Deadly Game

Robert Finlay isn’t your average Policeman. He’s ex-SAS, formerly with Royal Protection, and recently targeted by a terrorist campaign that threatened him and his former colleagues.

Finlay has barely had time to recover from the terrorist attack, when he’s thrust into a new case, with a new partner. Nina Brasov. The case relates to an Eastern European gang who control a flow of women into the UK; forced to work as sex slaves. When a key prosecution witness is killed, Finlay and Brasov are left to pick up the pieces of the case before it falls apart; and before dozens more women are forced into a life of sexual-slavery. As if that wasn’t enough, the aftershocks of those prior threats to Finlay’s life just won’t go away. His MI5 liaison seems intent on steering him towards another ex-SAS man, who has just published his memoirs [co-incidentally financed by the very same family suspected of running the trafficking business].

Finlay’s wife just wants him safe, but his sense of duty keeps pulling him back into harm’s way; but can he stay out of danger long enough to take down the people responsible?  Finlay also suspects that some of his own colleagues may not be who they appear to be.

The first thing that strikes you about Deadly Game is its authenticity. Matt Johnson clearly knows his stuff, as well as being able to tell a good tale as it shows through in a compelling mix of highly credible detail, tactics, procedures, and all striated into the political games that the intelligence services play.

Finlay’s first person narrative voice is punchy and to the point, and the switching between him and the third person points of view carries the story along smoothly.

Mention should be made of the interesting supporting cast that add layers of intrigue into the narrative and compels the reader to look out for these thrillers from Matt Johnson.

Highly Recommended