Tom Buckingham is a tough guy, an SAS soldier. Born into a wealthy, aristocratic family who disapprove of his career he has made a new life with his French girlfriend, Delphine, an up and coming businesswoman in the hotel business. Sick of coming second to Tom’s mistress (the SAS) and concerned her career is stalling, Delphine decides to return to France on a train using the Chunnel.
Laszlo Antonov is a Georgian warlord and a very bad guy. Wanted by Interpol, he’s been on the run for years and is elusive. The SAS corner him, only to have him manage to slip away due to political red tape. Then Tom spots him on the train as he’s pursuing Delphine, and calls his team to take him down. Antonv has a different plan though, and takes the train hostage beneath the English Channel. It’s now up to Tom to defeat the bullets and stop the bad guy.
Other reviews has criticised accuracy to detail but I don’t know or care about details like the kind of equipment fire-fighters use. This was an exciting, fast paced story with lots of action and excitement. The characters were believable and I was even sympathetic to the war criminal bad guy, which was surprising to me. The ending was unexpected, a bit surprising as I kept expecting a something different, but very good. The story leaves a huge thread for future Tom Buckingham books. I wanted the bad guy to get his comeuppance so a bit disappointed, but more Tom books – yay!
Bantam Press
Supplied by Random House
Reviewed by Jan