Book Review: Slingshot by Matthew Dunn

Title: Slingshot: A Spycatcher Novel by Matthew Dunn
Genre:  thriller

Published June 25, 2013; William Morrow

I read the first in the series, Spycatcher, and thought it was an excellent book. Here is a quote from my review:

The usual superlatives go to a thriller that is uncommonly good: action packed, gut wrenching, suspenseful, and at the same time quite realistic. I was sympathetic to the main character, (Will Cochrane) a British agent who works in secret and who is unknown, even to  British intelligence service MI6, of which he a part.  (review of Spycatcher)

I missed reading the second in the series, Sentinel, and caught up with the third, Slingshot. Slingshot is all spy novel, as the book description below shows, and I missed the personal side of Will that made the first book so good. I would have liked a more developed subplot or subplots and earlier in the novel. As it is, the book is all top notch spy action and it was hard to sympathize with any of the characters. This could have been because the plot seemed far fetched, though the reality may very well be close to what actually takes place behind the scenes. To get into the series, I would suggest you start with the first book, Spycatcher. There is a giveaway of a set with both books below.

Publisher description: Master spy Will Cochrane must catch a missing Russian defector as well as one of Europe’s deadliest assassins. Will monitors the streets of Gdansk, Poland—waiting for a Russian defector, a man bearing a top secret document. But suddenly everything goes sideways. The target shows up, but so does a team from Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) hell-bent on keeping the man from walking. Then, in a hail of crossfire, a van snatches the defector out from under them all. Everyone wants the man and the codes he carries—but now he’s gone.

Then Will learns that the Russians have tasked their own ‘spycatcher’—an agent just as ruthless and relentless as Will—to retrieve the document. Now Will  faces two clever and deadly adversaries, who will stop at nothing to achieve their aims.

For other reviews of this book, see the tour schedule.
Thanks to Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours and the publisher for a review copy of this book.


Author info: As an MI6 field officer, MATTHEW DUNN recruited and ran agents and acted in deep-cover roles throughout the world, conducting approximately seventy missions, all successful. He lives in England. His novels in the series are: Spycatcher, Sentinel, and Slingshot. He is at work on the fourth Spycatcher novel.

GIVEAWAY:

Partners in Crime and the publisher is offering one set Mass Market edition of Spycatcher and Slingshot to a reader. To enter, leave a comment with an email address indicating you wish to be entered in the contest. No P.O. box addresses, please. U.S. residents only. A winner will be randomly selected July 3 and informed by email. A response will be due by July 5. Good luck!

UPDATE: The giveaway winner is Naida, chosen by random.org Thank you all for entering the contest. 

Book Review: Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn - Sunday Salon

Spycatcher

Welcome to the Sunday Salon.

"So how could I possibly know about you, when your existence is kept secret from most of MI6, let alone other agencies?

Will smiled and looked away for a moment. When he was no longer smiling, he returned his gaze to the man before him. He decided that, despite his injuries, he could kill this man and everyone outside this room in less than thirty seconds. (ch. 3)

Title: Spycatcher
Author: Matthew Dunn  
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: William Morrow; (August 9, 2011)
Source: Publisher for review
Objective rating: 4.75/5

Comments: The usual superlatives go to a thriller that is uncommonly good: action packed, gut wrenching, suspenseful, and at the same time quite realistic. I was sympathetic to the main character, a British agent who works in secret and who is unknown, even to  British intelligence service MI6, of which he a part. The story of his background and how and why he became such a fighter for justice and as a result, such a trained killer, is second only to the plot of trying to find and destroy the mastermind of terrorism around the world, an Iranian known only by the name of Megiddo.

I was all the way to the near end of the book. The only fault I found is that the wrap up of the hunt for Megiddo and the final confrontation took too long to come. The suspense was dragged out too long at the very end, I felt, and I was impatient for the ending. I anticipated some of the surprises that were revealed at the end, but that in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the book.

Product Description
Matthew Dunn spent years as an MI6 field operative working on some of the West’s most clandestine missions. He recruited and ran agents, planned and participated in special operations, and operated deep undercover throughout the world. In Spycatcher he draws on this fascinating experience to breathe urgent, dynamic new life into the contemporary spy novel.

Featuring deft and daring superspy Will Cochrane, Dunn paints a nerve-jangling, bracingly authentic picture of today’s secret world. It is a place where trust is precious and betrayal is cheap—and where violent death is the reward for being outplayed by your enemy.

Will Cochrane, the CIA’s and MI6’s most prized asset and deadliest weapon, has known little outside this world since childhood. And he’s never been outplayed. So far…

Will’s controllers task him with finding and neutralizing one of today’s most wanted terrorist masterminds, a man believed to be an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. Intending to use someone from the man’s past to flush him out of the shadows, Will believes he has the perfect plan, but he soon discovers, in a frantic chase from the capitals of Europe to New York City, that his adversary has more surprises in store and is much more treacherous than anyone he has ever faced—and survived—up to now.

About the author: Matthew Dunn was an MI6 field officer. He lives in England. Visit his page at Matther Dunn