Review: Fast, easy read with one caveat
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2014
This review is modified from the one I posted to my blog, apbsal.blogspot.com:Nick Thorneycroft is a British headhunter working in Luxembourg recruiting a Russian his company really wants. He must act quickly since the candidate is highly sought after.Nick wakes up with a splitting headache discovering strange panties on the floor. His memory's a blank. When the landlord asks about Nick's medication, indicating a red mark on Nick's neck, where a drug-patch had been, Nick is dumbfounded. The landlord had seen the woman he was with, but only her backside. Foreign, he says. Nick asks if she might be Russian. Yes.But he cannot be sure it's the same woman. Worse, he finds himself falling for her, who may have drugged him for reasons unknown. Using a receipt, he retraces his steps to find himself on video. Worse still, Claire, his old girlfriend shows up at an inopportune time. Russian thugs kidnap him, pound him to a pulp until he tells what he knows about why his company wants to hire the Russian beauty.This is a powerful spy-thriller, marred only by its last page. While it touches on what may be a good resolution, it feels rushed--perhaps due to the word-limits of the Kindle single series. It doesn't resonate, either, with what this means for the protagonist. Initially, I wasn't clear on the outcome, but given the time of year, it could only mean one thing. If you agree with Raymond Chandler that a novel should be good, even if the last page were torn out, you should enjoy this one. I'd seek out more by this author.You can trust the most frequent quotes although "Sometimes, too much information is just that: too much" confused me. What may be meant is what I meant at the end. I recall no information dumps. In fact his revelations feel quite professionally done, but the ending does feel rushed as other reviewers have pointed out.