Customer Reviews

Cauldron

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In this typical Colin Forbes thriller, a billionaire industrialist called Vincent Bernard Moloch with concerns in the US, the UK and Middle East, and the director of the worl'ds biggest multinational called AMBECO, invents a new type of explosive called Xenobium. Supposedly more powerful than the A-bomb, Moloch makes a point of demostrating it with spectacular results and a view to selling it to Middle Eastern nations for military use. So who is there to stop him? Enter the British MI6's finest gourmet-loving, champagne-drinking, well-dressed secret agents Tweed, Paula Grey and foreign correspondent Bob Newman who infiltrate AMBECO and discover that the madman's plans are bigger than they realise. And as they fight off killers in speedboats, a loony employee of AMBECO with a mother fixation and use sniper Marler to pick out the bad guys(isn't it convenient he can buy all the arms he needs anywhere in the world! ), they still find the time to dine at the best parties! And the narrative contains some hilarious lines. For instance:

(p169): 'And he paid them very well. I don't know how much, but they started appearing in more expensive clothes.'

(p265-266): (referring to a courier delivering essential documents) 'They will reach you in seven hours time.' 'Seven hours? How are they coming? By rocket?' 'I've got government co-operation. They must be using one of their incredible new supersonic aircraft.'

Enough said. But on the book's finer points, it is a very good, if somewhat familiar story, and the pacing is fast and action never stops until two explosive climaxes in California and Cornwall. Worth a read, at least Colin Forbes's novels have a knack of being extremely entertaining, if somewhat in the wrong way, which is notable in his later books.

This is the first Colin Forbes book that I have had to endure. His characters read like they were lifted from a fourth-grader's cartoon. The dialogue was so hollow and so cliched that it had an incongrously comical effect. I was consistently reminded of the skits on the improv tv show, "Who's line is it anyway?". The plot was predictable to the point of annoyance. The narrative was pedantic and generally insulting to my intelligence. This is the worst book that I have ever come across in my entire life. After gritting my teeth through the first hundred pages or so, I had to put it down. One more line of this caricature thriller, and I would have ripped off my own head and eaten it, such was my desperation.

This is the first time I have put down a book without finishing it. Puerile dialogue. If I had read once more about Paula saying something "merrily" I would have thrown up. Very jolly hockey stockings early 50s British kids books' dialogue. How the hell did Marler have all those contacts with arms dealers (presumably illegal)and yet Alvarez could provide licences immediately Marler returned to the hotel? Come on Colin! Until I stumbled briefly onto this I thought that The Devil's Teardrop was the worst book I had ever read and I finished that one. Apologies to Jeffrey Deaver but Colin Forbes' effort leaves yours for dead.

My second attempt at a Colin Forbes novel. I must put it down midway through the book. Unbelievable characters and childish narrative. A thriller? I think not.

My second attempt at a Colin Forbes novel. I must put it down midway through the book. Unbelievable characters and childish narrative. A thriller? I think not.

This book made me disappointed... I'm gonna give Colin a second chance however. Poor research and a naive language i think. Perhaps he had a bad day(s).

Being the first book that I have read from this author (having said that I found the book so superficial and poorly researched I gave up halfway through, something I rarely do)I hope that I was just unlucky and found him on an off day.

Although I have enjoyed reading Colin Forbes' books in the past, this one was fairly weak. The plot was good - the usual meglomanic trying to take over the world vs. Tweed, Paula, Marler etc... However the full impact was let down in the delivery. Real people don't say "pass a message to X, who is in the room next to mine" if they are in that room anyway. There were several moments where things happened too easily too - where does Marler buy all those guns in every city in the world? Alot of the story became very easy to guess although there were a few occasions where I didn't expect the next turn. All in all, a good transatlantic plane journey book, but not a classic.