Gerald Seymour

Jonas Merrick, may be a legendary intelligence officer but forced towards his retirement by working in the postroom does not sit well. Equally having to holiday with his long suffering wife, Vera is enough to drive our antihero to the edge of reason……thank goodness for Russian oligarchs, albanian gang money launderers, execution squads and a child killer whose principle weapon is a pair of rusty garden shears….ouch I hear you squirm! Having said all that my review refers to the audio show more book and although I found the story not to my taste, the narration by Ben Allen was superb, his interpretation of the languages on offer was astounding and made the whole experience a visual and edge of the seat treat, a real showcase of how good the audio experience can be and how important the choice of narrator is…brilliant! show less

This is such a fine book.... The great themes of betrayal, honor, integrity, and redemption are played out against a backdrop of old European conflicts, modern English politics and police work, the weapons trade, and old fashion retribution. It's about topics I hadn't thought much about, but the manner by which he pulls them together works so well.

I've had a bit of a problem in the past with Seymour's technique of switching the focus of his narrative back and forth among different show more characters, but in this case it helped paint a intricate backdrop to the story and developed the cast of strong characters in great detail. It's extremely well written and, although the plot is a bit dense and complicated, a thoroughly satisfying read.

This is a great book by an author who seems to just get better and better. show less

If Gerald Seymour has a formula, it is this: Lay out a situation with life and death potential, introduce characters, build plot, make the characters come alive, and finally – bring them together in a detailed, choreographed, inexorable, and highly suspenseful blast of a conclusion.

The good guys don’t always win and the bad guys don’t always get their due. Sometimes the good guys are bad and the bad guys are something approaching good. And they’re not always guys. Women have a show more substantial place in Seymour’s stories.

In this case, a Croatian village hires a hit man to kill British arms dealer Harvey Gillott after they identify him nineteen years after he betrayed them by not delivering weapons they paid for to hold off murdering Serb forces. The hit mobilizes several characters from competing law enforcement, intelligence, and non-government agencies.

Filled with moral ambiguities, choices, and consequences, The Dealer and the Dead is more than the standard suspense story, as are all of Seymour’s books. show less

MI6 ensnares an Iranian general’s trusted driver in a honey-trap operation in Dubai. The reluctant defector is whisked to Austria for debriefing. He provides tantalizing information before deciding he wants his alluring but headstrong wife brought out. A competent but shopworn and suspect group of ex-army men – now private contractors – is sent into Iran with a laborer and former star university student serving as translator. Finding the wife is simple compared with getting her show more out.

Gerald Seymour is a master at plotting. Along with characters that truly come to life and a wealth of pertinent detail, it makes his books spellbinding. Seymour deals with motives and emotions like few suspense authors. Even minor characters are formed enough that their actions and emotions are logical. Suspense builds and the stakes are high for the entire cast of characters that Seymour has created and ushered through the story. And he makes us care about each and every one of them. show less