** My thanks to the author and Rachel’s Random Resources for my copy of the book and for inviting me to take part in the blog tour **
Description:
The Failsafe Query is a gripping thriller set in the contemporary world of modern British espionage.
Sean Richardson, a disgraced former intelligence agent, is tasked to lead a team to search for Alfie Chapman, an Intelligence officer on the cusp of exposing thousands of secrets to the media. This includes a long lost list of Russian moles embedded since the Cold War, one of whom remains a public favourite in the British parliamentary system.
The action moves with absorbing pace and intrigue across Central Asia and Europe as the puzzle begins to unfold through a deep hidden legacy.
Tense, fast paced, and insightful, The Failsafe Query twists and turns to a satisfyingly dramatic finale.
My Thoughts:
From the opening chapter, readers are taken on an action packed and adrenaline fueled adventure through the worlds of espionage and intelligence.
The main character in this book is a disgraced former intelligence agent, who has become involved with tracking down a current member of the intelligence community, one who was ready to leak privileged and incendiary information. Sean Richardson is a character very much fighting against his own demons and trying to find a way to life with the lasting impacts his career have had on him. But he is also a team player, and part of the draw of this character is seeing him pull together the right team for the mission and watching to see whether they can succeed. The camaraderie between the members of the team was great to see and really added to the realistic feeling of the characters.
Michael Jenkins has a wonderful style of writing that is packed with vivid detail and an authenticity that almost has the reader wondering “what if”, whilst managing to maintain a calm and steady approach. By this I mean that he constructs settings so clearly for readers to experience them, captivating the audience with the scenes playing out before their eyes and ensuring that they are on the edge of their seats, waiting with bated breath to see what will happen next, how the situation will unravel around our protagonist. This is undoubtedly an explosive and thrilling read, but at no point did I feel that the pace was rushed.
This is a modern spy thriller that I would rank up there with my beloved John le Carré books.
You can buy a copy of The Failsafe Query via:
About the Author:
Michael Jenkins served for twenty-eight years in the British Army, rising through the ranks to complete his service as a major. He served across the globe on numerous military operations as an intelligence officer within Defence Intelligence, and as an explosive ordnance disposal officer and military surveyor within the Corps of Royal Engineers.
His experiences within the services involved extensive travel and adventure whilst on operations, and also on many major mountaineering and exploration expeditions that he led or was involved in.
He was awarded the Geographic Medal by the Royal Geographical Society for mountain exploration and served on the screening committee of the Mount Everest Foundation charity.
He was awarded the MBE on leaving the armed forces in 2007 for his services to counterterrorism.
The Failsafe Query is Michael’s first novel. He has started work on his second spy thriller, The Kompromat Kill, and hopes to publish it the spring of 2019.
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Giveaway – Win 5 x PB copies of The Failsafe Query & a spy linkage map (unframed) (Open Internationally)
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