Adam Colclough lives and works in the West Midlands, he writes regularly for a number of websites, one day he will get round to writing a book for someone else to review.
In the frozen wastes separating Norway and Russia an agent waits to be repatriated, the sort of job Rake Ozenna could handle before lunch. Only in his world the only thing you can plan for is ‘nothing ever going to plan’.
For a start, his former partner is on the run inside Russia with a data stick filled with naval secrets in her pocket and a rogue FSB agent on her tail. Suddenly Rake is mixed up in a conspiracy that could start a new Cold War.
This second outing for Ozenna puts him at the centre of a web of international intrigue and inter agency turf wars. Hawksley as a long-time foreign correspondent has an inherent gift for capturing the complexities of a specific time or place in a couple of unforgettable images. Here these include the brutal realities of life in a resurgent Russia and the anxiety of an America surrounded by rivals as the balance of power starts to shift.
Hawksley is a master at ramping up the tension; then turning the screw a little more. The last few chapters are a master class how a writer keeps his audience on tenterhooks (and beyond their bedtime) waiting for the next twist to unravel.
Two books in and Rake Ozenna is proving to be one of the more believable characters in a crowded field. Tough without being an action movie stereotype because he thinks with more than just his trigger finger. His next outing can't come soon enough
