Started – 27/3/12
Finished – 10/4/12
Format – Paperback book
Synopsis – Two Soldiers. Sir Peregrine Collinson. Britain’s most decorated military hero. A best-selling author. And the Prime Minister’s personal envoy. And John Porter – seventeen years ago, he was one of the SAS’s most promising young soldiers. Now he’s a broken man: a drunken tramp living rough on the streets of London.
In Beirut, a brilliant young Sky TV reporter Katie Dartmouth has been captured by a ruthless gang of Hezbollah terrorists. She is to be executed live on television unless British troops are withdrawn from Iraq. A nation holds its breath and the Government is tottering on the edge of collapse. Both men believe they can save her. But only one of them can reach her.
Their paths last crossed seventeen years earlier. Now they are about to face each other again. And the strike back is about to begin.
My Thoughts – I brought this book back in 2010 when i saw it in a shop and thought that i would give it a go. I had heard of the author and i do enjoy books set in war zones, not something you would always expect being young and female!
This book is about John Porter. He is a former SAS soldier who due to a opperation going wrong he is forced to leave. Because of this event he ends up losing everything, his family, his home his whole life. Meanwhile a Sky News journalist is kidnapped in the middle east and a link to the past draws Porter back to the SAS for one last mission.
I enjoyed how fast paced this book was once Porter got out to the middle east. Plenty of fire fights, shootings, near death situations, everything you would expect from a book like this. I liked the amount of references to real life that this book held. It was about something that could happen, and already has. Indeed, what with the tragic events happening even today in the middle east it could be something that could have been based on real life.
I enjoyed the little bit of mystery held within the book to, the unfinished buisness between the two men and the big twist at the end? i didnt expect that to happen either. I loved how the story weaved its way into a brilliant ending.
There was only one critism i had. The main character is an alcoholic and all of a sudden he seems to have almost kicked the habit overnight. I just didnt believe that part, but as it was a tiny part to the story so it didnt effect my enjoyment too much.
I did think this was part of a series but its not, its a shame because i would have liked to see the story continued. However, I think the author is going to become one of my favourites.
Rating – 4.5/5
The Reading and Life of a Bookworm 
It’s very interesting to read your review of this. I keep seeing Chris Ryan books all over the place but have never actually read one. They don’t really seem like my type of book, but the way you’ve described it makes it sound great. 🙂
I’d give one a go, i was actually surprised as to how much i liked it. There is an awful lot of choice with his books though! 😀