In At The Kill (Jonas Merrick series)

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The structure is typical of Seymour novels. The story bounces around frequently between the main characters, as does the POVs. However all the threads draw together inexorably. Also typical is that Seymour does not do happy endings. There is always some tragedy involved and this novel is no different in that regard. These are some of the questions facing MI6 when a Russian agent hands himself in to them in Denmark. Stars ~ 'The Crocodile Hunter', 'In at the Kill', ‘A Song in the Morning', 'In Honour Bound’ & ‘The Untouchable’ This is the first book I've read by Gerald Seymour, but I intend to remedy that as I enjoyed it so much. But while Jonas's colleagues regard him as scratchy, fastidious, old, he is also ruthless, cunning and brutally pragmatic. And he has a man on the inside: a would-be money-launderer on that wild Spanish coast. A man who has been undercover for so long, he has almost forgotten who he really is.

The daily horrors of the Troubles made for compelling television. “News [in the early 70s] dealt in pictures much more than it does today,” says Seymour. “We used to try to make little films that just told a story of an event that day. Not of any great political significance, but just a little snapshot. Open a window, show what happened, close the window. As a team begins to assess his value, his former employers in the Kremlin develop a brutal plan to show that no defector will ever be safe. This was a very enjoyable read. The plot is very well thought out and takes place in multiple locations - all extremely well researched and described, with the various strands being gradually woven into place. The sense of tension and intrigue continues throughout. Seymour has produced a tingling and compulsive story, as compelling a tale as I have read in a long time. As expected, there are brutal parts, which do need to be there to highlight the full terror of the perpetrators, but which are nevertheless unpleasant.Galicia: an entire community waits on the windswept edge of Europe for the delivery of four tonnes of cocaine, brought across the ocean in an almost unbelievable craft. Seymour wrote Harry’s Game at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and says he was accused by some of “dancing on graves”. I don’t have a favourite book. Each one was the centre of my life, and each one has seemed the most important one This observation is made without rancour, though it is evident Seymour is no fan of the rash of police procedurals that have replaced the thriller writers of old. What does bother him is that the decline of the thriller might reflect a degree of complacency on the part of the public. “I think that for all the huge growth in international tourism, we’ve become a lot more insular. The wrinklies are pouring on to aeroplanes to go off and look for exotic animals in rainforests, but maybe the number of people who are living in quite difficult circumstances abroad has gone down.” I understand that this is the third book in a series - although I haven't read the earlier novels, I felt that this book worked just fine as a standalone. It was a difficult story,” he says, “but I didn’t perceive it as that at the time. I just thought it was a bloody good subject to be writing about.” He says it was the most powerful story he ever covered as a journalist, and it is remarkable how Harry’s Game has stood the test of time. Forty years on, it feels as vivid and up-to-date as the film ’71, which was released last year.

For No Mortal Thing he went to the towns and villages of Calabria to sniff out the story – he always talks about writing stories rather than novels. He didn’t, perhaps fortunately, encounter any members of the ’Ndrangheta (in the book, one of the clan’s rivals is fed alive to ravenous pigs). But he filled his notebook with material from other people he met while there. “I go to court, which is always a good place to start. I also met a prosecutor, a judge, a senior carabinieri officer, and a chap from the anti-mafia organisation.” Defectors are not always welcome. Is the information they bring worth the cost of protecting them for the rest of their lives? Is it even genuine? Might they be double agents? The story takes the form of several different narratives, each following different characters. I found this initially offered an interesting perspective on the developing plot, although it gradually became rather irritating. Still, the story itself is engrossing, and in many ways almost frighteningly plausible.

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He makes no great literary claim for his books – he demurs when I say some critics have said he should be talked about in the same breath as John le Carré – but he does stand by their factual accuracy and seriousness of intent. They have to entertain – otherwise he has no audience – but he also wants them to inform. Ray Lonnen as Captain Harry Browne in the television production of Harry’s Game, 1982. Photograph: ITV/REX It’s not Harry because I think a better Northern Ireland story is The Journeyman Tailor. Each one was the centre of my life, and each one has seemed the most important one. My agent finds it extraordinary that I am highly nervous each time I send the typescript to the publisher.”