Customer Reviews

Last Light

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So far I have had difficulty putting McNab's books down. Last Light was different - the book did meander a little on more than one occassion and admittedly I read about a third of the book and I wasn't really motivated to come back to it for several weeks.

I did enjoy it while I read it, but there was in general something missing from Last Light that was present in McNab's previous books. The story is good, but not great. Several chapters are a little on the dull side (maybe 'dull' is the wrong word and 'less gripping' is better) and at the end of the book I felt that not enough had really happened from cover to cover.

Personally, I found the climax a little disappointing and less intense than McNab's previous writings. The ending chapter seemed somewhat disconnected from the story itself and more of a re-introduction to the usual beat of the series, but even this failed to capture some of the more touching moments we've previously witnessed with Nick Stone's softer side.

If you're a McNab fan like me, then get this book. You won't be disappointed and you'll remain up to date with the life of Nick Stone. However, this book feels to me to be more of a 'standalone' than part of the Nick Stone series and you'll feel that this isn't quite going to fill the gap as you await the next update.

If you don't know of McNab, I can well recommend earlier Nick Stone books first as I feel that any interest you may potentially have in following this character may not be sparked up by Last Light. I can well recommend Firewall (best novel I ever read) for ultimate excitement, but there is benefit to starting at the beginning of the series too.

... produce in a lifetime. Mr. McNab's SAS training and the degree to which he absorbed it and can recreate that type of thinking on the page combine to make a nearly unparalleled reading experience. His protagonists are far more capable, observant, knowledgeable, experienced, and (his term) switched-on than any I've met in other books. There is simply no comparison between how Nick Stone here sees, thinks, and works, and how your average thriller author imagines it might go. Last Light is so dense with pure thought, planning, detail, and tradecraft that I could hardly point to an outstanding passage. It's all good. That people like Mr. McNab exist and can do what he describes so expertly is astonishing. Thanks so much for putting this on paper, Mr. McNab. And by the way - you and your mates are awesome. Glad you're in our camp.

Having said all that, this book does suffer from plot super-sizing. Just as in Crisis Four, Mr. McNab creates a huge conspiracy within which his agent thrashes around, and which the author simply can't resolve. It's too bad because if he just crafted the story of some mission without global complications it would be a jewel. As it is, Last Light abruptly ends in confused mid-plot. Why can't Nick be on a legit SAS mission instead of having it all forced out of him by the powers that be?

And the backstory of Kelly, which I suppose is there to make Nick more of a person (and to provide plot hooks) soon becomes tiresome. I'm not interested in Nick Stone as a struggling surrogate father - but I'll be reading every page I can find describing him in the field. It's just too good to miss.

An added benny of Mr. McNab's writing is that you get some thoughtful and highly observant commentary on the environments in which his agent moves. Last Light taught me a lot about Panama and the Canal situation. The downside to his books is that you can't face another action novel for a while, because you know that even a good one will be dishwater next to this.

Last Light is the fourth in the series of books written by Andy McNab. The whole series of books is great and this is no exception. Andy McNab obviously decided when writing this book that he needed to give his character some extra depth. In this book we see Nick Stone make some serious human decisions.

After reading this book you come away with a lesson in survival, in a way it teaches you jungle tracking skills and gives you a good insight into how special operations are coordinated. If you're an SAS or any kind of Special Forces enthusiast it's a good read just to get inside the mind of a professional elite soldier.

I enjoyed this book greatly, the plot keeps you guessing, and its never obvious what's going to happen. Am not going to spoil the book am sure if you want to find out what its about you just read the Amazon.com review but if you enjoyed the rest of the Nick Stone series this book is going to make you very happy.

4 Stars

Not the most action packed of the Nick Stone books, but I think it's the best. We finally get to see Nick Stone become human and have human reactions. In the other Nick Stone books, he is a bit of a super solider but in Last Light we get a glimpse of the real man. It's well written and the plot twists aren't predictable. I definitely enjoyed it.

Another great read from Andy McNab, I read this one in 3 days ,and it was a great read , a little slower then the other Nick Stone's. but still good none the less , looking forward to Liberation Day.

For such a talented writer, McNab can be a rather pedantic storyteller.

His two non-fiction books, "Bravo Two Zero" and "Immediate Action," are real page turners; reads that will have you laughing one minute and teary eyed the next. His fiction has ranged from pretty good ("Crisis Four") to pretty bad ("Firewall"). This book, unfortunately, falls in the latter category.

Without giving anything anyway (which actually wouldn't be hard with a plot this thin and predictable) "Last Light" is basically the exact same mix of characters and events as found in "Firewall" but set in the jungles of Panama rather than the snow of Finland. The same smart, seductive, all knowing woman who hides more than she lets on; the same innocent victim caught up in events; the same poor sidekick who ends up dead... <yawn>

McNab's attention to detail and writing style are the only thing that save this book from being totally forgettable. The bits of tradecraft you learn are always interesting and his active voice carries you through the read quickly. Still, it is frustrating to force yourself through this kind of book when he has written such great material previously. He seems to be in a rut of following the same bland thriller formulas that so many other good authors come to rely on. I know he has it in him to churn out another pageburner - just hope it happens soon.

It really doesn't get any better than Andy McNab when it comes to military fiction. McNab, a pseudonym of a former SAS soldier, packs so much realism into his stories that the reader can't help but wonder how much is fiction and how much is gleaned from his real life experiences. He uses terminology and phrasing that makes the reader feel as if they are former Regiment themselves, all while weaving a tense and compelling story. This is the type of book that you'll start, and before you know it, you're a hundred pages in.

Last Light is episode four in the Nick Stone series. The action begins on the first page and the reader is instantly pulled into the story. Stone is sent to command a sniper team that is to carry out an assassination of a target at the British parliament. At the last second, Stone realizes that something is very wrong and aborts the mission. He has been set up, but he has an insurance policy that saves his life. However, those who sent him on the mission use Kelly, his 'daughter' (readers who have read the previous McNab books will understand the quotes) to force him to once again attempt to follow his target to Panama and eliminate him by "last light Friday."

Rarely does a book capture the intricacies of individual combat and the technical aspects of both military equipment and tactics so well without losing the flow of the action or interrupting the plot. Such details are so familiar to McNab that they are poured effortlessly into the story without so much as a hiccup. The author does not bother himself with the politics of conflict or large scale ramifications in the manner of a Clancy or a Stephen Coonts - what he gives you is action, raw and authentic.

I highly recommend Last Light as well as the other Nick Stone books - Remote Control, Crisis Four, and Firewall. It is not imperative that they are read in order, but if you want to get a feel for the development of the main character, it would help. Also, read Immediate Action for the non-fiction account of the author's SAS career as well as the EXCELLENT Bravo Two Zero for the story of his team's capture and subsequent torture in Iraq during the gulf war.

Just another in a great series, I love all the Nick Stone books by Andy McNab. The best action/adventure writer around today.

Since I'll never get a chance to meet you this is the closest ill get. I just wanted to tell you how much your novels mean to me. I have never been much of a reader until i picked up Last Light. I read your novel over 5 days and enjoyed every minute of it. After this novel i had to read another so i bought Crisis Four. Again i read that one and then Remote Control. Now im on Firewall. Your writing style is easy to follow and keeps the reader entertained throughout. With Liberation day due out any day now in the USA im eagerly awaiting its arrival so that i may continue with Nick's next mission. Overall thanks for the great novels and i look forward to many more works in the future.

After reading and enjoying Andy McNabs first two books, Remote Control and Crisis Four with the continuing Nick Stone character I thought I had found a new series. Both were well written featuring interesting characters and plenty of action along with a complex mystery and plot. Andy McNab is a former Commando in the British SAS so he brings an incredible authenticity to the work. When he describes a gun working a certain way or other key details, you know he did not research it off the Internet or found it in some book; he lived it. But, his last book Firewall was a disappointment especially when compared to the first two. Unfortunately, that trend continues in this recent effort.

As this novel opens, Nick Stone has put himself unknowingly into harms way once again. Desperate for money for himself as well as for treating Kelly (his orphan whose entire family was massacred because of his mistake) he has accepted a contract assassination job from The Firm. The target will appear outside the Houses of Parliament in London, England in what seems to be an officially sanctioned hit at the highest levels of the United States and Britains governments. Unbeknownst to him, the assassination is one very small part of a much bigger picture that will turn into a trap.

Nick is seconds away from the kill shot when he aborts the attempt for a variety of reasons. Police swarm the area and while he escapes the initial gun battle with police he soon comes under their custody before being transferred to his very unhappy employers. They make their feelings physically known to him before giving him one more chance. The target will be in Panama for the next week. Nick is to go to Panama, surveil the target and complete the assassination, this time without fail. The target must be dead by the last light on Friday evening or they will kill Kelly.

Soon Nick is in Panama and what should have been an action oriented read (despite the nonsense on the back jacket) takes a hard turn into the boredom zone. Along with Columbian guerrillas, United States Government interests, Chinese business interests, politics and the environmental movement become major characters in the work. The action slows to a near halt in the muddy jungles of Panama around the Canal Zone as various characters discuss politics and environmental policy with Nick. Unfortunately, the politics and environmental policy situation are old news for any reader who remotely pays attention to world events and as such, raises the boredom factor substantially. The arguments go on for page after mind numbing page and even after all the discussion and lectures, no solutions are offered to at least to attempt to make the preceding pages have some merit on any level.

That fact along with the fact that the ending is amazingly vague and open ended to create the need for a sequel for all the characters, major and minor, makes this novel the absolute worst of the series to date. While the first two books were good and the third mediocre at best, the fall in this one is amazing. It comes across as the literary equivalent of base-jumping without a parachute. Hopefully, this is as bad as it gets, but Andy McNab is running out of time to save the series from himself.