The Foot Soldiers: A Sunday Times Thriller of the Month (Jonas Merrick series)

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Stars: ‘The Waiting Time’, ‘Holding the Zero’, ‘The Dealer and the Dead’, ‘’No Mortal Thing’, ‘The Outsiders’, ‘A Deniable Death’, ‘A Damn Serious Business’, ‘Archangel’, ‘No Mortal Thing’, ‘The Crocodile Hunter', 'Foot Soldiers', 'The Collaborator’, ‘Killing Ground’, ’The Journeyman Tailor’, ’Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy’, ‘Field of Blood’, ���Harry’s Game’. (17). This was a mixed bag for me. One could define The Foot Soldiers as deliciously complex and multilayered, someone else as annoyingly fragmented and disjointed; I found the line between the two a rather fine one. The story follows two very separate and parallel threads, and one presumes they will connect in so e way before the end; except they don't... It’s the first book I’ve read by Gerald Seymour. I chose the book because I’ve heard so much about his previous writing. Unfortunately, the book left me underwhelmed.

Defectors are not always welcome. Is the information they bring worth the cost of protecting them for the rest of their lives? Is it even genuine? Might they be double agents? Initially a journalist, Gerald joined the Independent Television Network (ITN) in 1963, and forged a successful career. He covered controversial situations such as the Munich Olympics Massacre and Palestinian Militant Groups.

I was completely gripped by the plot and interdepartmental jealousies and rivalries. I couldn’t put it down!’ Yorkshire Television turned Harry’s Game into a 3-part miniseries in 1982. Ray Lonnen, the lead actor in the cold-war spy drama series The Sandbaggers, portrayed Harry Brown. Singer-actor Derek Thompson played the elusive Billy Downes. The miniseries received warm reactions, with critics giving kudos to the actors for their credible performances.

This is a wonderfully complex and unputdownable tale of defectors, traitors, internal politics or "high jingo" as Michael Connelly would describe it and assassination both actual and character. Ask aficionados who is Britain's finest thriller writer, and many would answer the veteran Gerald Seymour * Guardian on Beyond Recall *How he does it and maintains his forensic knowledge of tradecraft and the inner working of the murky world of spies and traitors I hate to think but it is hard to think of many other writers who can match his overall body of work. Long time readers of Seymour's fabulous secret service novels will remember early books that had sad and depressing endings. When the final chapters became more upbeat I thought somebody must have told Mr. Seymour that he could make the story as dreadfully depressing as he liked but the denouement was to be cheerful or his books would not be published. Is the information they bring worth the cost of protecting them for the rest of their lives? Is it even genuine? Might they be double agents? Brown’s task is to arrest the assassin, Billy Downes, who is an IRA gunman. By the time Brown arrives in Northern Ireland, Downes has escaped to Belfast. It happens to every reader that now and then one comes across a book best described as “un-put-down-able”. You’ve been there, I’m sure. My average for devouring one of those books is two days at most; “The Crocodile Hunter” took me two weeks. Most “Must-put-down-able”. Just like the crocodile I had to come up for air now and then.

I was completely gripped by the plot and interdepartmental jealousies and rivalries. I couldn't put it down!' There are two main issues with this book. The first is the lead characters are not very likeable. The second is Seymour's current practice of fixating on a motif which comes across as heavy handed in this novel. Galicia: an entire community waits on the windswept edge of Europe for the delivery of four tonnes of cocaine, brought across the ocean in an almost unbelievable craft. JM is a cantankerous and sometimes banal old bug.ger. However, he’s crafted in such a way as to make the story brilliant. His genius is most pleasing, and the tom-foolery with making others believe him dumb, ha! Also, it was one of the rare times this reader has read a novel and finished it without really liking any of the characters in the story! Yet, even though it was a character driven story, this person still enjoyed the novel immensely. The author , this person thought, was trying to show the grim side of counter-intelligence work (MI5) and the cost it has on their lives. It was through Seymour's powerful writing that he could take a simple storyline and, even with a predictable conclusion, still give the reader a spellbinding story. 4 STARS.

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Seymour produces the most intelligent writing in the thriller genre * Financial Times on Beyond Recall *

Stars: ‘The Waiting Time’, ‘Holding the Zero’, ‘The Dealer and the Dead’,‘No Mortal Thing’, ‘The Outsiders’, ‘A Deniable Death’, ‘A Damn Serious Business’, ‘Archangel’, ‘No Mortal Thing’, ‘The Crocodile Hunter', 'Foot Soldiers', 'The Collaborator’,‘Killing Ground’, 'The Journeyman Tailor’, ’Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy’, ‘Field of Blood’, ‘Harry’s Game’. (17). Television adaptations have been made Gerald Seymour (born 25 November 1941 in Guildford, Surrey) is a British writer. I have found a blurb for a new novel called the Foot Soldiers, due for publication on 31 March 2022.The book begins with a Russian Defector handing himself over to MI6 in Denmark and it soon become obvious that the Russians are not only coming for their man but know exactly where he is, with a "Mole" within MI6 being the only explanation. It’s not necessary to read the previous book to enjoy this one (but I recommend you do as it is just as good), but, inevitably, there are spoilers for it in this book as Jonas’ story continues. The main storyline in this novel revolves around a Russian defector in the hands of MI6. They are trying to keep him safe and assess his worth but attempts are made on his life and it becomes clear that there is a leak within Mi6. Jonas is sent across the bridge to investigate and determine the source of the leak. A cleverly nuanced climax in which tables are unexpectedly turned more than once . . . marks this as a novel of real quality. Top brass * The Times * The plot, characters and arc of this story are most excellent. I read it in 3 sittings and it held my attention well. You find yourself rooting for some characters, despising others, and being frustrated at still more of them but; ultimately, they all play their parts perfectly. What you need, in a great tale.