Review: Gripping payback
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 24, 2013
This book got hold of me right from the start and didn't let go. There is a lot to admire about the style of Seumas Gallagher. The main characters are succinctly introduced in the first few chapters in a way that makes them easily accessible if the reader has never met them before. The skill lies in the short precise language used about the protagonists. There is no description per se, rather the use of phrases that enable the reader to draw their own conclusions. For example one character comments "usual damage from a Semtex explosion" and from these simple words you grasp his expertise. At another point a character is introduced as a colleague who has survived a firefight with one of the IPS team with the other side being removed & no casualties. He is then described as having "movie star looks", and from this you pick up the ruthlessness but also the ability to not look like a stereotypical agent.The same ploy is employed to great effect in descriptions of scenery. A market for example is described with "crammed into", "peddling", "trinkets", "contraband", "hoardes", as opposed to the more mundane but less evocative "small" "selling" or "wares" for example.The book itself starts ( literally) with a bang, and the tension is slowly ramped up. The stakes become increasingly high as it becomes clear that payback is aimed at ISP and it's personnel and the reader senses the increase in focus and imperative. Team members are threatened directly. Things ratchet up another notch when things go wrong for the bad guys and admirably executed contingency plans come into play. Ruthlessness becomes the key, and the lead characters execute eats of violence as, again, payback, without turning a hair.The notion of payback runs through the book like an invisible thread, it is never explicitly stated except once, but is a motif that ties everything together. The ending is simply superb, an exercise in contrasts that I can't describe for fear of "spoilers". I loved every bit of this superbly crafted thriller. Well done Mr Gallagher.