Liberation Day - Andy McNab

Well, this one was definitely better than the last I am pleased to report :D. The plot is good although it does finish pretty quickly - as I suppose most operations on the ground usually do. The epilogue at the end ties things up nicely though with an element of hope. The bad thing that I thought was going to happen at the end of this book didn't, so I reckon it'll probably happen at the end of the next. But I think we'll have a McNab break for a bit.

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The plot of Liberation Day opens with Nick Stone in a good place - he's a happy guy for once. Yay! He has a girlfriend he's willing to give up doing deniable ops for, with the possibility of a good job as a bar tender at the local snooty yacht club while she run's her mum's B&B. Nick Stone? A Bar Tender? In a yacht club? Yeah right... that was never going to happen was it, lol. Anyway, desperate for a US passport so he can stay in the country with his girlfriend and be on the same continent as Kelly he carries out one last job. The job amazingly goes well with no hiccups and a delightful package of a severed head is offered up as confirmation. Excellent... everything sorted, nothing more to worry about, right?

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Wrong. Stone employers have pretty much stitched him up again. It seems that the 'one last job' they need him to do turns out to be the small task of fighting the war on terror (since this story is set after the Sept. 11th attacks). So obviously this is going to take a little longer than merely a quick job to dispose of a few bodies and pick up a pint of milk on the way home. And so Nick is forced to trot off again, this time to the south of France to disrupt the financial chain between terrorists based in the US (posing as normal citizens) and Al Queda. Unfortuately this pisses his girlfriend off (she's not really into violence and has slight tree-hugging tendancies) and she hot-foots it off. Poor Nick, just as things were starting to look up too. Still we knew it wouldn't last.

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And so the story develops from here really. It is a pretty good story and not overly complicated so is easy to keep up with. From a woman's point of view (yes, yes, I know...) it was nice to see a bit more of Stone's emotional side - not much of it mind... bit it was there none the less. He seems genuinely cut up that Carrie (the girlfriend) couldn't understand and had left him. Still, like the experienced deniable op that he is he cuts away and gets on with the job. The two other guys in his team are great characters also. There is some nice banter between them all and you get a really nice sense of commeraderie between them - the scenes described in the safe house are good for a chuckle :) - and at last you're glad that Nick finally has some help with him. Again we see a bit more of Stone's emotional side here as he reveals the bond between them. Alot of the dialoge takes place through the radios that all three use to stay in contact while actually doing the job. This is pretty good as it puts you right in the thick of it along with them. There's not too much jargon in there either so it's pretty easy to work out what they mean when they refer to 'trigger', 'go complete' and 'foxtrot'.

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So all in all a durn good book and a whole lot better effort than the last one. McNab's crown has been fully restored to his rightful position :D

Last Light - Andy McNab

Ok, where do I start... Probably with the fact that it took me ages to read this book. And I really do mean ages! I started it back in October and I only finished reading it at the beginning of Feb. Shocking behaviour I know but I can't be held entirely responsible...

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Last Light I think is probably McNab's poorest effort in the series so far. I just couldn't get into it at all. It just seemed to drag on forever... and ever.... and ever... Probably not helped by the fact that it took me so long to get through which probably made it seem worse. For me there was just far too much description of things that as reader I really didn't give a monkeys about. Normally McNab's descriptions of the why, what and where are really interesting and help move the story along and give you insider knowledge as to all the goings-on. But this time around it just annoyed me. There seemed to be far too much of it and not enough raw action and the main point as to the story was a bit lost on me since I was getting a bit bored of wading through all the descriptive text. It may be that the format was beginning to get bit old also. It seemed to be the same as all the past books.

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However, you still do have to feel a bit sorry for Nick Stone. At the beginning of this story he is really down and out... proper style. He has nothing... which I admit did seem a bit odd since in Firewall the Russian Mafia Boss had given him the deeds to over a million pounds worth of property... so what happened to all that lot I have no idea. Maybe Stone spent it all on Kelly's treatment but he never mentions it which is strange. Therefore he takes a job he doesn't want to do in order to get the money he needs for Kelly's therapy. Needless to say, in an attack of conscience it goes all wrong and thus he has to head off to Panama to finish the job... and this is where the story begins to flag I'm afraid. For me anyway. I'm sure there are loads of other out there who loved it :).

But anyway, it hasn't put me off reading more of McNab's work... at the moment I'm half way through Liberation Day which has been pretty good so far... but from the other reviews I've read I get the impression something really really bad is going to happen a the end... eek!

Firewall - Andy McNab

I finally finished this book last Saturday. This wasn't the fault of the book though. I go through phases where I read and read to the exclusion of everything else. However, this phase ended just after I started the book so that's why it took me so long. I've read it before anyway and may also have had a bit of McNab overload so that probably contributed to my slow reading!
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Anyway, like McNab's other books Firewall is pretty good. The storyline is full of thrills and punch-ups and poor old Nick never seems to catch a break. If you ever had a bad day at work - trust me when I say he has had worse!
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This book follows Nick in his desperation to get some major finance together for Kelly's hospital treatment after she succums to post-traumatic stress disorder (read Remote Control for reasons why). Low on funds and with a wreck of a house for Kelly's home Nick will do anything - even for ROC (Russian Organised Crime). As always McNab seems to have his pulse on what is going on in the world and Firewall is about preventing commercial espionage by unsavory organisations who can not be allowed to have access to any governemnts secrets. Why Nick chooses to believe the Russians of all people is beyond me....! But I like I say, I guess he really needs the cash.
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The story follows Nick as he is seduced by the millions he is set to earn by stealing the Echelon program from an unsuspecting group of hackers and hand it over to the Russians. For this he needs his old mate Tom to crack the firewall and steal the program. Convincing Tom to do it is a challenge in itself. The two fly to Finland where the first attempt to steal the program goes completely wrong when another group intent on the same mission turn up and results in Tom's kidnap. The usual fight scenes ensue but all the while with McNab's descriptions bringing them to life so you feel the punches hit you with the same force as they do the characters. Nick goes on the hunt for Tom on Russian instructions to now destroy both the Echelon program and Tom. This takes him to Estonia where, with the help of his new buddy 'Eight' he gathers what he needs to blow the place sky-high and claim the cash. It is here during these descriptive parts when Nick is pulling together what he needs to get the job done that NcNab's field experience shines through. The way he explains it is dead easy to grasp and you can totally visualise what Nick is up to and his thought processes. More fight scenes and a brilliantly executed explosion later, Tom and Nick must navigate through devastaing weather conditions as they escape the compound to evade capture. Cold, hungry and tired and without any survival equipment they set off into the freezing cold.
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However, as always with Nick Stone's life, nothing is ever that simple...

Crisis Four - Andy McNab

Crisis Four is the second book in the Nick Stone series and just like Remote Control it’s full of action and intrigue.
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Personally, one of my favourite parts of these books is Nick’s relationship with Kelly. This focuses his attention on something else in his life other than him and it’s interesting to see how this affects his choices – even past SAS operatives are human too (shock horror!). She doesn’t appear too much in this story but we find out that Nick is now Kelly’s joint guardian and with that has come a responsibility unlike any other he’s ever had.
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The story opens on an operation in Syria where we are introduced to Nick’s old flame, Sarah Greenwood. When I read Recoil last month I mentioned I was glad that McNab had tackled a more lovey dovey side to Nick that I hadn’t seen before. However, I’d forgotten and Nick pretty much falls in love with Sarah in Crisis Four so it’s actually here that we first see how Stone reacts towards the ladies. McNab does a good job telling it from the side of a bloke unable to cope with these type of emotions.
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As usual for Nick though things do not go according to plan. He’s already ticked off with Sarah for using him in the past and in the opening chapter she screws him over again causing one of his team to get killed. The book then skips forward a few years to where Stone is sent on a mission to locate her as she’s gone AWOL in the States and the firm are concerned about where her loyalties lie. It’s here in the first half of the book that McNab’s operational experience really shows through as the detail he goes to in setting up the situations for us are second to none – but as always, narrated in the squaddie language style we love so much!
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After finding Sarah and listening to her side of events he decides to ignore the “T104” order and help her out, believing that to stop a greater wrong is more beneficial on a global scale than ignoring an trifling order from the Firm. Plus, more to the point, he still fancies his chances with her. Here the action gets intense as Sarah and Nick dodge bullets, dogs and hypothermia as they are pursued across North Carolina by the police. They eventually make it out alive and as their next step is to try and enter the White House, Nick must call on an old friend who he knows he will have to screw over in order to help Sarah.
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Like Remote Control, the book leaves you guessing right up until the end and you’re never quite sure who the bad guys are. Invariably Stone takes the brunt of the blame as things do not go to plan in Washington and at the end of the story Stone is left wondering if there is anyone out there who he can trust – or even if there is anyone left who can trust him…

Remote Control - Andy McNab

After reading Recoil last week and enjoying it so much I figured I would go about trying to read all the books in order - an idea reinforced by happening across Remote Control in a charity shop a few days ago and picking it up for the bargain price for 99p!
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So, here we find ourselves at the start of the Nick Stone series. It's been ten years since I read this book and it was really great to read it again. It's even more gritty and action-packed than I remember it being which is why I read it so quick coz I couldn't put the thing down!
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This story is about government greed, corruption and betrayal all interlaced with the relationship between Nick and Kelly as he tries to uncover what is going on whilst on the run with a seven-year old in tow. Stone is working for The Firm on deniable operations and is sent to the States to follow two known PIRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army) players. Just after landing however, the operation is pulled unexpectedly and he's ordered back to the UK immediately. Killing time between his flight out he visits his old mate Kev and finds the family slaughtered in their own home. Only Kelly, their daughter, has survived. The Firm refuse to help Stone out of the situation due to him being in the States on a deniable op and will only do so should Stone manage to find his way back to England with sufficient evidence behind the killings - thanks very much!
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With Stone now being the key suspect in the murder, thus ensues an action packed tale of chases, fights, dingy hotel rooms, and the search to uncover the truth where he can only rely on others for help. The thing I really like about this book and others of McNab's that I've read is that he's not afraid to tackle the subject of the plan going wrong. His books are not like Hollywood movies where the plan always works and the good guy comes out smelling of roses. He knows people make mistakes and screw up and with a seven-year old as an accomplice there is ample opportunity to explore this. The story is dead easy to read and the pace rarely slows, and with a wicked twist at the end it really makes a great read. McNab's descriptions of people and methaphors on occasion had me laughing out loud as we get a taste of Stone's sarcasm and wit regarding his situations.
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The way McNab deals with the relationship between Stone and Kelly is also brilliant and always honest. He identifies the difficulties of not only being on the run with a child, but how difficult it can be for someone who's not used to dealing with kids to try and coerce them into doing what he needs whilst trying to help her come to terms with the death of her family (something which he initially tries to side-step). From taking her from the the horrors of her home with the intention of off-loading her onto someone else, to eventually wanting to protect her himself and get revenge for her fathers death you can see how Stone's attitude to his responsibility changes as the story develops. I think it's the way McNab deals with these dynamics that make his books appeal to both sexes: action stuff for the men; emotional stuff for the women - and vice versa of course : )
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The only down-sides to the book that I can see are the fact that NcNab seems to repeat some descriptions found in the first chapter later in the book pretty much word for word (copy-editor was obviously asleep), and with a cool "Macgyver"-esque scenario at the end of the book it ends a bit too abruptly for my liking. However, it's still a cracking read with loads of intrigue and action which personally leave me gagging for the next installment. Off to search the thrift shops I go!

Recoil - Andy McNab

Now, Andy McNab I think, is one of those writers whose fiction books you'll either like or you won't. His language is incredibly basic, no frills and with metaphors and character analogies so unpretentious they come across as refreshingly honest. However, the basic 'squaddie' language I think is the whole part of their charm and style and what makes his books so great to read - you really get a sense that he know's what he's taking about when he writes which of course, being ex-SAS, he absolutely does. His writing comes from experience and this really comes through when you read and makes his action scenes come to life. Personally, anyone who says that McNab's books are rubbish obviously hasn't read any of them.
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Recoil is the 9th book in the series following the character of Nick Stone. I have read the first three in the series: Remote Control, Crisis Four and Firewall which have given the reader a great deal of info on Stone's character, the reasons why he is the way he is and how he came to become guardian of his dead mate's daughter, Kelly. As Recoil is the 9th in the series he doesn't touch on the Kelly issue at all so I guess the major questions get answered in books 4-8. In Recoil however, Stone thinks he's fallen in love and it's interesting to see McNab tackle some of those issues that he hadn't in the others that I've read so far. The story this time is based in Africa where Stone travels to retrieve his girlfriend who's run off to do relief work in the war-torn Congo jungle. Ultiimately they realise they don't know each other at all what with them both being at either ends of the social spectrum - him with a gun in his hand and shooting people and her with a medic degree and patching up the mess. Most of the story is taken up with Stone and some of his old crew helping to defend the tin mine from the militant LRG who are good at using the local malnourished kids to fight their war. As with the other books you don't really need to read it in series order as each has it's own story you can read independently which is great if you just want to pick up an easy read you can really get into and probably finish in a weekend. McNab's books are great for this especially if you want the thrill of the chase without having to plough through a whole lot of political mumbo jumbo like you get in, say, Ludlum's novels (which incidently are fantasic books if you are in for the whole story with all it's political in's and out's and twists and turns etc. I can particularly recommend The Altman Code). This book is great for a beach read or if you want a weekend quickie and won't fail to deliver action - you'll probably even pick up a handy SAS tip or two! All in all a great read and with McNab's field experience and no-nonsence prose you really get the feel of being out there in the middle of it all.
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And at the end of the day, whether you like McNab or not, parts of the story are heart-breaking and harrowing and bring up some really thought-provoking points about how we in the West live and the inpact this has on the third-world, and in my opinion this can never be a bad thing.