The Walking Dead

'The Walking Dead' mines a topic that's familiar to Gerald Seymour's readers: terrorism. In this one, a 'clean skin' Saudi with dreams of blowing himself up in a crowded space full of unbelievers, thereby gaining his 15 minutes of fame and theoretical (or theological) access to a bunch of virgins, is selected for a mission and travels to the UK. A cell has been established and high level help by the big time terrorist leaders are on site to make sure it happens.

On the other side, we have the leader of the Brit intelligence section responsible for stopping domestic terrorism who's a week from retirement, his brilliant 2nd in command who's a little 'soft', a blind American FBI specialist who is like a terrorism 'Rainman', a protection show more officer who has lots of personal problems exacerbated by his obsession with the diary of the war exploits of a relative, and various other characters who contribute to the action.

In typical Seymour style, he constantly rotates the focus of his writing on the activities of each player or group. This technique really drives the story forward with little padding or fluff. You may wonder how a specific character, such as the crippled pub crawler who talks about his military exploits, will factor into the conclusion, but you can generally be assured that he or she will if Seymour is writing about them.

Mr. Seymour really seems to know his stuff on this subject matter. His descriptions of spycraft seem very real and the writing is excellent. My only quibbles were that the American FBI specialist's dialogue seemed off and the flashbacks via verbatim passages from an old diary didn't contribute enough to the plot to warrant their inclusion. Otherwise, it's a great read that's propelled forward by Seymour's unmistakable style. show less

One of Seymour's best, and that's saying something. He builds the story of a suicide bomber, those who send him and support him, and those who would stop him, word by word and scene by scene. The conclusion is brilliantly plotted, with one of the most harrowing final scenes in recent memory.

There is no doubt Gerald Seymour writes a good thriller. This novel tells the story of a young Saudi suicide bomber from his perspective, from those of his fellow terrorist-cell members; including a young British Muslim woman and from numerous other interesting characters. That is where I felt the story lost some of it's edge, through the sheer number of characters involved: an armed-police officer, a nobbled jury member, a blind FBI agent, a heroine addicted mugger and a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War - and that is to name but a few. All their stories run parallell through the book. Seymour focuses on one character for a page or two and then skips back to another as the story moves towards it's climax over a two week period leading show more up to a planned suicide bombing in a provincial English town. It certainly hits home while reading this book how easy it would be for a young fanatic to just walk into a local shopping centre and blow himself up............ show less