Those in Peril

Exciting high seas and desert adventure with kidnapped heiresses, a blood feud, lots of guns and guts, and, of course, a gizzled hero. Hector Cross is the security head of a large oil-based company headed by the attractive widow, Hazel Bannock. When her luxury yacht, the Amorous Dolphin (!), is pirated with daughter, Cayla, aboard, Hazel seeks help from the U.S. and Royal Navy without results. It's up to Hector to save the girl from the brutal Arab pirates. Little does he know that he is up against the Sheikh who has already lost two sons to Heck and has engineered this kidnapping to draw Heck into his sights.

The rescue is one of two climaxes in this story. The first is carried out on land in a fictitious emirate named Abu Zara. The second on board the natural gas carrier called the Golden Goose which is used to lure the evil Arabs into Heck's sights.

Full of stereotypical Arabs, Smith doesn't paint the 'civilized' Americans much more civilized as they end the blood feud bloodily. Lots of action, this book is a real page turner. ( )

I happen to really like most all of Wilbur Smiths books but I really didn’t fancy this one for some reason … until my parents sent the book to me with high praise indeed from both of them…. Having said that, the fact that my parents are in their late seventies reading a book by an author in his late 70s is rarely going to light my fire … and the idea of an immensely wealthy lady mixing it up with an ex SAS operator kind of sums it all up in my mind. This is simply NOT going to be a Wilbur Smith classic but …

I didn’t like the fact that the bad guys were all dangerous Muslim Arabs as that rides the sad but recent tide of negative anti-Islamic press
I didn’t like the fact that the sharia law was shown up sensational, yes people are beheaded but not in the numbers Wilbur Smith implies and certainly not on one day
I didn’t mind the occasional graphic sex because for an old man it was well written … though I question why it was there
The book did stun me with one twist and turn in events that I didn’t see coming and that takes some doing

I kind of hope Wilbur Smith doesn’t write too much more. This feels like a book that has sat on a back burner for some years and the publishers suggested, let’s bring it up to date, make the woman immensely wealthy and the bad guys pirates etc

BUT … if its mind candy you are looking for this is without doubt a seriously good, old-fashioned gripping yarn but that’s all it is; escapism, adventure ( )

Wilbur Smith's Those in Peril would make a pretty decent spy novel. The problem is, he tries to make it more than that. He tries to add a romance that just doesn't work; his female characters are painful to read. And there should be a law: that he never writes another sex scene. The other problem for me was that this was an audiobook, and the reader, Rupert Degas, did not enhance the experience of this book.

The story centers around Hector Cross, owner of Crossbow Security and his boss, Hazel Bannock. Hazel is the head of Bannock Oil; Crossbow provides security for their oilfields, shipyards and personnel, in dangerous Middle East locations. Hector is tough and worldly-wise. Hazel is beautiful and tough, worth millions, and absolutely devoted to her daughter, Cayla.

Cayla is a spoiled little bitch, and everyone but her mother can see it. She's blowing off her college classes to spend her time in bed with her boyfriend, Rogier. While she is ensconced on the family's luxury yacht, sailing off to visit her grandmother on her vineyard estate in Capetown, the yacht is overtaken by pirates and Cayla is kidnapped. There are no simple ransom demands, as this is no simple kidnapping. There is far more involved here -- and far more at stake -- than Hector and Hazel realize.

Now, for the good stuff. The story is interesting, although it would have been better without the romance angle. The inside look at Middle Eastern pirates and radical Islamic blood feuds definitely makes an interesting read. There are some good plot twists that keep you going. However...

The female characters are terrible. Hazel Bannock does not sound like an oil company executive. Some of the things she says are so ridiculous, I literally groaned to hear them. No one addresses their college-age child by saying, "Oh, my darling daughter!" Does. Not. Happen. And the sex scenes? My god, they were painful to read. I felt bad for the Rupert Degas, the audiobook reader, for having to suffer through them.

I could have done without the detailed descriptions of torture that Smith keeps repeating. When the group is on the run and stumble upon an Islamic village where the residents are rounded up to watch the "public punishment," I had to fast forward. There are also detailed rape scenes that were difficult to read (or listen to, in my case). Not for the faint of heart.

As for listening to it, this is one case where the audiobook doesn't improve the story. Degas, the reader, does not do women's voices well. Hazel sounds bad, but Cayla is even worse. I don't know how you could hear her whiny little voice and not hate her.

All around, Those in Peril was not a good experience. ( )

I have to agree with BobH1 's review. ( )

Wilbur Smith is an excellent adventure writer. This book was pretty good, but not his best work. When I pick up his books, I always expect them to be as good as his Egypt book series so I am always a little dissappointed when I do not get into the book as much as I did with those. This book was still worth reading.