Customer Reviews

Overkill (Paul Richter)

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

 

 

A superb thriller for the dangerous times we live in which reminded me a lot of Tom Clancy's THE SUM OF ALL FEARS - the only difference here is that it features a British MI6 agent as the hero - Paul Richter. After the covering up of a murder of a fellow agent in Moscow by rogue ex-KGB agents, Richter gets a hunch that something is not right. As he makes enquiries, he discovers something mostrous is about to happen - a disaffected Russia has allied with Arab terrorists loyal to Bin Laden - who have motives of their own - and set in motion a plot to explode nuclear devices in Western cities and force a shift in the balance of world politics! Sounds familiar? It is better than what you would expect though. The locations are well researched - got a kick out of the Davey Crockett Ranch sequence at Eurodisney as we have stayed there a few times - London, France, Saudi Arabia, Moscow are all well described to the point you feel you are there. Lots of twists along the way, and you also get SAS plot involvement that will please special forces aficionados. The narrative is also easy to read, and although it took a while to get going, it was a great vacation read and I eagerly look forward to future offerings from this author.

I really liked this book from James Barrington. I found it interesting reading and was definitely a fan of his main character. I found the style of writing quite engaging and his humor to my liking. Hopefully he will have more books out in the near future. If you like Mitch Rapp or Scott Harvath you will definitely enjoy this book.

I was torn between 2 and 3 stars for this book. I didn't dislike. But then, I didn't exaclty like it either.

I tend to like thrillers packed with detailed descriptions and large info dumps, that non-fans would probably consider dry and boring. I love Dale Brown and Frederick Forsyth novels. But James Barrington doesn't quite pull it off, and the result is an extremely long novel that's just dry and boring. The storyline and scenarios are authentic and the plot follows a realistic sequence of events, but the Russians as bad guys and Arab terrorists with nukes has all been done before. The characters are completely lifeless and have no personalities. The dialogue is frequently tedious and consists of just more large dumps of information, like the rest of the narrative, but within quotation marks. or the characters spend lots of pages discussing and analyzing what has happened, what it might mean, and what might happen next, and what they should do about it. It really doesn't make for fast paced, entertaining reading. On the plus side, Barrington does write action sequences well, especially the early scene in the skies over Russia and the action involving British, French, and Russian special forces teams. And Overkill is an authentic, realisitc depiction of espionage and military services, so it is better in that regard to all the hack thriller writers that are active now.

All of these same problems (and positives)appply to Barrington's other novels, but his others at least have a more original plot.

This is a top notch techno espionage thriller, very much in the vein of Clancy, Vince Flynn, Stephen Coonts etc. What great to see is that this first novel is very much as good as the best of the above authors!
There is much to enjoy about this one, not just the plot and the writing but the strong characters and the British spin.

This is about a plot with rogue Russians working with terrorists to plant neutron bombs in US and European cities. Maybe elements have been seen before, but the author provides a new slant on it and takes us down some unexpected routes.

Very enjoyable and a much needed new talent into the market. Highly recommended.

When the opening scenes of the book feature an authentic-feeling and very gripping chase of a SR-71 over Russia, the author sets the bar high indeed. And while it's hard to stay there, Barrington does a really good job. Characters, plot, and technical details are good, and consistently so - the book never lets you down, nor deceives you while still keeping up the suspense.
Overall, Overkill is a top-notch, worth the read and a re-read novel.
Do I now know enough to fly a spy-plane? Perhaps not, but that's why I'm looking forward to more Paul Richter novels!

When the hero of this book, Paul Richter, a British MI6 agent, was introduced, my first reaction was that he must be the antithesis of the James Bond character made famous by Ian Fleming. Where Bond is a well-dressed, flamboyant womanizer, Richter seems to be shoddily dressed and somewhat of a shabby person. He is also constantly in conflict with his boss. However, this does not mean that he is incapable of doing his job. On the contrary, he is very proficient and excellent at sniffing out the baddies and dealing with them in appropriate ways - to be expected of a fictional MI6 hero.

Richter has to thwart a devious plan of some dissident Russians, teaming up with Arab terrorists to explode nuclear bombs in major European and US cities to cause a shift of global power. Richter also has a personal stake in the whole affair, which is explained only towards the end of the story.

This is a fast paced thriller, full of action, plot twists, suspense, technology, espionage and many well-described international locations. The nuclear technology is also well-researched and explained. It could be compared with Tom Clancy's Sum of All Fears and new author Ian Kruger's Strike of the Black Mamba. I would like to see more from James Barrington!