Nerve Attack

The test [in my opinion] of a writer’s skill is rarely the debut novel, it’s the novelist’s ability to climb back on the horse to pen a sophomore work that engages the reader even more elegantly.

Debut novels are often written blindly, the follow-up has to take the reader on a new journey, one that requires the bar to be raised. Last year, surrounded by a troubling reality - I enjoyed an escape thanks to a thrilling debut Trojan Horse by Manning. I hoped that her sophomore work would engage the reader, and provide a respite from the complexity of 2021’s reality. I’m glad to report, that Nerve Attack succeeded. There is peculiar comfort in seeing the return of Kolya (aka Nikolai Ivanovich Petrov), despite the horror that will follow this troubled / traumatised protagonist as the dominoes tetter on the green-baize of the geopolitical table. We are also introduced to a name from Kolya’s past, Dimitri Lemonsky and before you can yell ‘Novichok’ and don a hazmat suit, the game is afoot.

An international thriller of some considerable power, we see Manning’s protagonists and antagonists zip between North America and the Russian Federation, as well as all points-in-between to prevent catastrophe. Who knew Vermont could be so dangerous?

Thrillers are occasionally described [in some literary circles] as containing characters carved from cardboard. No such accusation can be aimed at Manning’s Nerve Attack, for the author’s characterisation is deft, brushstroke in style as they stand upright on the page and description kept vivid but concise so the propulsion of the story is not affected – instead it’s actually enhanced. 

As a sophomore novel, Manning’s follow-up to Trojan Horse, attacks the reader’s nerves [pun intended] as they cling to the book as if their hands were nailed to the binding.