Boxer’s punchy tale of betrayal
KILLER INTENT by Tony Kent (Elliott & Thompson £12.99)
THIS ambitious and spirited debut from a former amateur boxer turned criminal barrister mixes terrorism with political conspiracy and a plot to overthrow the government from within.
It opens with a startling assassination in Trafalgar Square, where a sniper kills a female member of the security service to allow another gunman to kill a leading politician with Irish connections.
The events are watched by U.S. TV reporter Sarah Truman and Major Joe Dempsey, formerly of the SAS, now a military intelligence officer.
The two begin parallel investigations into the shooting and find themselves sucked into a shadowy world of plots and counterplots as the British government begins to crumble under pressure.
Add into this mix a Belfastborn criminal barrister with a secret past and you have a compelling combination of political drama and lethal action. There are echoes of Michael Dobbs’s House Of Cards but there is more derring-do in Kent’s twisty tale, which has all the makings of a best-seller and the launch of a series based around Dempsey.
NEED TO KNOW by Karen Cleveland (Bantam £12.99)
THIS stunning debut from a woman who spent eight years working for the Central Intelligence Agency starts with a fresh and brilliant premise.
What if you discover that the man you have been married to for ten years, with whom you have four children, is a Russian spy planted in America to infiltrate the work that you, his wife, do as a counter-intelligence analyst for the CIA?
Even more disturbing, what if he does not deny it, but says instead he still loves you, and would do anything to keep you — even if you are tempted to reveal his identity to your masters at Langley? This is the beginning to an immensely satisfying story with serpentine twists and turns, constantly challenging the reader to reconsider what they thought they knew.
Espionage has seldom been so labyrinthine, ingenious and compelling. It promises to be a huge hit.
ONCE A PILGRIM by James Deegan (HQ £12.99)
A NEW recruit to the ranks of ex-SAS men turned thriller writers, former Regimental Sergeant Major James Deegan served for almost 20 years with the elite regiment and he has the Military Cross to prove it.
He brings every ounce of his experience to bear in this story of a former SAS man, John Carr, who sees his past among the Troubles in Ulster come back to haunt his new role as a security officer for a shadowy Russian oligarch.
The mean streets of Belfast in the worst of the battles involving the Provisional IRA and the Ulster Volunteer Force are spectacularly evoked, as are the brutal killings of three terrorists.
But the present is every bit as skilfully captured — not least in Deegan’s descriptions of the difficulties of trying to protect a Russian who appears unconcerned about his own safety.
Inevitably Deegan will be compared to Andy McNab and Chris Ryan, but he adds his own brand of contemporary authenticity. Carr is a hero for our times.