- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Press; First Edition edition (2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0593050282
- ISBN-13: 978-0593050286
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 640 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,281,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
10 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Average read.... needs too much page skipping, Nov 28 2005
By Rory Morty "Rory Morty" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Deep Black (Paperback)
In deep black, we accompany Nick Stone on another one of his adventures. After some preamble that described one of Stone's earlier missions into Bosnia that went wrong, we open in the present, with a highly depressed Stone, talking to a shrink, lamenting the loss of somebody close to him, although it is not immediately apparent who that may be. Stone is then rather implausibly coerced into accompanying a friend of his, Jeral, ostensibly on a journalist mission into Bagdhad, to meet the elusive Bosnian revolutionary Nuhanovic. And so the story kicks off, taking us both to Bagdhad and Sarajevo. Further details would spoil the plot for prospective readers.
I fault this story because it is told entirely through the eyes of one man: Nick Stone. As a writing technique, this style certainly has its place. But not in this story, which quickly became very one-sided and very boring because of the limited perspective. I felt like I had blinkers on, and Nick Stone is certainly not too introspective. In fact, he doesn't seem to weigh up anybody else's opinions except his own, which end up making him seem like a dim-witted thug. Jeral, Nuhanovic.... they all must have had their own thoughts and actions, which would have contributed considerably to the overall picture.
There is certainly some intrigue and manipulation worked into the story: essentially the US government manipulating Nick Stone into doing their dirty work for them. But he figures it all out, and then does the job anyway. I can't imagine somebody really responding like that. The book also moves at an odd pace. Sometimes the interesting bits get condensed into a paragraph, while at other times, a boring trek up a hill in the dark can be expanded into chapters. Hence, I found myself skipping quite a few pages.
There are also some slightly irritating errors. McNab (not his real name) refers to terrorists flying "a 747 into a building". But no Boeing 747 has ever been flown into a building. Since McNab claims in the author notes of his books that he "lectures to security and intelligence agencies in the USA and the UK", one would think that he would be better informed? Perhaps not?
Overall, I would probably recommend something else. Two-and-a-half stars from me.
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