, and the reader is soon engrossed in watching the cat-and-mouse game that emerges between them and Rapp. At the same time, Rapp and his allies are forced to contend with a selfish and power hungry president who is determined to destroy them all. The second half of the book has some great sequences, and I loved seeing Legion’s actions and their attempts to get past Rapp, and the protagonist finds himself in a tough situation, especially as his limited help sometimes proves to be even more dangerous than his opponents are. Everything leads up to a fantastic and very entertaining conclusion, which I think worked very well. While I did think that part of the solution was a little silly when it came to just how threatening the protagonist could be, this was a pretty amazing story and I had a wonderful time getting through it.

I felt that Mills did a great job setting out Oath of Loyalty’s narrative, and there are many great elements to it that make it so much fun to read. The author makes excellent use of multiple character perspectives to showcase the fun narrative, and it was awesome to see the various sides of the story. I especially liked the parts of the book shown from several antagonists’ standpoints, and it was great to see the simultaneous moves and counter-moves that Rapp and his opponents put into play. Like the rest of the Mitch Rapp books, Oath of Loyalty has several great action scenes that come together extremely well. The brutal combat is crisp and flows off the page perfectly, ensuring that every action junkie can imagine just how the protagonist is kicking ass. This works in concert with the book’s outstanding espionage elements, which Mills features so very well here. I love the author’s take on spy craft in Oath of Loyalty, and there is a gritty realism to how Rapp and his allies go up against their foes, especially as this time they are going up against the American intelligence apparatus. Oath of Loyalty is also well paced out and readers are left with barely a second to breathe between the various exciting or compelling sequences of espionage, or political malfeasance. All this, and more, definitely helped me stayed glued to Oath of Loyalty and I really got stuck into the cool narrative and couldn’t wait to see how it all came together.

While characters are never the strongest part of a Mitch Rapp novel (I always felt that the protagonist was a tad one-dimensional), I did like how some of the recurring figures turned out in Oath of Loyalty. There was some interesting work on Mitch Rapp himself in this book. While he is still the same highly feared and insanely talented assassin and general sadist, you can see that the years are really starting to get to him in this book as he starts to think about winding down. The cynical weariness that infects him in this book as his country turns against him is pretty compelling, and it was interesting to see him as America’s enemy for once. Throw in some growing family concerns and touching relationship moments, and this was an interesting book for Rapp, and I quite enjoyed seeing his deeper thoughts on several matters here.

Several other characters had some fantastic moments in Oath of Loyalty. Irene Kennedy and several of Rapp’s allies find themselves on the wrong side of politics here, and it was compelling to see the loyal American soldiers realise they have been betrayed by their country. Claudia gets quite a lot of focus, especially as her past mistakes are brought into focus, and Mills does a good job of examining how she fits into Rapp’s life and how their relationship has grown. I liked the fantastic backstory around Legion, and Rapp manages to make them appear dangerous and interesting in a very short amount of time, which I really appreciated. Without ruining too much, I also was highly entertained by Rapp’s allies in the second half of the book, especially as they result in a really mental minefield for the protagonist, who finds himself stuck with two damaged people he has no idea how to deal with. Finally, President Cook and his inner circle prove to be entertaining antagonists, and I loved seeing them abuse their power all in an attempt to kill one man. Their ambition, ruthless political savvy and complete disregard for the people they serve makes them quite unlikeable, and it was fun to see them thrown for a loop by a single man as they live in fear of what Rapp may do to them. The growing instability of the president as he gets consumed by his paranoia is particularly fun, and Mills comes up with a great crony character who feeds on that for unique reasons, all of which is very amusing to see. I had an excellent time with all these fantastic characters, and Mills certainly wrapped an awesome story around them.

One of the things I have appreciated with Mills’s last few Mitch Rapp novels is his insights into the current state of American politics and the country’s current divides. All his major American protagonists, who are old hats at politics and espionage, are disillusioned by the direction the country has taken, and this becomes apparent in their discussions and inner thoughts, as many of them begin to wonder what they were fighting to preserve all these years. At the same time, several of the villainous political figures in this book are shown to be quite aware of the divides occurring in America, and are very willing to manipulate it to their own ends. Indeed, many of their discussions about strategy show them actively doing this, and there are several scenes with them attending the sort of rallies and conventions that people familiar with contemporary politics will know and loath. I really appreciated this frank and intriguing look into American politics and the state of the country in Oath of Loyalty, and I honestly felt that the author and the characters were even more critical than in recent books (although some of that was tied into the plot). It is honestly a little refreshing to see this sort of introspection from a series that has always been very pro-American, and it is definitely a sign of the times. However, these political insights aren’t just there for the sake of making the novel stand out, and they play quite a vital role in the plot. The characters have many discussions about the future of America, and their decisions are very tied into how they want it to proceed. It proved to be quite a key part of Oath of Loyalty’s narrative, and I think that Mills did a pretty good job of utilising this modern-day elements in his latest book. It will be quite interesting to see how this is presented going forward, and I really appreciated how Mills is trying to keep the series relevant.

As I have with the last few Mitch Rapp novels, I chose to check out Oath of Loyalty’s audiobook format, which was a great way to enjoy this book. With a run time of just under nine and a half hours, this a relatively short audiobook and I managed to get through it quite quickly once I got stuck into the story. I had an excellent time getting through the Oath of Loyalty audiobook, and I felt that it did a great job enhancing the narrative, especially by picking up the pace of the awesome action sequences. I am however, once again on the fence when it comes to narrator George Guidall, who has lent his voice to most of the Mitch Rapp audiobooks. I always find that Guidall’s voice sounds a little tired when he reads these audiobooks and there really is not that much variation between the various characters, although I never had any issue working out who was talking. While this would ordinarily put me off, I have actually gotten quite used to Guidall as narrator for this series, and I honestly could not imagine anyone else voicing these cool books. I also feel that Guidall’s older, wearier voice perfectly fits the character of Mitch Rapp in these latest books, especially as he is getting sick and tired of all the political games and general BS surrounding him. I was quite happy to listen to Guidall once again in Oath of Loyalty, and I look forward to hearing him again with the next Mitch Rapp audiobook.

Overall, I was very happy with this great book and Oath of Loyalty proved to be an excellent addition to this brilliant long-running series. Kyle Mills continues his impressive run of elaborate and clever Mitch Rapp stories here, and Oath of Loyalty served as an outstanding sequel to the author’s previous book while perfectly continuing some amazing storylines. Exciting, intense and loaded with so much action, Oath of Loyalty is a very easy book to fall in love with, and I had a brilliant time getting through it.

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The Frenchman by Jack Beaumont

On January 18, 2021August 13, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller12 Comments

The Frenchman Cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (Trade Paperback – 19 January 2021)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 392 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to dive into the world of international espionage as debuting author Jack Beaumont delivers an impressive and deeply authentic spy thriller with The Frenchman.

In these turbulent times, France faces threats from innumerable international enemies and terrorist attacks, and it falls to the members of the DGSE, also known as The Company, France’s famed foreign intelligence service, to discover dangers in their infancy and eliminate them. Alec de Payns is one of the top operatives of the top-secret Y Division of the DGSE, who take on the Company’s most dangerous international assignments. With a speciality in manipulating targets into turning against their country or revealing their secrets, de Payns is the man on the ground in many of these missions, ensuring that terrorists operations and illegal weapons programs pose no threat to his country.

During his latest operation in Palermo, Sicily, de Payns attempts to infiltrate a dangerous terrorist group who have their sights set on attacking France. However, before their planned contact and surveillance can begin in earnest, de Payns’s cover is blown and he is forced to flee from the scene, leaving behind two dead bodies. Returning to Paris, de Payns begins to suspect that he was betrayed by a fellow agent, forcing himself to consider that his life and the lives of his young family may be in danger.

With the threat of a potential traitor hanging over him, de Payns is sent on another urgent mission to Pakistan to investigate a secretive biological weapons facility that is rumoured to be producing a weaponised bacteria for an attack on France. In an attempt to gain information from within the facility, de Payns begins to establish a new identity to get closer to a person connected to the bacteria production. However, when he is once again compromised, de Payns must find out who has betrayed him and what their sinister plans for Paris are.

The Frenchman is a clever and exciting spy thriller from an intriguing new author that takes a detailed and captivating look at French foreign intelligence. This amazing new novel was written by Jack Beaumont, a pseudonym of a former French special operator who worked as part of the DGSE secret service. Having relocated to Australia, Beaumont has utilised his experiences to create an enthralling spy thriller, packed full of impressive detail and with a central character strongly based around the author himself. This results in an extremely thrilling and compelling novel that I found to be extremely addictive and which was a heck of a lot of fun to read.

This cool novel contains an epic and impressive story that sees the protagonist engage in a series of high-stakes espionage missions across the world. Told primarily from the point of view of the main character, Alex de Payns, The Frenchman’s narrative starts of as one of standard international espionage, with the complex and damaged protagonist engaging in some standard missions. However, the narrative quickly takes a turn into more dangerous territory when de Payns’s cover is blown and it is suspected that someone within his organisation set him up. Now forced to not only investigate a dangerous weapons facility but also determine who betrayed him, The Frenchman quickly becomes an impressive tale of treachery, paranoia and deceit, with de Payns finding his attention drawn in several different directions. Beaumont has crafted together an excellent and compelling narrative here, which unfolds in a methodical and deliberate pace. Every story element is intricately connected, and the reader has an excellent time seeing the protagonist engage in his operations while also attending to his personal missions and his fears over the mysterious traitor in the organisation. The author ensures that the story goes in some intriguing directions, with some captivating and suspenseful high-stakes scenes pulling the protagonist, his family and innumerable French citizens into lethal danger. Beaumont sticks in some great twists, especially around the DGSE traitor subplot, and I particularly loved the clever, if somewhat dark, ending. This amazing story blends in well with the author’s intriguing main protagonist and the insanely authentic detail to create an outstanding spy thriller that readers should be able to power through extremely quickly.

It is impossible to talk about The Frenchman without discussing the sheer level of detail that Beaumont shoves into the novel as he delves into the various aspects of spycraft and modern-day espionage operations. Readers get a major crash course in every aspect of French intelligence work, from how the organisation works, what sort of operations they run and the sort of people who are employed as French spies. There is also a huge focus on tradecraft, as the author meticulously details all the various tricks and procedures that operatives are required to perform during operations. Beaumont features so many cool examples of tradecraft throughout this book, including the creation and maintenance of legends, coming up with cover stories while undercover in other nations, the manipulation and management of contacts for information and how to run a successful surveillance operation. There is also a huge amount of focus on the various procedures operatives go through in everyday life, not just when they are on missions, including all the different countersurveillance and strategic movements that the protagonist utilises to ensure he is not being followed home. I also liked how the story depicted espionage missions as relatively low-key and less exciting than people familiar with Hollywood blockbusters would expect. Rather than the protagonist engaging in major action sequences or single-handedly taking out every single terrorist or spy he encounters, he instead performs complex surveillance operations or discrete undercover contacts, which allows his team to build up the intelligence they need to send in proper combat specialists. All of this proves to be incredibly fascinating, if a little overwhelming, and I really loved the sheer amount of authenticity that Beaumont brings to The Frenchman by exploring this tradecraft. While the story did occasionally get bogged down in jargon and acronyms, the author’s attention to detail and impressive insights made for a much more realistic story, which really stands out from some of the other spy thrillers out there.

In addition to this comprehensive examination of tradecraft and international espionage, I was also impressed with how Beaumont examined the psyche of an intelligence operative, highlighted the various struggles that people in this profession experience. As the story is primarily told from de Payns’s point of view, the readers get a great view of how his job as a spy impacts him: increased stress, panic attacks and a major sense of guilt due to some of the deaths attributed to him. The Frenchman also examines the strains that this job has on operative’s family life, and the author makes it clear that most marriages to spies do not last due to the constant secrecy and uncertainty. Beaumont does a particularly good job exploring this through de Payns, as the protagonist is constantly forced to keep things from his wife, while also disappearing for days at end, reappearing mentally wearied and afraid. These problems are further exacerbated by the overwhelming sense of paranoia that de Payns carries with him as he is constantly worried that his enemies will find out about his family and use them to manipulate or destroy him. For example, he becomes increasingly suspicious of a new family friend who his wife and kids welcome into their lives, and he spends time investigating them and their family, trying to determine if they are threats. Due to the story being told from de Payns’s perspective, this new character appears extremely suspicious, and the reader is uncertain whether they are an actual threat or a red herring brought on by the protagonist’s paranoia. This portrayal of the mindset of the spy is deeply compelling, and I really liked that the author took the time to dive into this, especially as he probably utilised his own experiences to make it even more detailed and realistic.

Debuting author Jack Beaumont has produced an epic and exciting read with The Frenchman, a clever and deeply compelling spy thriller that ruthlessly grabs the reader’s attention and refuses to let go. Filled with intense amounts of detail and dripping with authenticity, The Frenchman is an impressive and highly enjoyable novel that is strongly recommended. I had an absolute blast with this debut and I really hope that Beaumont continues to write more intriguing spy novels in the future.

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