Book Review: Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean

An astounding spy thriller by the master

This thriller novel kicks off with Dr. Carpenter, a British medical doctor, who gets orders to board the USS Dolphin in the UK. The US nuclear submarine Dolphin has a near-impossible mission: it has to cruise underneath the ice pack of the Arctic to find and save the inhabitants of Ice Station Zebra, a scientific meteorological station drifting with the ice pack somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. Ice Station Zebra was destroyed by a fire, but little does anyone know that fire at Ice Station Zebra was due to sabotage, and that one of the survivors is a ruthless killer. Furthermore, Dr. Carpenter is not what he seems to be and it later becomes evident that he has more staked in this cruise than originally suggested.

What I liked about the story is how Alistair MacLean demonstrated his writing ability and mastery of the genre to create an atmosphere that gets the reader to feel that he/she is also inside the submarine and can sense, feel, smell and experience the conflict, fear and tension on board the submarine. Definitely not as turbo-paced as Matthew Reilly’s more modern thriller novel with a nearly similar name, Ice Station, MacLean’s book does not lack in pace, but the pace is controlled to such a degree that the right amount of suspense is created and that the tension builds up as the story progresses. Reilly's Ice Station is more about countless pages of jet-propelled action and relentless mindless violence, whereas MacLean’s Ice Station Zebra consists of the finesse of expert handling of suspense, intrigue and tension.

Although the dialogue may be more reminiscent of the era that the book was written in, this is truly still a masterpiece of the thriller genre and can almost serve as a template for thriller writers, where you have a plot stripped of all the unnecessary fluff that so many modern thrillers suffer from, which only serves to increase the page count and nothing much else.

Book Review: Total Control by David Baldacci

Total enjoyment!

With his thriller novel titled Total Control, David Baldacci succeeds in building up a tremendous amount of tension and intrigue in the world of high tech business takeovers.

The protagonist, Sydney Archer, is a lawyer with a prominent law firm and she is involved in the takeover deal between the company her husband's is working for, a leading technology business, and a cash-filled buyer. Sydney's husband, Jason is a rising executive at his company, but is involved in some secret project at his office, which keeps him busy day and night. He does not confer any details of the project to his wife, but tells her that, when it is completed, it would make all their dreams come true.

But then suddenly Sydney's world shatters apart. Jason is reportedly killed in an air crash. At first, it seems just like an accident, but the FBI gets involved when sabotage is suspected -- and then Jason's name is linked to the sabotage and a multi-million dollar fraud scheme. Although the FBI tries to help her, but is very suspicious of Jason's recent activities, Sydney tries to solve the case on her own as she wants to clear her late husband's name. She gets pulled deeper into trouble as she gets closer to the real perpetrators, and her life is threatened. Furthermore, she has a disk with encrypted information that Jason had sent to her before his death, only she cannot decipher it and is frantically trying to find someone who can break the code for her while the antagonists are right on her heels in the process, trying to get hold of the disk themselves and stopping at nothing or no-one to get what they want.

After many twists and turns, the story climaxes with Sydney, her young daughter and her parents in grave danger and the diligent FBI agent fruitlessly trying to come to her aid.

I certainly liked the fast pace, the tension, the suspense and the many twists and turns in this outstanding book, although I had a few problems with the handling of the technology (keeping in mind that the book was first published about 13 years ago). One example was where an email message appeared on a computer screen and then suddenly disappeared again -- gone forever. In my experience and knowledge it simply doesn’t work that way; not now and also not 13 years ago. But for the rest, I can only comment that this thriller novel provided me with 'total' enjoyment!

Book Review: The Sinai Secret (Lang Reilly Thrillers) by Gregg Loomis

An enjoyable experience

This is the first book by Gregg Loomis that I've read and I discovered that the protagonist, Lang Reilly, had featured in some of his previous works as well. However, I was not left in the dark about how Reilly's previous escapades influenced what happened to him in this tale, as it was expertly woven into the storyline without interrupting any events.

Someone in Reilly's research organization discovered an old parchment that certain people are prepared to kill for, and they do too. Soon, they are following Reilly and are trying their utmost to do him in, but he is always one step ahead of the antagonists. Reilly leaves a trail of action thrills as he tries to get to the bottom of this.

Gregg Loomis interlaces the suspenseful action with plenty of international settings, ancient mysteries, science, discoveries and even a bit of romance. Reading this book was an enjoyable experience, and the only problem I had was that I had read a thriller by another author just before this book, that had used some of the same science and ancient mysteries (a lot of which is public knowledge, you can Google the stuff), therefore I could anticipate certain events in the story. That said; it is not Gregg Loomis' fault that I read the other book just prior his novel - I certainly look forward to read more of his work.

Book Review: The Murder Artist: A Thriller by John Case

Scary, spellbinding thriller

The plot is about investigative TV reporter Alex Callahan's identical twin 6-year-old sons who go missing at a Renaissance fair. He soon learns that they have been kidnapped. However, there is no contact from the abductor(s) and soon the police's investigation also slows down from lack of leads and evidence.

This is where Alex starts to take matters into his own hands and plays private investigator. His investigation leads him all over the US and he learns that magic and voodoo is involved. The more he learns about the abductor, the scarier it becomes and he knows that he has to find his sons as soon as possible, or they may depart this life in a terrifying way.

The novel's pace slows down towards the middle of the story, but picks up towards the end. However, Alex's quest to find his sons is still a captivating read.

My only quibble with this book is that some loose ends are left untied at the end, but maybe the author wants the reader to use his/her imagination and figure out how he/she wants it to work out.

Book Review: Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

Action all the way!

This thriller novel is full of non-stop violent action. By page 100, I was out of breath just from reading the book, and I don't know how the characters kept up the pace without tiring. And that is the trend through all 689 pages of my copy of the book. That said, I know it is fiction and things can get a bit far-fetched sometimes, but it still makes for an enjoyable reading experience, since the pages just keep on turning automatically. One of my first thoughts before hitting page 100 was that this author might be writing with a movie in mind, so vividly were the action scenes described.

The premise of the story is that US Scientists at a remote Antarctic ice station find a strange and fascinating large metallic object buried deep under the ice for millions of years. This object seems to be of military value and a first-class team of US marines, led by the accomplished protagonist, Lt. Shane Schofield a.k.a. Scarecrow, is sent to Antarctica to secure the object. And this is where the action starts - other countries also show an intense interest in this object and everyone is literally prepared to fight to the death for it. There are also plenty of suspense and near-death escapes in this novel to satisfy any lover of action-packed thrillers.

However, I have a few problems with this book; one being the fact that NATO allies, such as the British, the French and the US fight tooth and nail over this object, without any plausible reason supplied why they would want to fight their allies. Another problem is that there was an incident where two guys jumped into the ocean, and after some fighting with the enemy in the water, they land up on a large iceberg drifting in the ocean - and this iceberg just happens to have something buried under the snow and ice that would help them further on in the story - a large coincidence. But then again, like I have mentioned earlier, this is fiction, and if it keeps the pages turning, who cares?

Book Review: Treasure by Clive Cussler

A gem amongst thrillers

Treasure's protagonist is again the indestructible, larger-than-life, and incurable Casanova, Dirk Pitt. This time he is on the search for treasures from the ancient Library of Alexandra. And these treasures are to be found in a place where nobody would expect them to be!

While searching for the treasure, Dirk has to contend with hardened international criminals, terrorists and other unsavory characters. Dirk's own father is taken hostage in a conspiracy to take control of Egypt and Mexico and Dirk has to rescue him and some other world-influential people out of the situation.

This thriller novel is a real page-turner filled with over-the-top action, adventure and suspense and I would think the best of Clive Cussler's books that I have read thus far.

Book Review: Trading Reality by Michael Ridpath

Excellent Whodunit-type Thriller

This book can be described as a modern whodunit murder mystery with thriller and technological elements thrown into the plot line.

The brother of a bond trader in London is murdered and the bond trader turns into CEO and entrepreneur when he takes over his brother's company. The company was on the verge of a technological breakthrough in Virtual Reality and this technology plays a major role as the story unfolds. Suspense mounts towards the end as the protagonist has to deal with managing the company, keeping it afloat and learning about the technology, while he also tries to discover who murdered his brother at the same time. His life is not made any easier by attempts at hostile take-overs, attempts on his life and terrorism.

To top it all, he also falls in love with one of his new employees! The author brings the book to a masterful conclusion when all the suspects are gathered in one location, as in true classical whodunit fashion, and the technology is employed to force the murderer to expose him/herself. The story flows well and the book is very difficult to put down.

Book Review: Pandora's Clock by John J. Nance

Great thrill ride!

I had seen the movie on TV before I read the book and I thoroughly enjoyed it - it literally kept me on the edge of my seat all the way. So, when I stumbled upon the novel in a bookshop, I just had to buy it.

This book really makes you think: what if? There is a passenger on a plane with a contagious virus; no airport wants to let the plane land there, and some fighter plane is trying to shoot the passenger jet down. What to do?

Usually I find books of the type where you have many characters thrown into a calamity of sorts a bit boring. In many of this kind of book, the author would get carried away with the emotions of all the different characters and cause the pace of the story to become sluggish. This is fine if the book is not a thriller novel, but in a thriller the author must keep the pace up and actually increase it as the story progresses. Well, John J. Nance has masterfully succeeded in making this an excellent thriller by keeping the pace and suspense at very high levels. At the same time, he created engaging characters, but not too many of them, and did not focus too much on all their emotions, but just enough so that I could actually sense the fear and hopelessness amongst them.

This was a great thrill ride that kept me on the edge of my seat, just as in the movie.

Book Review: Death Match by Lincoln Child

In a previous post I mentioned that I am doing some book reviews, especially of thriller novels that I have enjoyed. I decided to place these reviews also on my blog, so here is the first one:

Pleasantly surprised!

Having recently felt the urge to read thriller novels that would keep me awake all night, I tried a few novels by some authors I had not read before. Most of these books I did not even finish, since they bored me so much that I felt I would rather sit and watch the grass grow. I must add that they were real insomnia-busters (I'm not going to name them, though!).

Then I picked up Death Match. I have actually delayed reading the book, since the cover on the paperback version that I possess really did not look very inspiring. But, boy, was I surprised! Eventually I found a thriller novel that would fulfill the premise of keeping me awake all night. I have only read one work of Lincoln Child in conjunction with Douglas Preston, which I thoroughly liked, but since this one was a solo effort, I did not know what to expect.

It 'turned' out to be quite a page-turner, and although it started off a bit on the slow side, the pace was quickly stepped up and became more frantic towards the end. The plot was well-crafted and the characters engaging. I especially liked how Mr. Child developed the main character, Dr. Christopher Lash, and how he brought in some ghosts of his past life in the FBI to start haunting him again in his investigation of the suicides of the so-called "super couples" of Eden Incorporated. I also found the female character, Tara, very interesting, and seeing that she played a very prominent part later on in the book, I would have liked to see her developed a bit further.

All-in-all, I want to congratulate Lincoln Child on an excellent thriller, and providing me with a story that I found very hard to put down.

Trip to Namibia

Some time last year I mentioned that I am working on a new thriller novel which of which the largest part will play out in Namibia (in the Namib desert, to be exact). I am going on a trip to Namibia very soon for a high school reunion, but I will have ample time to do some research for my book in the desert.

I'm looking very much forward to this trip, as I haven't been there for a number of years!

My Squidoo Lenses

Recently, I decided to join the Squidoo fraternity and make my own Squidoo lens. I'm still experimenting with the content that I will put on there. Feel free to check it out!

I've also made some other related Squidoo lenses about book reviews, etc. You will find my other lenses here.

Where to find Strike of the Black Mamba

As I've mentioned in an earlier post the paperback version of my thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba" (ISBN: 9781920265137) is now available at most online book retailers. Here are some of the sites where you can find the book:

USA: Amazon.com
UK: Amazon.co.uk
Canada: Amazon.ca
Australia: Booktopia.com.au
South Africa: Kalahari.net

These are just a few examples -- there are many well known online book retailers that sell my book. Just go and search for it in your favorite store!

Tribute to Michael Crichton

Best-selling and world famous author, Michael Crichton passed away on the 4th of November 2008 at the age of 66. I think he was best known as author of Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World. Both of these were turned into highly successful and world-famous movies - who hasn't seen them, or at least heard of them? The total sales of all his books were in excess of 150 million copies worldwide. He was also the creator of the very successful TV series, "ER".

To me, Michael was a born storyteller, but also with a fresh slant on the "science thriller" genre. Some of his work may be classified as "science fiction", but he has usually put so much scientific research into his work that the "science fiction" became real and achievable science, if not now, then soon in the near future. However, never did his "science thriller" stories become boring due to the science contained in them, but the science became part of the story. He masterfully created a flow of events that encompassed the science without the reader getting the feeling that he or she was being peppered with a lot of dull facts.

To Michael, I salute one of the masters of the craft. Thanks for creating all those terrific unput-downable books!

Strike of the Black Mamba soon available at more online outlets

The paperback version of my thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba" will now also be published by CruGuru (ISBN: 9781920265137) and be made available at most online book retailers. It has already appeared at many of these websites, but some of the book's information still needs to be updated by the retailers.

I will let you know where else you can find the book when the information has finally been updated...

Reading thriller fiction

Not only do I like to read good thriller novels for pure enjoyment, but I also do it to study other authors' mastery of the craft. I truly believe that if one wants to write in a specific fiction genre, then one should make a good study of what is available out there, especially the good stuff.

I have started to post reviews of some of the books I have read on Amazon and GoodReads, so go and take a look if you want to see how I've experienced them.

Strike of the Black Mamba Now Available as an E-book!

My thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba" has now been published by CruGuru as an e-book in both PDF and Microsoft Reader formats. The ISBN for the PDF version is 9781920265342 and for the Microsoft Reader version is 9781920265359.

The novel is sold via most large online e-book retailers, such as Diesel eBooks, ereadable, Powell's Books, BooksOnBoard, eBooks About Everything!, eChapterOne.com, etc.

The retail price is $6.99, but some of these sellers are selling it at a discount; I've seen prices as low as $5.59. If you are into e-books then please check it out!

Research, research...

The research work for my new thriller novel is keeping me quite busy. Not that I mind, though - I love the research as much as I love the writing part.

At the moment I am mainly reading books on topics that I need to know more about and then searching the Internet for additional information. Everything of interest that I find on the Internet, I save on my hard disk in special folders, but some of the stuff I also bookmark.

The trick is to know where the information is stored so that I can go back to it when I do plotting or writing. Naturally, I will have to sift through the information and cut out what I need and assemble it into a comprehensible whole.

When I start to write, I will constantly have to guard against wanting to use too much of the research material, but with time that becomes easier to handle...

Preparing e-book

I'm currently preparing an e-book version of my thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba". It will be sold via most large online e-book retailers in about 2 months' time and it will be available in both PDF and Microsoft Reader formats. I will keep you updated when it is ready.

New thriller novel

I have started to work on the outline of a new thriller novel. At this stage I only have a good idea of how the first two chapters will go. The rest is mostly a blank, but what I do know, is that the largest part of the story will play out in the Namib desert, in Namibia, of course ;-). Many scenes will also take place at different international destinations. I cannot really divulge anything about the plot at this stage.

I will keep you updated as I progress...

TV interview update

The TV interview with SABC News International was quite an interesting experience. It was a quick affair, about five minutes in total, sandwiched between news items. They did not brief me beforehand about the questions I could expect, but it was more or less the standard book interview - although I was asked to give my views on nuclear terrorism. I did a lot of research for the book, so it did not catch me off-guard.