Please note that Doomsday is a sequel to The Mayan Conspiracy and due to that this review may contain minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. A deadly countdown has begun… Deep in the heart of the Amazon, an ancient Mayan stone is generating massive waves of energy while counting down to the apocalyptic date of December 21st 2012. Using a cryptic map and a prophecy that points to the end of the world, maverick agent Hawker and his partner Danielle Laidlaw are in a race-against-time to find the stone before it falls into the hands of a foreign power. And before the countdown stops… Doomsday picks up two years after the events in The Mayan Conspiracy, once again Danielle Laidlaw and Hawker are thrown together in an effort to save the world. The relationship between the two main protagonists is one of the books highlights, every time they are in the same room they continue to spark off of one another. The have a kind of bickering respect that makes their exchanges fun to read. Again most of the action takes place in South America and the lush jungles and mysterious ruins make for an effective backdrop to the…

The biggest manhunt in history begins Danny Shanklin wakes up slumped across at a table in an unfamiliar hotel room in London. He’s wearing a black balaclava, a red tracksuit and a brand new pair of Nikes. There’s a faceless dead man on the floor and Danny’s got a high-powered rifle strapped to his hands. He hears sirens and stumbles to the window to see a burning limousine and bodies all over the street. The police are closing in. They’re coming for him. With only his tech-support friend the Kid for backup, Danny set out on a nail-biting odyssey through the panicked city streets in a desperate bid to escape, protect the people he loves and track down the men who set him up – and make them pay. But with 500,000 CCTV cameras, 44,000 cops, 9 intelligence agencies and dozens of TV news channels all hot on his tail, just how long can an innocent man survive.  The best thing about reviewing books regularly is that if I read something that I don’t really enjoy or can’t connect with, I know that I’ll shortly be moving onto something that I will like. Last week I read a novel that…

A walking time-bomb ticks away in London… Captain Peter Skellen has resigned from the SAS and is looking for a new master. To Frankie Leigh, the rich and beautiful socialite and leader of the People’s Lobby, Skellen’s intimate knowledge of SAS counter-terrorist undercover operations makes him an irresistible recruit. The People’s Lobby are planning the biggest act of terrorism ever mounted in the capital. To the SAS and New Scotland Yard, Skellen is a menace who must be stopped at all costs. But how do you find a man who has been trained to disappear? How many men’s lives do you risk? I have to begin this post with a small apology. This following will in all likelihood wander off into the realms of self-indulgence on my part. I’m taking a look at a novel that was published way back in nineteen eighty-two. Ever since I first saw Who Dares Wins I have been slightly obsessed with it. I’ve always felt that it was a perfect self-contained British action movie. I can cite this as being the film that first ignited my interest in the thriller genre. In the past, I have even gone so far as to write a…

For centuries, their race has lived beneath the earth, emerging only at night, to feed quietly on the dregs of society and slip back into the shadows. But now their time has come – their time to rise up from their hiding places and take back what is theirs. San Francisco homicide detective Bryan Klauser is supposed to be hunting a serial killer. But a serial killer couldn’t be responsible for the seemingly impossible DNA evidence the crime-scene techs keep finding – or for the gory, strangely prophetic dreams Bryan keeps having. And what about the connections he keeps finding to a century-old cult – and his superiors’ sudden reluctance to give him the answers he needs about cases that should be dead and buried? Ultimately, Klauser’s investigations will reveal a race of killers who’ve long lurked beneath San Francisco’s streets – and are preparing to take back the city. Klauser is the only man who can stop them, because . . . he might not be a man at all. It’s a constant surprise how much external forces influence the enjoyment of my reading. Nocturnal is a perfect example of this. I recently started watching The Wire (I know, I know,…

Please note this is novel is a direct sequel to The Mayan Resurrection and third in an on-going series. This review may contain potential spoilers for those who have not read books one and two. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Fate comes full circle… It is 2047: fourteen years since Jacob Gabriel descended into the Mayan netherworld, while his twin brother turned from their chosen path, opting to remain behind.   Immanuel Gabriel – still running from the forces that hunt his bloodline – believes his actions proved his role in the Mayan prophecy to be nothing but an ancient myth. Now, though, he will realize his mistake.  As the prophecy begins to repeat itself and mankind once again faces annihilation, Immanuel learns there was only ever one person with the power to end the cycle of destruction: himself. Three successive generations of the Gabriel family have now been involved in the race to save the Earth from itself. This novel finally brings them all together, no mean feat when at least one of them has been dead for decades. The action moves from 2047 back to 1990 and then forward again to the eve of the apocalyptic event the Mayans predicted…

Mitch Rapp is a man on a mission For months, Mitch has been working his way through a list of men responsible for the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing – bullet by bullet. His next target – a Libyan diplomat – should be easy. Prone to drink and currently is Paris without a bodyguard, Rapp quickly tracks the man down and sends a bullet into his skull while he’s sleeping. But at the moment he squeezes the trigger, the door to the hotel room is kicked open and gunfire erupts around him. A wounded Rapp escapes with his life, but when the news breaks in France he is a wanted man. His handlers have only one choice. Rapp has become a liability, and he must not be taken alive. Alone in Paris, on the run from the authorities and from his own employers, Mitch Rapp must prepare to fight for his life. Kill Shot suffers the unenviable task of try to be all things to all people. It needs to please all the existing Mitch Rapp fans out there, as this is the twelfth book in the series I imagine that there are quite a few, as well as draw in…

Where there’s Hope there’s trouble…  A former elite member of the SAS, Ben Hope is tortured by a tragedy from his past and now devotes his life to rescuing kidnapped children. But when Ben is recruited to locate an ancient manuscript which could save a dying child, he embarks on the deadliest quest of his life.  The document is alleged to contain the formula for the elixir of life, discovered by the brilliant alchemist Fulcanelli decades before. But it soon becomes apparent that others are hunting this most precious of treasures – for far more evil ends.  It seems that everyone – from the Nazis during WW2 and powerful Catholic organisation Gladius Domini – want to uncover the secrets of immortality. Teaming up with American scientist Dr Roberta Ryder, the trail leads them from Paris to the ancient Cathar strongholds of the Languedoc, where an astonishing secret has lain hidden for centuries… Last year I read both of Scott G. Mariani’s Vampire Federation novels Uprising and The Cross. After I had finished reading them I discovered that he writes thrillers as well, under the name Scott Mariani. I guess the G. is important when it comes to writing horror? I’m…

A brutal murder. An ancient temple. A long-lost treasure. Buried deep under Istanbul, a secret is about to resurface with explosive consequences… Sean Ryan arrives in the ancient city to identify the body of his friend and colleague Alek Zegliwski. Alek has been savagely beheaded, his body discovered near the sacred archaeological sit of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Aided by British diplomat Isabel Sharp, Sean inches closer to snaring Alek’s assassin. Evil is at work and when a lethal virus is unleashed on the city panic spreads fast. Time is running out for Sean and Isabel. They must catch the killer before it’s too late. Sean and Isabel make a believable pairing, he is methodical and steadfastly refuses to walk away from the mystery surrounding his best friend’s murder while Isabel is tenacious and driven to help Sean discover the truth. Their separate strengths compliment one another and as the plot develops it’s nice to see the relationship that forms between them. You get a sense of the trust that they have in one another as they are flung from one desperate situation to another. There is also just enough backstory included for the reader to appreciate that these individuals are, in…

Jake Reese is an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, trying to block out the memory of his violent past by planning for the future with his new wife, Diane. But the past has a habit of refusing to stay buried… When two men attack Jake in a car park and cut off his ring finger, he tries to dismiss it as an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a more sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake knows he can no longer hide from the truth. As he embarks on a mission to find Diane, Jake finds himself dragged back into the life he thought he had walked away from forever and the days ahead begin to unfold in terrifying ways… Occasionally I enjoy reading a novel that is totally different from my usual tastes. Sometimes I need to take a break from horror, science fiction, and fantasy, so that when I do return to them I do so with fresh eyes. A good thriller is the perfect way to do this. Any book that I choose though, still has to meet the same criteria I look for in other…

Humanity has always believed it is the only intelligent species of life in the universe. But while excavating in Israel, an archaeologist unearths a tomb that has remained hidden for 7,000 years. Inside lies a secret of such magnitude that the story of mankind is instantly rewritten – and its future thrown into terrible danger. Only one man can piece history back together again. Only one man will risk everything to prevent a catastrophe that could tear the world apart.  That man is Ethan Warner. I always envisaged that putting together a decent thriller novel is much like making a cake. There is a recipe that outlines all the key ingredients that need to be included to make it turn out perfectly. The instructions would probably read something like this. Start with a slightly jaded hero, if you can get one who has a troubled past so much the better. Add a couple of dashes of political intrigue and, if you have it, a sprinkling of potentially controversial subject matter. Mix well with a secondary narrative that will eventually shed additional light on the first, then after around six hundred pages you’ll have an ideal thriller. Covenant is a pretty good example…

Please note The Mayan Resurrection is the direct sequel to The Mayan Prophecy and the following review will likely contain spoilers for those that have not read the first novel. The prize was our salvation. The price was his soul. After sacrificing himself to preserve the human race, Michael Gabriel is imprisoned in a torturous, purgatory-like dimension in the Mayan netherworld. The Mayan prophecy states that the Hero Twins – Michael’s sons Jacob and Immanuel, born to his wife Dominique the year after his entrapment  – must travel to the Mayan realm in their twentieth year to free and resurrect him. Yet it also carries a warning. Born on the same day as the twins is a dark force that threatens their destiny. This, the Abomination – the female yin to their yang – represents evil in its purest form, and will not yield until they succumb to its temptation. The 21st December 2012, the winter solstice has come and gone and the prophecised apocalypse has been averted by Michael Gabriel. He has saved all of humanity by sacrificing himself. The Mayan Resurrection picks up a few months after the events in the climax of The Mayan Prophecy and follows…

Please note that Instinct is the second Chess Team novel by Jeremy Robinson. This novel may contain minor spoilers if you haven’t read Pulse. When the President of the United States falls victim to a weaponized amd contagious strain of a genetic disease – one that kills its victims without warning or symptom – Special Forces commander Jack ‘King’ Sigler is on the case. He and his team of highly trained operators have been assigned to protect a CDC detective as she journeys to the source of the new strain: Vietnam’s Annamite Mountains.  Surrounded by old landmines, harsh jungle terrain, and more than one military force not happy about the return of American boots to the Ho Chi Minh trail, the fight for survival becomes a grueling battle. Pursued by the VLPA Death Volunteers, Vietnam’s Special Forces unit, the team’s flight through a maze of archaic ruins reveals an ancient secret that may stop the disease from sweeping the globe – even as it threatens both the mission and their lives.  Before we begin I have a question. Have you ever seen the movie Crank starring Jason Statham? It is a non-stop assault on the senses as Jason rampages across…

It was the last thing he wanted, but Joe Ledger is back… Saturday 09:11 Hours: a blast rocks a London Hospital. Thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on the scene to investigate. I knew going into this review that I was in for a compelling read. The last Joe Ledger novel, The Dragon Factory, ended with an event that was guaranteed to have repercussions in the series going forward and I was curious where the story would go. The members of the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) have suffered a loss and as this third novel begins Joe is on leave in the UK and facing an uncertain future.  When an explosion destroys a London hospital Joe is drawn back into the murky world of counter terrorism and global conspiracies. A new group, called The Seven Kings, are on the rise and it is up to the DMS to try and stop them. Using the ten plagues of Egypt as their template The Kings are trying to generate as much chaos throughout the world as is possible. They are wealthy and powerful group, having near limitless resources. The DMS are finally up against a foe that can match…