Customer Reviews

Cross of Fire

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Okay, Colin Forbes is an acquired taste, especially for those on this side of the pond. But his fans will like this lengthy adventure involving the Tweedy gang in France and Cornwall. A right-wing general, with the aid of a British arms manufacturer, seeks to take power by a coup de main, only to be frustrated (violently) by Tweed, his faithful followers and European allies. One old American ally, Cord Dillon, appears briefly and unexplainedly disappears from the narrative soon thereafter. Forbes often writes as if he never heard of editing or revision, his characters are stilted, his villains stereotypical and his dialogue pains the American ear. Wait a minute, I just described Ian Fleming, and he seems to have attracted a few readers over here. Be warned, you may find this book painfully dreadful, or you may end up furnishing the beach house with Forbes' novels.

France is in crisis. A right-wing general with leanings towards neo-Nazism is calling on the French people to rise up against immigrants. Rioting breaks out in cities, but is it really what it seems? Is someone engineering the crisis to change French leadership? Then to top it all, the French President and his ministers are killed when their TGV train is firebombed on a bridge and plunges into an abyss. Who can save France, and ultimately the stability of Europe? Rene Lasalle, head of French counterespionage sends for Britain's best SIS agents Tweed, Paula Grey and international foreign correspondent Bob Newman, along with trusty rifleman Marler. Can they stop the general in time before tanks roll on Paris armed with chemical artillery? Who is the mysterious assassin Manteau, who is blackmailing the general into paying him extortionate sums for carrying out orders? This book is a real page-turner! And of course, Tweed and his motley crew get to drink loads of wine and champagne in between drawing their enemies out into the open and cheating death! This is what makes a Colin Forbes novel worthwhile. Don't miss this one!