Jackie’s Reading Corner

SYNOPSIS

To change the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, an SAS hero must find the best of best. 
Then prepare for the worst . . .

A year after his older brother made the ultimate sacrifice, Sergeant Major Luke Carter, decorated hero of 22 SAS, is sent to Australia on a recruiting job. His orders: select two candidates from the SASR for a highly sensitive mission on foreign soil. 

But when a sudden crisis threatens to derail the plan, Carter and his new colleagues find themselves forced into action on a high-stakes operation. One that has the potential to change the course of the war in Ukraine.

So begins a deadly game of predator and prey, moving from the streets of Minsk to the cliffs above the Black Sea. And a final showdown with the biggest target of all . . .

MY REVIEW

I was really looking forward to reading this one, I have seen many of the television shows made from Chris Ryan’s books so thought it would be good to read for a change. My only problem is it took so long for me to actually really get into the story. As there is obviously a lot building up to the missions etc. So none of the real action started until after 100 pages in, but once it did the story began to fly quicker.

The story is pretty up to date especially with Putin in Russia. As the story begins Sergeant Major Luke Carter finds himself having to go to Perth, he has been asked to recruit a couple of guys, he has no idea what the mission is but has to try and sell it to the Australians all he knows is it is highly sensitive and on foreign soil.

When back at base the team of four are initially told they are going to Ukraine to train others, but this mission soon changes to them going to Minsk the job is to assassinate a man who is very close to Putin. Was the initial job real? As things look a little too put together to have suddenly change. But as the action starts will things go exactly as planned. Just as they finish, and think they are done they are thrown straight into another job, where some things may not go quite as planned. The team have no idea who they can trust even more so after mission two when they are sent on a third mission. Can they trust the guys in charge? Or is there someone closer that is selling them out. Towards the end the stakes become higher and the team seem compromised, can they make it out? Was the job set to fail from the start? Who could be the traitor? You will find yourself travelling from the UK to Perth, on to Belarus, Switzerland, Russia, stopping at Germany France and Turkey. So quite a few places.

Once I got into the story the pace picked up, I whizzed through the second half of the book. At times holding my breath wondering if Carter, Beach, Lazarides, and Dempsey with the aid of Volkorova would escape from each mission, the one in Minsk was all going to plan until it wasn’t due to one small thing. Overall if you like a good action read, with a mixture of lies and subterfuge, then this will appeal to you. After all it is written by a man who has seen these types of situations so knows what he is talking about.

This is well plotted, with a good mixture of characters both good and bad. There are times you will find yourself gripped as the action plays out, wondering if things would go as planned, then the pace would slow a little, build up again until the final scenes which will have you gripped. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💥💥💥💥💥 read.

Thank you to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me on the blog tour and the publishers @HoZ_Books for an ARC of the book, all thoughts are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Ryan was born in Newcastle. 

In 1984 he joined 22 SAS. After completing the year-long Alpine Guides Course, he was the troop guide for B Squadron Mountain Troop. He completed three tours with the anti-terrorist team, serving as an assaulter, sniper and finally Sniper Team Commander. 

Chris was part of the SAS eight-man team chosen for the famous Bravo Two Zero mission during the 1991 Gulf War. He was the only member of the unit to escape from Iraq, where three of his colleagues were killed and four captured, for which he was awarded the Military Medal. Chris wrote about his experiences in his book The One That Got Away, which became an immediate bestseller. Since then he has written over fifty books and presented a number of very successful TV programmes.