The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

October 12, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

The Hunt for Red October was the first techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy. It was published in 1984 by the Naval Institute Press and the U.S. President, at the time, Ronald Reagan said of it, that he had enjoyed reading the book. I’m not surprised, it’s a real page-turner.

It’s a clever plot, with a lot of detail. Russian Naval Captain Marko Ramius, who is of Lithuanian descent, is at sea with his nuclear submarine. The sub is called Red October, hence the books name, and it is bristling with state-of-the-art ballistic missiles. The submarine utilises a silent propulsion system called the caterpillar drive. This means that audio detection by passive sonar is near impossible – this is deeply concerning for the Americans.

He appears to have gone rogue.

We first see a name, Jack Ryan, which we all know now. Jack Ryan works for the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst. Jack has a theory. He believes that Ramius is intent on defecting to the United States.

Ramius kills the boats political officer, Ivan Putin, in case he tried to prevent him from defecting. He lies to the crew telling them that they are going to Cuba, but by this time the Russians are in hot pursuit having been notified of his plans by Ramius. The letter arrived after he had set sail.

The Russians pretend that they are on a search and rescue mission, but they will sink Red October if they have to.

As the Red October passes by Iceland whilst making its escape it comes close to the USS Dallas, a Los Angeles-class submarine. The American crew hear an unusual sound, the caterpillar drive, but they don’t initially think that it is as a submarine.

The Americans suspect the motives of the Russians and crews are on alert.

On the Dallas submarine the crew analyse the sonar tape again. They realise that what they heard was the new propulsion system of the Red October.

Jack Ryan then begins to work his magic.

Tom Clancy wrote many fantastic books in his career, but The Hunt for Red October has always been my personal favourite of his.

Buy the book or Audio of The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy from Amazon

Or buy the DVD from AMAZON

Tecno-thrillers, espionage thrillers and political thrillers have become immensely popular and diverse in the last three years.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

October 9, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

American writer Dashiell Hammett wrote the classic novel The Maltese Falcon.

It was originally serialized, like many of Charles Dickens’ works, in the Black Mask magazine in 1929 to 30. The book was made into the classic film of the same name with actors Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Sydney Greenstreet and incredible Peter Lorre.

Sam Spade is the main character and practises as a private detective, in partnership with Miles Archer, in San Francisco.

A glamorous beauty, Miss Wonderly, hires them to follow a man called Floyd Thursby, who she says has run away with her sister. Archer sets off to follow Thursby, but winds up dead that night. He’d been shot. Next Thursby gets himself killed and the police suspect Spade.

Miss Wonderly is unmasked. She is actually called Brigid O’Shaughnessy. It transpires that she is on the hunt for a very valuable black statue of a falcon. She is not the only one. A shady Greek called Joel Cairo and Casper Gutman are also after the falcon. Gutman has in his service, one Wilmer Cook, a young, volatile, gun-totting thug. O’Shaughnessy will not spill the beans to Spade, though she is desperate for his help.

I can’t tell you the rest as it would spoil such a wonderful plot.

It is a story which is full of mystery, intrigue and thrills set off with a touch of the exotic.

Dashiell Hammett wrote this best seller novel, The Maltese Falcon, while living at 891 Post Street in downtown San Francisco. As an homage I visited the spot when I lived there. He is one of the worlds finest writers of detective novels and his work endures.

Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean

October 9, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

Alistair Maclean died in 1987, but what a legacy he left behind.

Alistair MacLean wrote the novel, Where Eagles Dare, at the same time as he wrote the screenplay. The 1968 film was shot on location in Bavaria and Austria. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced this classic film with stars such as Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. Both the book and the film were a major success.

Out of interest, the title comes from Act I, Scene III in William Shakespeare’s play Richard III: ‘The world is grown so bad, that wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch’.

The plot has various twists and turns. During the winter of 1943 to 44 U.S. Army Brigadier General George Carnaby is captured by the Germans. He is said to be a chief planner for the Western Front. The Germans take him to Schloß Adler to be interrogated. The castle can only be accessed by cable car or by helicopter.

A British Major, John Smith and a U.S. Army Ranger Lieutenant, Morris Schaffer (Clint Eastwood) are instructed on their mission by Colonel Turner and Admiral Rolland of Britain’s MI6. They are to be parachuted into Germany disguised as German troops with a team of commandos. Their mission – to rescue Carnaby before he can be interrogated. They are dropped by a captured German Ju-52 transport plane. Smith secretly contacts agents Mary Ellison and Heidi Schmidt. The other commandoes do not know of their existence. Heidi gets Mary a job as a secretary at the castle.

Two of the commandoes are killed in suspicious circumstances, though Smith decides to continue the operation. He works closely with Shaffer and informs London of what is happening.

The commandos surrender to the Germans and Smith and Schaffer are separated from the enlisted men. Smith and Schaffer quickly kill the Germans who are guarding them and then get their escape route ready. They ride on top of the cable car and then climb up a rope, lowered by Mary, into the castle.

Carnaby is being interrogated by General Rosemeyer and Standartenführer Kramer. When the three captured enlisted men arrive, they identify themselves as German double agents.

The plot then gets quite tricky to follow. But it is worth staying with it as it is ingenious.

Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean is a fantastic read and the film is a classic and one to watch over and over again. He is a great author in the style of Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.

Buy Where Eagles Dare from one of the worlds greatest fiction authors and you will not be sorry.

The Firm by John Grisham

October 9, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

The Firm, by John Grisham, is a cleverly plotted work of legal fiction written by John Grisham and published in 1991. It was immensely successful and was then, in 1993, made into a film with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tom Cruise, and Gene Hackman. The Firm also spawned a television series in 2012.

This was Grisham’s second work, following A Time To Kill which was published in 1989. After The Firm’s success his first book then came to prominence and was also hugely successful, being made into a film. The film A Time To Kill starred Matthew McConaughey, Ashley Judd, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Donald Sutherland and Patrick McGoohan.

The name of the main character, Mitchell “Mitch” McDeere, must be ingrained into the minds of all lawyers and prospective lawyers in North America and beyond and especially to tax specialists.

The novel has terrific pace and great character development as it races through its cerebral path and cat and mouse chase.

John Grisham is one of the heavyweights in the written fictional word and rightly so.

McDeeres graduated with a top degree in accountancy and then went on to graduate, third in his class, from Harvard Law School. He had two brothers, one died in Vietnam and one is in prison, a fact he would rather keep quiet.

He is married to a school teacher, Abby.

Mitch gets a superb financial offer from a law firm in Memphis, Bendini, Lambert and Locke, a small tax law firm based in Memphis. After joining he is under great pressure to study and pass the bar exam. Mitch is assigned to the maverick partner, Avery Tolar.

Shortly before McDeere starts, Marty Kozinski and Joe Hodge, two of the lawyers in the firm are killed in the Caymans Islands, in a scuba diving accident. Mitch goes to the funerals and then finds out that three other lawyers who worked for the firm also died. His suspicions are aroused and he contacts a fiend of his brother, Eddie Lomax. Lomax is a private investigator and he agrees to start working the case.

Suspicious, he hires a private investigator, Eddie Lomax, an ex-cellmate of his brother Ray, to investigate the deaths of the attorneys.

Lomax is killed, but not before he warns McDeere to be careful. He had found out that the other three lawyers had also died suspiciously.

McDeere is targeted by an FBI agent, Wayne Tarrance. He finds out that the FBI are watching the firm.

McDeere goes to Washington, D.C. on a business trip where he is informed by the FBI that the firm is a front. It looks after the financial affairs of the Chicago Morolto crime family.

McDeere’s work has been honest thus far, but the lawyers are gradually enmeshed in the criminal side of the firm including tax fraud and money laundering operation.

The lawyers, once drawn in cannot leave, if they try to then they are killed.

Mitch finds out that Kozinski and Hodge were in contact with the FBI when they were murdered.

The firm’s security chief, DeVasher, becomes suspicious that he is getting involved with the FBI.

McDeere agrees to assist the FBI in return for 2 million dollars and his brother, Ray’s release from prison. Tammy Hemphill, Lomax’s secretary, helps McDeere to copy thousands of incriminating documents at great personal risk.

A leak in the FBI leaves McDeere exposed and he escapes stealing 10 million, as he does so, from one of the firm’s Grand Cayman bank accounts.

The FBI indicts many of the present and former members of Bendini, Lambert and Locke. They also indict a large group of suspected members of the Morolto family. The charges range from money laundering to, the not so sexy, mail fraud.

Mitch, Abby and Ray then live a contented life in the Caymans, living off the money.

John Grisham is an American attorney, politician and novelist specialising in legal thrillers. In an interview on the Charlie Rose show in 2016, Grisham said that his favorite author is John le Carré. The New York Times said of the book, ‘Mr. Grisham, a criminal defense attorney, writes with such relish about the firm’s devious legal practices that his novel might be taken as a how-to manual for ambitious tax-law students.’

John Grisham is one of my favourite authors of fiction and The Firm, one of my top picks for a thriller on a holiday read.

The Firm, van John Grisham, is een slim geplot werk van juridische fictie, geschreven door John Grisham en gepubliceerd in 1991. Het was een enorm succes en werd vervolgens, in 1993, verfilmd met Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tom Cruise en Gene Hackman. The Firm bracht in 2012 ook een televisieserie uit.

Dit was het tweede werk van Grisham, na A Time To Kill dat in 1989 werd gepubliceerd. Na het succes van The Firm kwam zijn eerste boek op de voorgrond en was ook enorm succesvol, omdat het werd verfilmd. De film A Time To Kill speelde Matthew McConaughey, Ashley Judd, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, Donald Sutherland en Patrick McGoohan.

De naam van de hoofdpersoon, Mitchell “Mitch” McDeere, moet ingebakken zijn in de hoofden van alle advocaten en toekomstige advocaten in Noord-Amerika en daarbuiten, en vooral bij fiscalisten.

De roman heeft een geweldig tempo en geweldige karakterontwikkeling terwijl het door zijn cerebrale pad en kat- en muisjacht raast.

John Grisham is een van de zwaargewichten in het geschreven fictieve woord en terecht.

McDeeres studeerde af met een topdiploma in accountancy en studeerde daarna, derde in zijn klas, af aan de Harvard Law School. Hij had twee broers, één stierf in Vietnam en één zit in de gevangenis, een feit dat hij liever zwijgt.

Hij is getrouwd met een onderwijzeres, Abby.

Mitch krijgt een fantastisch financieel aanbod van een advocatenkantoor in Memphis, Bendini, Lambert en Locke, een klein fiscaal advocatenkantoor gevestigd in Memphis. Na zijn toetreding staat hij onder grote druk om te studeren en het bar-examen te halen. Mitch wordt toegewezen aan de non-conformistische partner, Avery Tolar.

Kort voordat McDeere begint, komen Marty Kozinski en Joe Hodge, twee van de advocaten van de firma, om het leven op de Kaaimaneilanden bij een duikongeval. Mitch gaat naar de begrafenissen en komt er dan achter dat drie andere advocaten die voor het kantoor werkten ook zijn overleden. Zijn vermoedens worden gewekt en hij neemt contact op met een vijand van zijn broer, Eddie Lomax. Lomax is een privé-detective en hij stemt ermee in om de zaak te behandelen.

Verdacht huurt hij een privédetective in, Eddie Lomax, een ex-celgenoot van zijn broer Ray, om de dood van de advocaten te onderzoeken.

Lomax wordt gedood, maar niet voordat hij McDeere waarschuwt voorzichtig te zijn. Hij was erachter gekomen dat de andere drie advocaten ook verdacht waren overleden.

McDeere is het doelwit van een FBI-agent, Wayne Tarrance. Hij komt erachter dat de FBI het bedrijf in de gaten houdt.

McDeere gaat op zakenreis naar Washington, D.C., waar hij door de FBI wordt geïnformeerd dat het bedrijf een front is. Het zorgt voor de financiële zaken van de misdaadfamilie Chicago Morolto.

Het werk van McDeere is tot dusver eerlijk geweest, maar de advocaten raken geleidelijk verstrikt in de criminele kant van het bedrijf, waaronder belastingfraude en witwaspraktijken.

De advocaten, eenmaal aangetrokken, kunnen niet weggaan, als ze dat proberen, worden ze vermoord.

Mitch ontdekt dat Kozinski en Hodge in contact waren met de FBI toen ze werden vermoord.

De beveiligingschef van het bedrijf, DeVasher, wordt verdacht dat hij betrokken raakt bij de FBI.

McDeere stemt ermee in om de FBI te helpen in ruil voor 2 miljoen dollar en de vrijlating van zijn broer Ray uit de gevangenis. Tammy Hemphill, de secretaris van Lomax, helpt McDeere met het kopiëren van duizenden belastende documenten met groot persoonlijk risico.

Door een lek bij de FBI wordt McDeere blootgesteld en ontsnapt hij door 10 miljoen te stelen van een van de Grand Cayman-bankrekeningen van het bedrijf.

De FBI klaagt veel van de huidige en voormalige leden van Bendini, Lambert en Locke aan. Ze klagen ook een grote groep verdachte leden van de familie Morolto aan. De kosten variëren van het witwassen van geld tot, de niet zo sexy, postfraude.

Mitch, Abby en Ray leiden dan een tevreden leven op de Kaaimaneilanden en leven van het geld.

John Grisham is een Amerikaanse advocaat, politicus en romanschrijver die gespecialiseerd is in juridische thrillers. In een interview op de Charlie Rose-show in 2016 zei Grisham dat zijn favoriete auteur John le Carré is. The New York Times zei over het boek: ‘Mr. Grisham, een strafrechtadvocaat, schrijft met zoveel plezier over de slinkse juridische praktijken van het kantoor dat zijn roman kan worden opgevat als een handleiding voor ambitieuze studenten belastingrecht. ‘

John Grisham is een van mijn favoriete auteurs van fictie en The Firm, een van mijn topkeuzes voor een vakantieles.

The Altman Code by Robert Ludlum

October 5, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

The Altman Code is Robert Ludlum’s fourth book in the immensely popular Covert One series.

A photographer is cruelly killed on the docks in Shanghai, China. His crime? He took photographs of a cargo ship being loaded. The film is destroyed.

The US navy secretly follow a ship mid-ocean – the ship is Chinese, the cargo – believed to be lethal. Aboard are believed to be enormous quantities of chemicals. Chemicals which could be used to create WMD! Weapons of Mass Destruction!

The US President has no intention of seeing these weapons reach rogue elements in the already volatile Middle East.

The situation is immensely delicate.

After years of wrangling with the Chinese, they are close to agreement over human rights negotiations. The President does not want to jeopardise this, or to create an international incident.

Jon Smith, of Covert One, is deployed to find the evidence to incriminate the Chinese vessel. However, vital evidence is lost and an agent is killed. The options are narrowing.

Jon Smith’s mission is imperative and dangerous. The smoke and mirrors hide deadly secrets going to the heart of the powers governing China.

The Altman Code by Robert Ludlum is a truly thrilling read, as you might expect.

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

October 5, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

The Sunday Express said that this novel, Mr Mercedes by Stephen King, was’the best thriller of the year’.

Stephen King has written over fifty worldwide best-selling books. Mr Mercedes was the first novel of his to feature the character, Bill Hodges.

Several of Stephen Kings books have been made into films such The Shawshank Redemption.

King was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Mr Mercedes and won the prestigious Edgar Award for best novel for it. Mr Mercedes was also awarded the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014.

Stephen King has also been awarded the National Book Foundation Medal, the National Medal of Arts and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

No doubt, like many police officers Bill Hodges, cannot forget the cases that he couldn’t close. One particularly unpleasant case remains at the forefront of his mind. Early one morning at the opening of a jobs fair, eight people in the line-up of hundreds were killed.

They were killed by a madman who drove a stolen Mercedes into them. The deceased just wanted to improve their lives and the lives of their families on that morning and yet, their lives would cease that fateful day.

The horror of that day and the killer at large haunts Hodges. Then one day the fire is re-ignited in him. He receives a letter from someone claiming to be the killer. He says he will kill again.

Bill Hodges had never liked to see a criminal get away with a crime. He was intent that this killer would not repeat his crime, retirement or no retirement, he was going to get him!

Brady Hartsfield is intent on killing again, taunting Hodges just adds some spice to the event. This time he is intent on killing many more.

Hodges and his buddies will do everything they can to catch the killer before it is too late.

This is a beautifully crafted novel with three dimensional characters and a fast paced, page turning plot from one of the masters of the craft.

Take the time to read this novel, Mr Mercedes, you will not be disappointed.

Mr Mercedes bytop international fiction author Stephen King is available at World of Books.

サンデーエクスプレスは、この小説、スティーブンキングのメルセデス氏が「今年の最高のスリラー」だったと語っています。

スティーブンキングは50冊以上の世界的なベストセラーの本を書きました。メルセデス氏は彼の最初の小説であり、その人物であるビル・ホッジスをフィーチャーした。

スティーブンキングスの本のいくつかは、The Shawshank Redemptionなどの映画になっています。

キングはメルセデス氏のCWAゴールドダガー賞の候補者に選ばれ、最高の小説で名誉あるエドガー賞を受賞しました。メルセデス氏は、2014年のベストミステリーアンドスリラーでGoodreads Choice Awardも受賞しました。

スティーブンキングは、全米ミステリーライターズから全米ブックファンデーションメダル、全米芸術メダル、グランドマスター賞も受賞しています。

多くの警察官のビル・ホッジスのように、彼が閉じることができなかった事件を忘れることはできません。特に不愉快な事件が彼の心の最前線に残っています。ある就職説明会のオープニングのある早朝、数百人のラインナップのうち8人が殺されました。

彼らは盗まれたメルセデスを彼らに押し込んだ狂人によって殺されました。故人はその朝、自分たちの生活と家族の生活を改善したかっただけでしたが、彼らの人生はその運命の日をやめてしまいました。

その日の恐怖と大規模な殺人犯はホッジスに出没する。それからある日、彼の中で火が再点火されました。彼は殺人者であると主張する誰かから手紙を受け取ります。彼はまた殺すと言っている。

ビル・ホッジスは、犯罪者が犯罪で逃げるのを好むことはありませんでした。彼はこの殺人犯が彼の犯罪、引退、または引退を繰り返さないことを意図していました、彼は彼を手に入れるつもりでした！

ブレイディハーツフィールドは再び殺害することを目指しており、ホッジスをからかうことはイベントにスパイスを加えるだけです。今回は彼はもっともっと殺そうとしている。

ホッジとその仲間は、手遅れになる前に殺人犯を捕まえるためにできる限りのことをします。

これは、美しく細工された小説であり、3次元のキャラクターと、工芸の巨匠の1人によるペースの速いページめくりのプロットです。

時間をかけてこの小説を読んでください、メルセデスさん、あなたは失望することはありません。

スティーブンキングのメルセデス氏は、World of Booksで入手できます。

スリラー

The 18th Abduction by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

October 4, 2018June 5, 2022Leave a comment

James Patterson is a prolific writer having written 147 novels in his career and selling more than 300 million books. Though it may seem almost impossible to believe, he holds the New York Times record for the most number 1 New York Times Best sellers by an author – an incredible 67. A total of 114 of his novels have actually been in the list.

He has sold more novels than Dan Brown, Stephen King and John Grisham – all top authors in their own right.

Patterson was awarded the Literarian Award in 2015 by the National Book Foundation for his philanthropy in relation to books and reading.

James Patterson regularly works with highly respected co-authors such as Ashwin Sanghi, Candice Fox, Maxine Paetro, Andrew Gross, Mark Sullivan, Peter de Jonge and Michael Ledwidge and. He even co-authored with former U.S. President Bill Clinton writing the novel, The President Is Missing.

The 18th Abduction is another in the Women’s Murder Club series.

In San Francisco three schoolteachers disappear, all women. Soon the investigation becomes one of murder.

Detective Lindsay Boxer is under great pressure. Her husband, Joe Molinari, gets involved with a woman who has a startling revelation. She came from Eastern Europe and she says that she saw a high-profile war criminal from there in San Francisco.

The journalist, Cindy Thomas, researches the missing women and their backgrounds with startling discoveries. The woman who spoke to Joe unexpectedly disappears adding to the intrigue.

The threads of the mystery begin to merge and Lindsay, her husband Joe and the Women’s Murder Club combine their efforts to expose the vicious international criminals at the root.

Believable, frightening and very readable.

The 18th Abduction by James Patterson is available to buy from Penguin books or Amazon. Between James Patterson and Maxine Paetro they have created a masterpiece in this fiction novel.