Jason Hartmoor, the main character is clearly defined from the start; I immediately got a good sense of him. An incident in his past had caused his past employer to look back into his life. Depicting a respectable man, this taint in his past continues to haunt him.
The multi-dimensional characters display different sides and interesting pasts. Because of the age of the characters their exploits go back to the seventies.
Beirut, the country to which Hartmoor travels to is described with good detail, without too much blogging down the plot. I easily stayed with the pace of the novel, interested to see where this would lead.
The more I read the more interested I became. It wasn’t full of violence, but yet certain events displayed the brutality of how far some would go. The characters were enjoyable to read about, and this event and government operation that the Americans want to keep secret all added to the mystery of the novel.
The detailed descriptions of war-torn Beirut years past gave me a clear idea of what it would have been life, helping me to connect with the events. The author creates a fluent stream of imagery, easily pictured. As the plot progresses, so to more things are revealed, hard to know friend from foe.
Jason Hartmoor caught up in this violent world all over again, comrades brutally tortured and murdered, him followed by various parties, and Estonian assassins ready to hurt people to prevent the truth from getting out.
This intriguing novel keeps getting better and better as more layers are unveiled. The author does an excellent job with pacing the novel. For a little while one may be lulled into a false sense that it is nearly all over, when suddenly something else smashes into the plot and the excitement and speed take hold. Jostling the reader up and down.
The sad enormity of what Jason had done, consequences from the past leave behind a large trail of death. Criminals from the past still are present, utilising their resources, but Jason continually stands in their way, and they desperately want to bring him down.
At times towards the end there are some tedious points discussed that slow down the novel, debatable whether the novel would have benefited without it, but then again some details may have been necessary.
It was indeed a tragedy, mistakes unwittingly made, many bodies left behind. The ending belying those sad realities of war. How easy to get caught up in the mayhem without realising it.
4 out of 5 stars
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