Tim Stevens (3)

I've read a few dry runs over the last few months, but this is at last, the real deal. A modern spy thriller with enough background depth, invention, style and substance to stand comparison with some of the besr of yester-year. A real page-turner and not loaded down with blather and unnecessary flannel. Speaking of which, this is quite probably the novel the reviewers quoted on the backs of recent Charles Cummings books thought they were reading. Their quotes of fulsome praise could be show more grafted onto the back cover of ‘Ratcatcher' and not cause any embarrassment to either party.

'Ratcatcher' is how a spy, or espionage thriller really should be. Old fashioned in attitude, in the way the story is approached, modern in execution (this is just my way of thinking, I'm perfectly prepared to be led off in the old straitjacket to the funny farm if enough of you disagree). Old fashioned but modern as well, in that several of the enemies are Russian. The Iron Curtain has been bought by the oligarcs, I suppose. If reviewers then, are going to throw words like ‘John' and ‘Le' and ‘Carre' about, they might as well get it right and throw them in the direction of excellent books like ‘Ratcatcher' and not half-baked efforts like 'A Spy By Nature' and the larger part of 'A Foreign Country.’

So, the ‘Ratcatcher' of the title, is the main man of the book, one John Purkiss. He works for the British Secret Services and catches ‘dirty’ spies. Dirty ‘rats.’ Those spies who aren’t playing by the rules. Though of course, that would seem to me to be rule number one in the spy handbook - not to play by the rules. Oh, well. Anyway, a former highly placed British spy, ‘Fallon', has gone rogue and gone missing, unbeknown to Purkiss, who thinks he's in prison for killing Purkiss’ ex-fiancée (a rather traumatic event for Purkiss, as he witnessed it). Fallon suddenly appears, photographed on the streets of the Estonian capital Talinn. Interest is piqued, because it is the eve of a historic Estonian/Russian summit, where the respective Presidents are to meet and seal an agreement. Along with Fallon, there also surfaces a really rather unsettling rumour of a plan to disrupt said historic summit in a way that could plunge Europe, along with most of the rest of the world, back into the dark days of the afore-mentioned Cold War.

Purkiss as a lead character felt fully-realised and with a past and motive for the present that was plausible, believable and above all, interesting. Actually, the book as a whole reminded me of Jon Stock’s books and his lead character Daniel Marchant. And that’s a good thing. I think Jon Stock would have probably gone a little more balls-out in the final conclusion, but Ratcatcher is probably the better for not doing so.

‘Ratcatcher' is a really rather excellent, well planned, well worked and thoroughly enjoyable thriller. There are plenty of twists and unforseen turns to lift it above a lot of the ones I read which fall back on the unlikely use of technology to paper over what was achieved in the good old days with nous, leg-work, chalk marks on the wall, or even just ‘gut-feelings.’ Whilst no one actually says "you bastard, Regan (or Purkiss)", it felt sometimes like they might have wanted to. Tim Stevens is clearly a writer who knows his way round a spy thriller, and a writer I will look forward to reading a lot more of in the future. show less

I love it when I stumble on the next great spy novel. This is one of those times. This was just a book I picked up for my Nook and I was riveted. I read the whole book in one sitting in one evening. I could barely tear myself away.

On the surface, the plot seems simple. Purkiss is assigned to go out and catch agents who have turned. In this case for the British Secret Service. He is chasing a man named Fallon and Purkiss has both a professional and a personal interest in getting him.

But what show more makes the book so great, is that this seemingly simple premise, is the jumping off point for a multi-layered plot with a lot of moving pieces. And instead of the usual chase through Berlin and Paris, all of the action takes place in the city of Tallinn in Estonia. I loved it.

The twists and turns were not predictable. The cast of characters were many so it was important to keep up and that is one reason I did not want to put it down. Right to the very end of the book things kept happening that were both intriguing and unexpected.

This is book one in a series. Oy vey!! I see sleepless nights in my future as I get the others in the series. For readers like me who love a good espionage/special ops/spymaster novel, do yourself a favor. But make sure you have the next day off so you can sleep in....and the other two novels to jump right into to keep the momentum going. show less

If you like your books fast and furious with a fair amount of gore in them, then this could be for you. Calvary (what a great name) is a very complex character, and there are times when he is distinctly unpleasant, but there are enough occasions that give him time to show just how capable he is, and how sympathetic he can be. He makes decisions very quickly, and is obviously highly skilled with an incredible pain threshold – the description of the torture on his head is pretty precise and show more it is not something that any of us would wish to have delivered to us, but his powers of recovery are a little startling as well. I think that I would have been hospitalised for weeks if not months!
There are also a number of highly unpleasant characters, many of whom are well described and who develop into ones that I really did dislike, particularly Kodiak who is given his name because he resembles, you’ve guessed it, a very shaggy, and in his case, angry, bear with a very short temper. The action scenes, which follow one another very quickly, are luridly described and none of them could be described as less than violent.
There are a number of surprises in store for Calvary and the reader, with some quite unexpected developments.
A not entirely enjoyable read, but one, despite a fair number of typos, that did have me wanting to see how everything was going to work out. I may well come back for more! show less

Quite a fast-paced thriller with lots of action and suspense. I don't have much problem with the implausibility of the action as, after all, it is a story... The setting of the story is Tallinn, a welcome change from the regular places. Overall, a nice read; I finished it in a day.