Circus by Alistair MacLean

This is a good story that is set in the days of the cold war. There is a formula for making anti-matter behind the iron curtain and using it as a potential weapon. The CIA wants to get its hands on it with a view that it is better in their hands than those of hard line communists. The problem is that this formula and its creator are in a well secured castle in East Germany. The CIA decides to recruit the renowned trapeze artist Bruno. He and his brothers form the daring and brilliant trapeze troupe, the Blind Eagles, where they perform blindfolded up on a high wire.

The arrangement is to get the circus with its cream of performers to tour Europe with many shows in the countries behind the iron curtain. Sadly even before they leave for Europe tragedy strikes and warns that their plans are known to the enemy. The CIA also sends 2 operatives with the circus, one as the doctor and other as the secretary to the owner of the circus. The plan is that this young lady will be the go between the owner, the doctor and Bruno so they do not have to communicate in the open.

Why is Bruno keen to do this suicidal job? Is this is revenge for the death/disappearance of his family? The plans are half formed and pretty near impossible. While the circus gets a lot of positive publicity, the thought of what is yet to come seems to make everyone, except Bruno, edgy. The usual cloak and dagger stuff of bugging, listening devices, shadowing are all in full force right from the onset. What will happen when they actually get to see the fortified castle and realise the enormity of their task? What happened to his brothers on their way to Crau? Will they find what they have come for? Will the secret police manage to capture them and use it to denounce the West? The daring feats of the circus and showmanship are well detailed and maybe make it more glamorous than it was, but the wonder and delight at this fantastic world is evident in the writing. The action is low key but it is a nail biting finish.

What can I say? Alistair MacLean has always been one of my favourite authors as his was one of the first ‘older person’s novel’ I read as a teenager. Since then mystery and thrillers have been my escape into the fantasy world. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

The Greek Key by Colin Forbes

This is the spy thriller set in the 80s during the time of change in the Soviet Union and move to end the Cold War. However, the crux of the whole conspiracy is in the murder that was committed about 40 years ago, during World War 11, in Cairo. Was that one linked to another murder on the Siros during a commando raid?

Back to present day, one of Tweed’s sector chief, Harry Masterson, is murdered in Greece. Before his death he had sent a box with random things in it which could be clues to what he was doing in Greece with a beautiful Greek woman. They point to both Greece and to Exmoor. So Tweed sends the famous and vetted by SIS reporter Newman and the best marksman Marler to investigate the Greek end. While he goes with Paula to Exmoor and see what the 3 retired army officers are worried about, living close together and in more or less fortified houses.

Who are all the horsemen riding around the moor? Why is an ex-policeman, digging into the 40 year old murder, in Cairo, investigating the 3 ex-army officers? Was he close to finding the murderer? Is the father of the murdered man, an old world Greek out for revenge and responsible for the killings happening in the present day? Is there a conspiracy that is using this old vendetta as a smoke screen?

A well woven plot and works through all the clues and situations in detail. It takes time to develop all the threads and link them up in the final few chapters. Will they be able to avert the looming disaster? Will they be able to find out who the mastermind and murderer is?

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel which is the sixth book in this series. You get to know the characters better and as some of the team members are still getting to know one another. The team is well formed by the end of this book as this continues (seen from the later books) to be the core team to investigate and protect. These earlier books were also quite long and plots intricate and so very hard to put down until complete.

Deadlock by Colin Forbes

This is one of the earlier novels by Colin Forbes. A very good spy thriller, with a plot laid out as if on a chess board. The moves of each side are explained very well just as you would see the moves of the chess pieces. While Paula was introduced in the earlier book called The Janus Man as the wife of one of Tweed’s sector chiefs, this is the first time she officially joins the secret service. This book also introduces another future member of the team who is crucial to smashing this plot and revealed only at the end, so I will not name the person here.

There are some vague rumours floating about some major conspiracy being plotted that will cause a catastrophe for the world. The first inkling comes when Tweed gets a call from Paula that she would like to meet him as something strange has happened. The next piece of the puzzle lies in a small village called Cockley Ford, which Tweed accidently reaches when he takes a wrong turning as he goes to visit Paula. There is also then a matter of a highly confidential matter that Tweed has been given to look into, liaising with none other than his arch enemy, a Russian General. There is a Russian agent gone rogue and of course he is the best they had and at the same time some deadly arsenal of bombs and sea mines has gone missing. On the continent a French detective intuitively follows a young English lady who seems to be photographing various ports. How does she fit in this vastly spread out plot.

Tweed is gathering information from all these strange pieces of the puzzle to try and get the picture of the whole chess board. The opponent is a worthy one albeit an evil one. The strategic planning to carry out the outrage is pivotal in bringing about the biggest blackmail the world has known. Tweed has to show equal patience and knowledge from his past experience to react to each move made by the opponent, as well as make plans for some alternative anticipated moves. For once it is quite clear from the start that the end will depend on when and if the evil man makes a mistake. A battle of wits, patience, experience and managing teams to carry out their parts is really fascinating to read.

It did capture my interest from page 1 and held it right till the last word. A good read for all who love thrillers.

The Janus Man by Colin Forbes

This is about the fourth book by this author and is set around treachery at the heart of the secret service. It is a fairly long novel but it is not a tedious read as the author’s descriptions of the surroundings and portrayals of the people and their character and emotions are gripping. The deputy director Tweed has in the last 6 months made changes and brought in younger men to head the spy sections across Europe. It now appears that one the appointed chiefs is a traitor. The rumours have reached of this from many different sources to Tweed. The doubt becomes a certainty when one of the sector chiefs is murdered on the continent. Only one who was at the table of the last critical meeting knew where that particular man was going and for what purpose.

Now Tweed has to step out of Britain and onto the continent to find out what is happening as well as to catch this traitor. He senses this murder is actually a plot to lure him out and so agrees to take Newman, the vetted newspaper man, to watch his back. There is intrigue right from the start and you get engrossed in trying to see if from the information as to who if could be? Of course this is the time of Cold War and so there is likelihood that this is something orchestrated from behind the Iron Curtain. Luring Tweed out to be murdered indicates a major operation that is coming to fruition and only threat could be Tweed.

Tweed meets all the men in a meeting, individually and also in their own homes to get a better understanding of the character of each person. When Tweed and Newman reach the Travemunde they meet a lady called Diana and hear of a mysterious Dr Berlin. He is supposed to be a rich recluse who is into a lot of charity work. Newman sets out to find as much as he can about this Dr Berlin. This leads him into East Berlin and a perilous time but gains vital information.

There are so many twists to the story that it keeps your adrenalin levels up. How do the various young girls being murdered (at places where all the suspects could have been) fit into the whole plot? As the story unfolds you keep shifting the suspect as each sector chief behaves in a suspicious manner. The traitor is given the code name Janus Man as he looks both ways – to the west and east. Is there a relationship between the Janus Man and Dr Berlin? What plot is so vital to the Communists that Tweed had to be eliminated?

Oh yea definitely a book to read for the lovers of spy thrillers. I could not put the book down till the last word.

The Solomon Effect by C S Graham

This is the third in the series with central characters Tobie and Jax. If you have read my earlier reviews Tobie, Ensign October Guinness, is working as subject for remote viewing. Jax, Agent Alexander, is with the CIA and sent on missions that are particularly dangerous by his CIA director as he has old scores to settle. A deadly conspiracy is the focus of this story.

The story begins with a massacre of the crew of a boat in a Russian port. One young boy escapes as he was hidden from the killers and swims to safety. The killers see the boy escaping and are after him to ensure he is silenced and cannot tell anyone of what had happened. The killers take over the salvaged U-boat and remove something from it. They rig it to blow up so it would appear that this was an accident. Who has hired these killers and is their puppet master?

Meanwhile in USA, the vice president in questioning why he was not informed about a salvaged U-boat and its link to a terror threat and demands someone is sent to find out what is happening. Secretly he has also asked that Tobie do a remote viewing of this U-boat to see if she can get some information. So Tobie joins up with Jax to find this U-boat and unearth its secrets. What is the nature of involvement of a General from special ops and the multimillionaire? What have they secretly obtained from that U-boat and what are they planning to do with it?

People are sent after Jax to stop him from discovering anything. Along with Tobie, he is picked up by the Russian agent, ex KGB, who wants to know what they are doing in Russia. They follow the trail to the U-boat and find that there was no gold in the U-boat as first thought but something definitely has been removed from it. Everyone connected with the raising of the U-boat is being silenced often before they have a chance to tell what they know. Jax and Tobie go from Russia to Berlin to Turkey to Lebanon back to Russia chasing the information about the U-boat’s secret. Finally it takes them back home for the final showdown.

There is intrigue and horror and fast paced action as the Halloween in 5 days’ time, is the deadline for the rumoured threat to come to fruition. Holds interest and makes you want to cheer on the good guys and will them along to save the world. It is always about saving the world is it not? I did enjoy it and strangely remote viewing seems to have got a bit sidelined in this third book.