Genre: Thriller
Description:
After a
government sanctioned hit goes spectacularly wrong, Mossad agent Thomas is
blamed for the mission’s failure by his superiors, ousted before completing his
very first job. Desperate to prove himself, Thomas accepts an offer from his
former handler, Yakov, to assassinate Jacob Okonjo, the head of the African
Union. The story follows Thomas as he struggles to stay focused on the job in
hand instead of giving in to sex and drugs.
Author:
Born in Oxford, England, raised by a community of teachers, nurses,
poets and drinkers. Has lived in New York and London, working as a barman,
chef, waiter, projectionist, theatre-usher, home-tutor, DVD store-clerk,
receptionist, movie-extra, furniture-remover, factory-worker and pharmaceutical
company guinea pig. Graduate of the Bath Spa Creative Writing MA.
Appraisal:
The story started, as a good thriller should, with plenty
of action. Thomas was painted as an A-type, highly driven to prove himself to
his superiors in Mosad. Once his first hit fails, he struggles to handle the
speed with which he is both blamed and ostracized by his superiors--a nicely
set up internal conflict for the main character.
He is finally given one last chance to make good, which
involves many months posing as a room-service waiter in the hotel where his new
target will eventually stay. For me, the story lost its way here. His decline
into booze and drugs and his penchant for beautiful women were beyond cliché.
Thomas came across as weak-minded and undisciplined. This contradicted the profile
he earlier prided himself on, and I couldn’t shake the idea that such
personality deficiencies would have precluded this man from ever graduating as
a Mossad agent.
Most of the novel was spend in this middle section at the
hotel. The ending again delivered plenty of action, but Thomas’s character had
been so undermined for me by that time that I couldn’t suspend disbelief
sufficiently to accept him as capable of delivering a well-structured
denouement.
Format/Typo
Issues:
British spelling.
Rating: *** Three Stars
Reviewed
by:
Pete Barber
Approximate
word count:
65-70,000 words
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