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Post by ripper on Nov 16, 2015 9:48:01 GMT
Moving Target by Ross Kemp (Arrow, 2012)
Blurb:
Former Special Reconnaissance Regiment Sergeant Nick Kane always stands by his friends.
So when an old comrade is leaned on by gangsters, Nick's only too happy to help. But Nick quickly finds himself cast headlong into a spiral of violence that will take him all the way to Mexico, searching for justice on the mean streets of Juarez - the most violent city on Earth.
His mission: Kidnap the head of the vicious La Frontera drugs cartel and get him back to the UK to face trial for murder.
All that's standing in his way is the cartel's four thousand trained soldiers, a corrupt army and police force and a former South African special forces colonel who has been paid to track him down. It will take all Nick's skill and courage to bring his man in.
Moving Target is the gripping new thriller from Ross Kemp.
This is the second in Kemp's Nick Kane series, but the first of his writing that I have read. It is written in the first-person and features a former Special Forces operative, though in this case the SRR rather than the more usual SAS or SBS. It is action-packed from start to finish. Kemp doesn't waste words and we are immediately launched into the story with Kane receiving a call from a former army friend who needs advice. After that it is not long before we are in Mexico where Kane takes on huge odds to capture his target. On the way he gains several allies but he can't be sure who is in the pay of the drug cartel. The body count here is enormous, probably over 100 at a conservative estimate. The action is tough and brutal but not gratuitous and Kemp doesn't linger over kills as some authors do. Characterisation isn't the strongest area of Kemp's writing, but then again in this type of book it doesn't have to be and I thought it was perfectly adequate. Inevitably, comparison will be made with Andy McNab and Chris Ryan. Well, there is more action here than in one of McNab's Nick Stone books, though I think McNab and Ryan are stronger on tradecraft. Of course, McNab and Ryan are well-established and popular authors of fiction, whereas Kemp is new to it and his style will doubtless develop as he writes more books. I would say, though, that I got the impression that Kemp had a good time writing this book; it has that 'feel' to it. All-in-all, I thought this was a creditable addition to modern men's action fiction and I shall certainly read more of the author's work.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 16, 2015 11:34:44 GMT
Wonder if Ross actually wrote it, or if we're talking another "Naomi Campbell's début novel!" Always wanted to hear his reading of Paul Finch's A Christmas Yet To Come (as featured on the Vault Advent Calendar for 2013) which first saw life on Haunted Houses, a spoken-worder from Telstar Records in 1996. Anyone seen/ got a copy?
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Post by ripper on Nov 16, 2015 12:26:57 GMT
For whatever it's worth, Wikipedia credits 'Moving Target' as being written by Ross Kemp himself with no mention of a ghost writer. Also, when I was reading it I could imagine Kemp actually speaking the words, not that that proves anything, of course :-). I see that 'Moving Target' was published in 2012 and as far as I am aware there have not been any further fiction books, so I don't know if there will be more. Didn't know about his reading of that tale by Paul Finch, Dem. Perhaps that is something that might turn up in a charity shop somewhere or possibly on ABE/Ebay etc, but I have not come across it.
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