Publisher's Weekly
Curtis is the pseudonym of a London-based poet turned thriller writer, but what he has come up with in this first novel is neither poetic nor thrilling, but rather a routine spy novel whose intriguing premises fail to yield excitement. Simon Guerney specializes in freeing kidnap victims, whether they are held in a hut in a Sardinian desert or hidden somewhere in New York or London. An Italian millionaire summons Guerney to Rome to ask that the detective locate his son who was seized in the U.S., where the college student and his mother, the millionaire's estranged wife, both live. Guerney travels to New York and back to his native England, getting help and trouble from friends in the intelligence services. As the narrative becomes cluttered with parapsychology, endless chases and a doomsday threat, the plot zigs and zags, spilling lots of blood everywhere.
Library Journal
Simon Guerney is a British gun-for-hire who specializes in dealing with kidnappers. When the son of an Italian millionaire is abducted in the United States, Guerney is called in. The scene shifts to Britain, where the boy has been brought, and Guerney finds himself battling powerful adversaries who have targeted him for elimination. But there is nothing straightforward about this thriller. What starts out as a rescue attempt is suddenly complicated enormously by the introduction of heavy doses of parapsychology. Mind-reading operatives, including Guerney, make this anything but a traditional spy novel. ESP aside, however, there is plenty of sex, violence, and action to keep every reader's attention in what turns out to be a first-rate choice for popular reading. Brian Alley, Sangamon State University Library, Springfield, Ill.
Genre: Mystery
Curtis is the pseudonym of a London-based poet turned thriller writer, but what he has come up with in this first novel is neither poetic nor thrilling, but rather a routine spy novel whose intriguing premises fail to yield excitement. Simon Guerney specializes in freeing kidnap victims, whether they are held in a hut in a Sardinian desert or hidden somewhere in New York or London. An Italian millionaire summons Guerney to Rome to ask that the detective locate his son who was seized in the U.S., where the college student and his mother, the millionaire's estranged wife, both live. Guerney travels to New York and back to his native England, getting help and trouble from friends in the intelligence services. As the narrative becomes cluttered with parapsychology, endless chases and a doomsday threat, the plot zigs and zags, spilling lots of blood everywhere.
Library Journal
Simon Guerney is a British gun-for-hire who specializes in dealing with kidnappers. When the son of an Italian millionaire is abducted in the United States, Guerney is called in. The scene shifts to Britain, where the boy has been brought, and Guerney finds himself battling powerful adversaries who have targeted him for elimination. But there is nothing straightforward about this thriller. What starts out as a rescue attempt is suddenly complicated enormously by the introduction of heavy doses of parapsychology. Mind-reading operatives, including Guerney, make this anything but a traditional spy novel. ESP aside, however, there is plenty of sex, violence, and action to keep every reader's attention in what turns out to be a first-rate choice for popular reading. Brian Alley, Sangamon State University Library, Springfield, Ill.
Genre: Mystery
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