Source: Review copy
Publication: 27TH July 2018 from Endeavour Quill
Pp: 319
ISBN-13: 978-1911445739
Morte Point is a wonderful spot for a holiday. Only that’s not why Ben Bracken is here.
He’s here because in this sleepy part of England, events are now unfolding that could cause death and mayhem, and not just for the unfortunates in the plane that has just crashed into the sea off the North Devon coast.
Sent to locate the source of the problem, ex-soldier and patriot Ben finds himself both hunter and hunted. But who is after him, and why do they want to capture him so desperately?
It’s only when, on the edge of physical and mental exhaustion, he meets a young Kosovan microbiologist, that he begins to understand the scale of the plot he has been drawn into, and the weight of responsibility that the authorities have placed on his shoulders. So it’s probably just as well they don’t know about his slightly shady past.
But then, as Ben is rapidly finding out, those in authority aren’t always what they seem, either.
I’d not read the first Ben Bracken book, but that doesn’t matter as the 2nd, Morte Point, works perfectly well as a stand -alone.
Ben Bracken is a loner – and a loner on the run at that. Endowed with a bigger than average sense of loyalty and patriotism he is a one man crusade against wrong doing. Set up by the authorities, he must keep his identity under wraps to avoid capture, but that doesn’t mean that he has no friends in high places.
So when he gets a call from his contact in the UK National Crime Agency, telling him to drop everything and get to Morte Point, he does as he is told. All he knows is that there’s a plane carrying something he has to get hold of before others do. Not a lot to go on and as he arrives at the site, it is just in time to see a plane going down. More by luck than judgement he ends up with the precious cargo in his hand and has to flee the crash scene as an onslaught of military response units descend on the stricken plane and then he is the subject of a full on manhunt.
As his contact proves useless in the face of some serious Government intervention, Bracken finds himself isolated and not knowing what the value is of his cargo.
Fast paced and furious action characterises this book as Bracken runs at full on pace from one onslaught to another. His military training gives him some advantages and he is careful to keep himself at peak fitness, yet the chase takes its toll and he ends up needing care after a bruising encounter with a snake.
Fortunately, he is in the expert hands of Dr Amina Ridgewell, a micro biologist who looks after him and turns out, luckily enough, to be able to his cargo.
Once he understands what he has and what is at stake, this chase becomes even more deadly serious. Not knowing who to trust, Ben’s answer is to trust no-one and the fate of thousands, if not millions of people will rest in his hands.
In this high stakes bio terrorism power play involving governments, big business and terrorists, all is to play for. Ben is forced to make some hard choices as his dilemma shows no sign of having one obvious answer.
This is a thriller with a conspiracy theory tag where the future of our nation is at stake and ultimately lies in the hands of one man. With some nice echoes of ‘fake news’ and some rather scary closeness to the Salisbury happenings not to mention a good line in trying to spot who the good guys are, this book proceeds at a relentless pace.
The writing is good, though there are some plot holes and a book of this nature will always require some forgiveness for the license that it takes with our belief.
It rattles along at breakneck speed and offers up more action than a James Bond movie and a finale that ties up the story with some neat satisfaction.
Verdict: A rollicking read.
About Robert Parker
Robert Parker is a married father of three, who lives in a village near Manchester, UK. The author of the Ben Bracken books A Wanted Man and Morte Point, and the standalone post-Brexit country-noir Crook’s Hollow, he enjoys a rural life on an old pig farm (now minus pigs), writing horrible things between school runs.
He writes full time, as well as organising and attending various author events across the UK – while boxing regularly for charity. Passionate about inspiring a love of the written word in young people, he spends a lot of time in schools across the North West, encouraging literacy, story-telling, creative-writing and how good old fashioned hard work tends to help good things happen.
More information at Robert Parker’s website
Follow Robert on Twitter @RobParkerAuthor
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