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Publisher's Weekly
A prolific New Zealander with some 20 novels to his credit, Peel has mastered one of the fundamentals of thriller writing: keep the action fast and furious, so the reader never has a chance to realize just how improbable it all is. International arms dealer Mike McConnell inadvertently discovers a deadly secret about a respected relief agency during a gun-buying trip to rural Afghanistan. At least some members of the Joint Afghan Relief Organization (JARO), which is supposed to buy up and destroy opium poppies, are apparently selling the opium themselves. Saved from certain execution by a mysterious woman named Maria, McConnell manages to get back to his London base; within days, a bomb intended for him kills members of his family. From that point on, the action is bloody and virtually nonstop until the dramatic conclusion in Berlin, as McConnell and the beautiful Maria alternately pursue and are pursued by villains whose power becomes increasingly apparent with each new revelation. Fun, even if thoroughly unbelievable.
BookList - Richard Paul Snyder
As prolific New Zealander Peel's latest novel begins, arms dealer Mike McConnell is at the proverbial wrong place at the wrong time. Arriving in a post-Russian-occupied Afghanistan village during poppy harvest time to purchase arms, McConnell sees something he shouldn't--an opium buy being made by people working for JARO, the Joint Afghan Relief Organization. JARO is supposed to be rebuilding the country, rather than contributing to the world's drug problem. Barely escaping--with the clandestine aid of a lovely Russian woman photographer whom he has not seen the last of--McConnell returns to England, only to find JARO hot on his trail. The villains favor killing our man's wife and son in his stead. In order to survive--and revenge himself--he must return to the Middle East and expose what he discovers to be an insidious international conspiracy. Those who favor taut, bare-bones thrillers a la Alistair MacLean and Jack Higgins will enjoy the underpublicized Peel's no-frills novels. Plotting is everything here; description and characterization are of little account.
Genre: Thriller
A prolific New Zealander with some 20 novels to his credit, Peel has mastered one of the fundamentals of thriller writing: keep the action fast and furious, so the reader never has a chance to realize just how improbable it all is. International arms dealer Mike McConnell inadvertently discovers a deadly secret about a respected relief agency during a gun-buying trip to rural Afghanistan. At least some members of the Joint Afghan Relief Organization (JARO), which is supposed to buy up and destroy opium poppies, are apparently selling the opium themselves. Saved from certain execution by a mysterious woman named Maria, McConnell manages to get back to his London base; within days, a bomb intended for him kills members of his family. From that point on, the action is bloody and virtually nonstop until the dramatic conclusion in Berlin, as McConnell and the beautiful Maria alternately pursue and are pursued by villains whose power becomes increasingly apparent with each new revelation. Fun, even if thoroughly unbelievable.
BookList - Richard Paul Snyder
As prolific New Zealander Peel's latest novel begins, arms dealer Mike McConnell is at the proverbial wrong place at the wrong time. Arriving in a post-Russian-occupied Afghanistan village during poppy harvest time to purchase arms, McConnell sees something he shouldn't--an opium buy being made by people working for JARO, the Joint Afghan Relief Organization. JARO is supposed to be rebuilding the country, rather than contributing to the world's drug problem. Barely escaping--with the clandestine aid of a lovely Russian woman photographer whom he has not seen the last of--McConnell returns to England, only to find JARO hot on his trail. The villains favor killing our man's wife and son in his stead. In order to survive--and revenge himself--he must return to the Middle East and expose what he discovers to be an insidious international conspiracy. Those who favor taut, bare-bones thrillers a la Alistair MacLean and Jack Higgins will enjoy the underpublicized Peel's no-frills novels. Plotting is everything here; description and characterization are of little account.
Genre: Thriller
Used availability for Colin D Peel's Covenant of the Poppies