The Moscow Whisper

(Sean Richardson #3)

by Michael Jenkins

Thursday 23^rd to Wednesday 29^th

July 2020

Book Blurb:

‘Sometimes you have to enter the death zone to save the innocent.’

A top-secret clique of former spies meet for dinner to hatch a plan to murder a competitor, not knowing that they are under surveillance from a covert arm of British Intelligence. Hours later, with bodies strewn across a terrace, a piece of secret intelligence reveals an international plot of colossal magnitude.

For disgraced agent Sean Richardson, this is the beginning of a deniable mission to infiltrate and disrupt a group of Russian mercenaries who are working clandestinely to take over a nation state.

Acting covertly as an illicit arms trafficker, Sean is dropped into a deadly cauldron of terrorism and high-tech weaponry that will take a nation down. As the bullets fly and the chaos rains in, can Sean take down the merchants of death…or has he finally met his match?

This is the third Sean Richardson novel, and it ties in well with its predecessors. While this series is not to my usual tastes,it has definitely  changed how I see spy thrillers. I can’t deny the dizzying twists that kept me asking “What’s next?”.

The Moscow Whisper contains all the elements of a great spy novel. There is Sean, a smart and capable team leader who has some humanizing flaws: Yelana, the talented singer whose father is a member of the Russian GRU, Natalie Merritt, the former lover of Sean’s and Russian spy who is now out for revenge against Sean and his handler Jack; not to mention the convoluted inner workings of French, American and British counter-intelligence.There are good guys, bad guys, politics, spycraft and greed.

Rating: 3/5

• Title: The Moscow Whisper
  
• Author: Michael Jenkins
• Publisher: Failsafe Thrillers
  
• Released:  June 7^th, 2020
  
• Language: English
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 272 pages

About the Author:

I started climbing at 13, survived being lost in Snowdonia at 14, nearly drowned at 15, and then joined the Army at 16. Risk and adventure was built into my DNA and I feel very fortunate to have served the majority of my working career as an intelligence officer within Defense Intelligence, and as an explosive ordnance disposal officer and military surveyor within the Corps of Royal Engineers.

I was privileged to serve for twenty-eight years in the British Army as a soldier and officer, rising through the ranks to complete my service as a major. I served across the globe on numerous military operations as well as extensive travel and adventure on many major mountaineering and exploration expeditions that I led or was involved in.

I was awarded the Geographic Medal by the Royal Geographical Society for mountain exploration in 2003 and served on the screening committee of the Mount Everest Foundation charity for many years. It was humbling after so many years of service when I was awarded the MBE for services to counter-terrorism in 2007.

Social Media:

Website /Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Ground Rules by Richard Whittle

Monday 11^th to Sunday 17^th May 2020

I’m lucky to be participating in two Damppebbles Blog Tours this week!

Book Blurb:

Called out one night in the hope that she can identify the body of a man found in a field, Edinburgh forensic geologist Jessica Spargo – Jez – inadvertently becomes involved in the investigation of a university lecturer’s murder. The investigating officer, Tom Curtis, hands her a small glass vial and asks her to analyze its contents. She agrees to do it. The results confound everyone.

Media attention around a seemingly unconnected incident on a construction site near Edinburgh means that all work has stopped. An object discovered beneath the site confounds everyone, including the police. Employed by the firm’s owner to attempt to solve the mystery, Jez falls foul of an uncooperative site manager. Unruffled, she perseveres. Meanwhile, the murder mystery deepens. Despite her reluctance to become further involved, she has her own theories about the origin of the vial’s contents, theories the police do not accept.

To Jez’s dismay there are more deaths. As she says to Curtis, ‘I don’t do bodies. I’m a geologist, I look at rocks. If I’d wanted to look at bits of body then I would have become a surgeon or a pathologist.’

I have to give the author mad kudos for this book. Once I picked it up, it was nearly impossible to put down! I wasn’t certain that a crime novel featuring a geologist would be interesting, but boy, was I wrong!

Dr. Jessica Spargo( Jez to her friends), is a character that is a delight to read about. She’s wonderfully real in her interactions, from dealing with the grouchy DCI that asks her to consult on cases, to dealing with mansplaining on the job, or dealing with the fact that bodies are not at all to her taste. Honestly, I think the reason I like Jez is that I kept expecting her to quote Bones McCoy when at a crime scene.

Ground Rules weaves a beautifully complicated narrative between two seemingly unrelated cases, and Jez trying desperately to solve them both. The search for clues leads to Jez making contacts all over Scotland and the final revelation of whodunit is a complete surprise!

This book was a treat to read and I very much hope the author will write more of Jez’s adventures!

Rating: 5/5

• Title: Ground Rules
• Author: Richard Whittle
• Publisher: Amazon
  
• Released: March 9, 2020
  
• Language: English
• Format: Ebook
  
• Pages: 235 pages
  

Richard has been a policeman, diesel engine tester, university student and engineering geologist. Writing as Alan Frost he was shortlisted from several hundred international competitors for the CWA (Crime Writers Association) Debut Dagger Award.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/richard1whittle

Website: https://playpitspark.wordpress.com/