A tense and engrossing thriller. I've rather liked Rory Clement's earlier Tom Wolfe books but 'rather liked' is a bit tepid. This one is absolutely gripping. There's all the excitement, action, fear, violence, cruelty, clever intrigue and chases you could wish for but this (the fourth in the series) has heart.
It's not as simple as including more women than usual and a main character who is a child. Rory Clements shows Professor Wolf's protective tenderness and feelings of helplessness in a way we haven't seen before. In fact all the characters, 'goodies' and 'baddies', come to life more as we hear snippets of their back stories and understand a little of why they do what they do.
As the action stretches across western Europe and Britain, the writer manages to achieve a real contrast of the different countries. In colour, weather, scenery, language, clothing and manners. Against this background his very individual characters stand out and are memorable - this is not one of those stories where you lose track of too many similar characters.
It's not as simple as including more women than usual and a main character who is a child. Rory Clements shows Professor Wolf's protective tenderness and feelings of helplessness in a way we haven't seen before. In fact all the characters, 'goodies' and 'baddies', come to life more as we hear snippets of their back stories and understand a little of why they do what they do.
As the action stretches across western Europe and Britain, the writer manages to achieve a real contrast of the different countries. In colour, weather, scenery, language, clothing and manners. Against this background his very individual characters stand out and are memorable - this is not one of those stories where you lose track of too many similar characters.