Bibliography

Date first published	17/08/1992
ISBN Number	978-0-140-17726-8
Page Count	310 p/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Paul Shanahan - part time surveyor, erstwhile IRA arms dealer and sometime suspected CIA agent - is a full time scoundrel. He's the perfect man if you need an illicit operation done, and done well.

So when 5 million dollars' worth of gold smuggled out of occupied Kuwait needs to get from Morocco to Miami by boat with no questions asked, Shanahan os the name on everyone's lips.

Except this time Shanahan has other, more personal plans for the money. But first he must outwit the IRA, the CIA, British Intelligence and Palestinian terrorist il Hayaween in order to prove just how big a scoundrel he really is.

Review

In a lot of ways this book never really takes off. Unlike most of Cornwell's other stories it doesn't follow his usual format, of background, some heavy action, quieter passage more action etc. The whole story is rather placid, with very little action on the part of Shanahan.

When he does get down and dirty, by bumping off a couple of IRA body guards, he does it quietly with poison gas. Probably the most tense part of the book is when he is kidnapped. However the tension doesn't last long, and you suspect the kidnappers are not what they seem.

It is only in the last few chapters when both Shanahan and Stryker realise that the whole terrorist operation has never been about gold or Stingers that a modicum of pace is picked up, but this settles once the boat has been found and the threat neutralised.

The outcome of the story is one of disappointment. Shanahan has been burned, returned with little to show for his ten years in the wilderness, has lost his pension, the girl, and what little hope he had of a quiet retirement in his fathers home. Perhaps thats life!

The book also lacks some of the sailing detail that you find in his other nautical adventures, leaving you with the feeling that the series of books had perhaps run it's course. Whether the technical detail was dropped during editing is something we will probably never find out.

The story is OK, I'm never quite sure whether I like Shanahan, he is a rogue, and a good guy, but there is something missing. Sharpe is also a rogue, yet je has a quality, that makes you want him to win. Perhaps it is simply down to Sharpe being the underdog that makes him more appealing. Shanahan on the other hand is something of an enigma, treading the ground somewhere between good guy / bad guy, but never quite on the side of the angels. Or is it me being anti him due to his terrorist links.

The book is certainly worth reading, and I will read it again in due course, but I leave it up to you to decide whether it is a good book. For my own thoughts it certainly rates a 3 star rating.

Previous	Index	Next