Crisis: the action-packed Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller

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The writing style has a very solid British spy/espionage feel to it and more than a few times throughout the full-length novel I was reminded of a Bond sort of storyline or feel to the atmosphere. A novel so pedestrian, trite and unintentionally funny that it reads better as a satire on the genre than as genuine thriller. Drawing on his years of experience reporting on security matters CRISIS is Frank Gardner’s debut novel. Unfortunately by introducing her and then finding ways to shoehorn her into the plot, all Gardner does is slow down the narrative unnecessarily, add yet another unrealistic and ultimately superfluous, yet entirely predictable, subplot (from the moment in the opening chapters that you find out Elise knows martial arts you’re just waiting for her to be placed in a situation where she needs to use them) and irritate the reader. Gardner would have been better served targeting a less populated and less aggressively macho literary world of modern espionage where only Charles Cumming and Le Carre really operate at the moment.

I haven't had that type of setting connection before when reading a novel, coming from New Zealand I haven't read many books which are set in New Zealand. Elise was a frustratingly annoying presence and their was little rapore between any of the main characters. The main character of Luke Carlton is likeable but not always invincible and that adds to his attraction. Sent into the steaming Colombian jungle to investigate the murder of a British intelligence officer, Luke finds himself caught up in the coils of a plot that has terrifying international dimensions. Shot 6 times at close range while on assignment in Saudi Arabia in 2004, left severely wounded and dependant on a wheelchair.When action hero-by-numbers Luke meets a soldier ex-colleague and they exchange the type of lame homoerotic repartee beloved of the military. The pace never lets up from the narcotics dens of Colombia, the murder of a serving MI6 officer in the same country, the torture, deceit, and corruption of the drugs gangs, though to a kidnapping in London and the machinations of the security services as they prepare for the worst. Honestly, if she had said ‘Babes’ one more time in a way that no real woman outside of The Only Way Is Essex actually would I would have screamed.

After the bomb is contained and the explosives expert says of our stale hero, "Wow, whoever got the intel for this op must be one hell of a guy. Combining insider knowledge, up-to-the-minute hardware, fly on the wall insights with heart-in-mouth excitement, CRISIS boasts an irresistible, visceral frisson of authenticity: smart, fast-paced and furiously entertaining, here is a thriller for the 21st century. Sent into the steaming Colombian jungle to investigate the murder of a British intelligence officer Luke finds himself caught up in the coils of a plot that has terrifying international dimensions. I also enjoyed the fact that Luke’s personal history was where a lot of his talents lay – having spent much of his childhood in South America it made sense he knew the local scenes, customs and languages very well. He has, in addition, used his considerable knowledge of security – being the BBC’s Security Correspondent – to produce a great, page-turning debut novel.Crisis is the first non-fiction work by Frank Gardner, and as befits his day job of BBC Security Correspondent he has chosen a spy thriller as the genre for his debut novel. All of these and more could have and should have been edited out to streamline the plot and cut the page count significantly. Oh, and I HATED how the girlfriend had been written - whiney Sloane Ranger one minute; kick-arse, kidnap escaping martial expert the next.