There’s a massive gap in the book market for decent espionage thrillers.
This book fills that gap very nicely thank you.
My formative years of reading, when I really became a proper bookworm , was the mid to late 1970s.
Back then this type of book was a staple in all bookshops.
Writers like DeMille, Ludlum, MacLean and the likes were my favourite reads.
With the exception of the early Tom Clancy books this genre has been sadly neglected ever since.
Until now.
Merritt is right up there with those authors, and has looked at today’s international security threats and come up with a brilliant story.
Stella McRae is a former MI6 Agent runner who is now working in the private sector, having set up her own Intelligence Agency.
When a former colleague is killed after giving her a drunken, rambling, cryptic brief into a current threat she feels compelled to look into it.
Tommy Kane is an ex SAS soldier and the only person Stella trusts to help her as she tries to uncover the threat by moving through Europe.
Back home her only employee Hoss, a nerdy social media and gaming geek, is trying to unravel the cryptic clues given by Stella’s friend, and the new ones she and Tommy are uncovering.
None of this story requires the reader to suspend reality, in fact it’s frighteningly realistic.
As Stella and Tommy work their way through Scandinavia and Europe they begin to uncover a plot to destabilise Europe.
Mystery figures lurk in the back ground prying on local extremest groups and hatching a plot for a multi city terrorist attack.
The one thing Stella’s friend told her in plain, straightforward English, before he was murdered, was “don’t trust anybody. They have people everywhere”
So going it alone is the only option for Stella and Tommy.
But is that a wise move.
A ritualistic murder marks the start of the terror campaign, but is only a small event that goes largely unnoticed.
The main event is days away and the consequences will be horrific and far reaching.
Tommy and Stella push themselves to their limits but will they stop it in time.
I got invited to read the ARC of this and I’m so glad I said yes.
There is no cliffhanger ending but there is an opening for a follow up, and just the thought of that has me excited.
Pages: 400. Publisher: Michael Joseph. Realise Date: 28th May 2026
nigeladamsbookworm 