Customer Reviews

Firewall

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What makes Andy McNab a terrific suspense thriller writer (easily on a par with Alistair Maclean) is not just his spare, hungry sentences that fire the action like bullets from a gun; not just his understanding of 'how things work' in the covert world of government spying, and not just his ability to draw in empathetic readers within just a few paragraphs. What sets McNab aside is the fact that he writes from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

No matter how much chill factor Alistair Maclean could write into Ice Station Zebra, there was no way he could ever match Andy McNab's descriptions of one night in the sub-zero temperatures of Estonia. Why? Because McNab has clearly been there - done that -got the T shirt! You just KNOW from his descriptions that he's describing the depravation and emotions that he, himself, has suffered during his years in Britain's SAS.

Following Andy McNab's hugely successful `Crisis Four', Nick Stone, now a `K' working for British Intelligence on deniable operations is desperately in need of cash. Offered the lucrative freelance job of kidnapping a mafia warlord and delivering him to St. Petersburgh, it seems to Stone that his problems are over. In fact, they are only just beginning.

Stone enters the bleak and brutal underworld of the former Soviet republic of Estonia, where unknown aggressors stalk the bitter landscape, and he soon finds himself caught between implacable enemies. And who is the secretive Liv?

Another runaway McNab success. Wake up Hollywood !

This is a must read for any fan of the genre. McNab's writing has gotten better and better, and his realism and 'been there done that' aura is unmatched.

I became a fan after reading Bravo Two Zero and Immediate Action. I greatly anticipated his foray into the fictional world, and have not been disappointed. I find myself wishing he would hurry up with the next installment! I want to find out how Kelly is doing, and if Nick becomes Permanent Cadre, and, well, you get the idea.

The realism of McNab's writing is what sets it apart. No gadgets, no satellites, no giant technological leaps. His characters are believable, they do believable things, and they use common tools. His Leatherman is his best friend.

If you've never read McNab, then I highly recommend him to you. Do yourself a favor and read his books in order. You'll realize just how far short the rest of the pack has fallen.

If James Bond were a masochist his name would be Nick Stone.

Nick Stone lives in an old dump of a house with a hole in the roof. He eats junk food and sleeps in seedy hotels and drives around in an old wreck of a car. He acts subservient to idiots and endures his boss who puts him on ice and insults him. He gets involved in one "mission impossible" after another, all of which end in fiasco. He gets beaten up repeatedly and eats aspirin like candy to keep the pain down. He trudges for hours through snowstorms and freezing weather and almost dies of exposure.

In other words, Nick Stone isn't just an anti-hero; he comes across as a total loser. And whenever he's given the choice he always chooses to do things the hardest way possible and suffer the consequences.

So why read a book starring Nick Stone? Because Nick Stone, despite everything I've just said about him, is the ultimate survivor. When the going gets tough (and this happens regularly) Nick Stone comes out of the confrontation alive and the bad guys are either dead or incapacitated.

Furthermore, you have the feeling that it's all real. Andy McNab was in the British SAS, and when he writes about Nick Stone you feel that everything is completely authentic. Everything that happens is described in detail and with a down-to-earth grittiness. The weapons and the explosives and the fights and the agent tradecraft are being written about by a man who really has the experience necessary to write about these things with authority.

Another plus factor is that Nick Stone, who tells the story in the first person, is not just taciturn, stoic and self-effacing; he's also sarcastic and good at poking fun at the world around him. It's a kind of black humor, but it suits the tone of the story and makes the book more enjoyable.

For non-British readers I feel the need to point out that this book is written in British English with a lot of British slang. This is something that I find appealing but that can result in difficulties occasionally. For example, "Winning the fight isn't important, it's having the bottle to get stuck in that is." (page 281) I had to query a message board frequented by British people to get a translation to ordinary English, which is roughly, "It's more important to have the right attitude, the toughness, when going into a fight than whether or not you win the fight."

This is the first Andy McNab novel that I've read, and I'll conclude this review by admitting that I have ambivalent feelings about the book. I love the authenticity of the story telling and the belief in himself that Nick Stone shows no matter what happens. But why the heck does a man with his abilities and talents always have to choose to do things the hard way and end up living like a bum and getting involved in jobs that always go terribly wrong?

Rennie Petersen

Andy McNab's done it again !! Firewall, the latest in the Nick Stone saga is the best yet. McNab delivers in a no-nonsense style, his gritty realism brings home the endurance of the deniable ops personel, giving the reader little gems of knowledge along the way. I doubt, for example, whether i'll ever need to soften up plastic explosive in a tub of hot water but at least I now know how it's done. Such insights together with the vivid accounts of location, conditions, treatment from and of captors expertly draw the reader into the world of covert op's to the extent that it's extremely difficult to put the books down once started. I would suggest you buy Firewall (but the others first if you haven't already) and begin to read it early in the day. Or you could buy in lots of caffeine. I can't imagine it'll take Hollywood too long before they turn Nick Stone into a celluloid hero. . .  

I've read several Tom Clancy, Dick Marcinko and Jack Higgins novels. But those don't even come close to Andy McNab. I've read several of his books and it gets better and better. He is able to tell it with realism and creativity I've never seen before. Unlike some other authors, his doesn't get repetative and the pace is always changing. I was hooked on it and couldn't put it down!

I just finished reading Firewall - bougt it at the airport before I left the States but did'nt start reading till a couple of hours before landing in Paris. Could'nt wait to get to my hotel, read it in the metro, every available moment. Went straight to bed and carried on reading... and reading... WHY have'nt I found this writer before?? WHY are'nt his books side by side with Grisham in every book store back home? I have'nt been so gripped by a book since... well, I do'nt think I was ever so gripped!! The action scenes make you almost scream along with Nick Stone (I ADORE Nick Stone!) and in every other place you care, you really CARE, what happens to this guy. Hey, I'm taking time out from seeing Paris to tell everyone back home - GO READ THIS BOOK!

Really very good, actually the best thriller I have read lately. I started with McNab's documentaries "Bravo Two Zero" and "Immediate Action", and when switched to his fiction I could not believe it was fiction, it is so realistically written! There are some trifles in "Firewall" though, which, I presume, are not important for Western readers, but irritate those, who know about them. For example, the name of Valentin Lebed is a Slavic one, and could belong to a Russian, Ukranian or Byelorussian, but not a Chechen. The easiest way to make up a Chechen name is to take any Muslim one and to add the Russian ending -yeff or -off (Mohamed - Mohamedoff, Kadyr - Kadyroff and so on). Chechens are not Slavs and do not have the Slavic facial features. Oh, sorry, I only distract potential readers, all this of little importance. The book is really worth reading.

McNab writes with a directness that is both realistic and sarcastic. I found myself aching as Stone was mugged and shivering as he slogged through the snow.

One of the best things about McNab's stories is how he weaves in intricate descriptions of field techniques - preventing hypothermia, making a compass, forming explosive charges. I read this stuff to learn about what its like out there and he delivers.

Finally, I'm appreciative that he keeps to what he knows about and stays away from the "cyber" stuff...descriptions of computer/software/Internet topics are getting really ... Dont shy away from this cause you think (as the title suggests) that Firewall will be another one, its not.

If you like fieldcraft in a direct and sometimes sarcastic style, this is for you.

Grisham. Follett. Forsythe. Been there, read it, had the t-shirt ripped. But let me tell you, this new kid on the block, McNab - he's something else. And he's not even a new kid on the block, I found out - he wrote two other novels already, which I've now gotta go buy. Believe me, this stuff is so thrilling you won't get to sleep. You really feel like you're there, like you ARE Nick Stone (McNab's hero). It can't be long before Hollywood are sniffing at the heels of this great writer.

The third work of fiction written by Andy McNab since his explosive true life debut "Bravo Two Zero". Firewall continues his tradition of setting the scene slowly, detailing all the preparation of the ex SAS "K".

This time Nick Stone is employed privately by a Russian Mafia boss on an exercise into the bleak cold of Finland and Estonia. Reading about being mugged and freezing in the snow of Estonia will make your own winter experience not seem quite so bad.

McNab never talks himself up to be any kind of hero, rather he's always preparing thoroughly to avoid the ever present possibility of something going wrong, as it often does in unexpected ways. This is another excellent first hand account of what it's like to be an ex SAS hired mercenary. All the events are totally believable and covered in great detail. There's plenty of pain, regrets, suspense, action and surprise as you would expect from someone who really has been there.