The Hostage by
Duncan Falconer
pbk out March 03
(Time Warner)
at £5.99
Thrillers about Special Forces versus terrorists abound, being the modern
version of 'cops and robbers' or 'cowboys and Indians', but this one is
exceptionally good.
The author recently published a non-fiction book about his decade's
experience in the Special Boat Service and in an SAS undercover unit in
Ulster. From this he has now developed this fictional version, which is
extremely well-written and has a convincing feel of authenticity.
A mole in the British establishment blows an operation in Northern Ireland,
leading to the capture of an SBS man, who is whisked away by a RIRA
killer called Brennan, towards the Irish border for interrogation, torture and
death. He is rescued at the last minute by Stratton, another SBS man who
has a reputation for being the hardest of the hard. The scene shifts to Poole,
the depot of the SBS, where an American SEAL, Hank Munro come on
temporary attachment. His wife, of Irish parentage conditioned to hate the
English, reluctantly accompanies him, a source of increasing friction
between them. Though supposed to be of observer status only, Hank almost
accidentally gets pulled into a surveillance operation in Paris to trap the
mole, but is himself kidnapped by the RIRA. From then on, it almost
became a personal battle between Stratton and Brennan, over both the fate
of Hank and also a major RIRA terrorist threat to London.
Believable stuff and though this is not really my sort of book, it was a
compelling read, with no frills and a straightforward plot where of course,
the baddies lose out.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
The Hostage by
Duncan Falconer
