Customer Reviews

Reader's Digest Condensed Books

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Andy McNab's first thriller is a top-notch combination of violent action,
pulse-pounding excitement and edge of your seat suspense.

In "Remote Control" McNab introduces a new hero, Nick Stone, who makes most
other famous fictional heroes look like prancing twits (can you say "Dirk Pitt"?) An
ex-SAS operator and current deniable ops specialist for Britain, Stone is something
of a cross between Hammett's Continental Op and Alistair MacLean's Phillip
Calvert: tough as jacketed hollow points, totally on-task, and cunning enough to
beat the bad guys at their own game. Nick Stone has more life in him (and more
blood and soul) than any action hero this side of Pendleton era Mack Bolan.

The action in "Remote Control" never lets up for more than a few pages, and even
when Stone isn't facing guns and fists he's deep into the task at hand and planning
2 or 3 moves ahead so that the pace just keeps up and the tension builds.
Stone has to work against a plot without any help after he finds the family of a
friend murdered. On the run and out in the cold with his friend's seven year old
daughter in tow, Stone uses his training, intelligence and toughness to best
advantage. And just when he's past one challenge, an even greater one confronts
him. The story is told in first person and it really sounds like authentic dialogue.
This is like the golden age of Len Deighton's spy writing but with a tougher and
more realistic hero. Hard-boiled stuff!

The great relationship between childless Stone and seven year old Kelly is a
wonderful thing in this book. I think I worried as much for him when he had to
finally tell Kelly her family was dead as when he was in any of the many deadly
encounters in the story. McNab obviously knows something about children and
Kelly's character is so real it makes the reader very frightened for her safety.

The cover quote from author Stephen Coonts claims McNab is "the best suspense
thriller writer. . . since Alistair MacLean" and I can't argue with that. This book was
everything you'll want in a thriller. I can't wait to start the next one!

This is a 5 star effort if ever there was one. Read it.

REMOTE CONTROL is an exciting, bullet flying, rib cracking, guts spewing story about an ex-SAS man, Nick Stone, who gets caught up in the vicious murder of an old friend and his family. Rescuing the only surviving member of the massacre a seven-year-old shell shocked little girl called Kelly, Nick goes on the run, and finds out that even friends are potential enemies in a world of IRA deals, drug cartels and messy TransAtlantic politics. This is a knuckle bitingly good book and I spent the whole of an evening reading it from cover to cover. Andy McNab is as good a writer of fiction as he is of fact. I liked his hero because it showed the man to be human and not just a killing machine as SAS soldiers are often portrayed in many novels. I hope that McNab thinks of writing a sequel to REMOTE CONTROL as Nick Stone and Kelly make quite a formidable team. A big thumbs up for this cracker of a first novel.

After reading McNab's "Bravo Two Zero" and "Immediate Action," I thought I'd give his fiction a try. Overall this book is entertaining, with more action than recent vintage Clancy novels. The action is often quite intense and, in those moments, it is a real page turner. The technical and tradecraft details are what really make this book. McNab, or course, is all the more believable in these areas due to his personal experiences as relayed in his non-fiction work. He buys a credibility there that Clancy, et al. just can't match. Worth reading for that fact alone.

While the story is good and the details better, the writing itself is sometimes clumsy. Maybe this is nitpicking, since the reality is that the writing somehow seems to "fit" the story (you wouldn't want Steinbeck or Hemingway telling the story, would you?). However, I suspect that the writing is simply due to first novel syndrome (I had no complaints about his writing in Bravo Two Zero), and would expect this to improve in future works.

Although I only gave the book 3 stars, I'll definitely keep McNab on my "read" list.

There are a few books that are so suspenseful and action-packed I have been unable to put them down. Remote Control is one of them. Ex-SAS 'K' Nick Stone is assigned to follow a group of Provisional IRA members on their way to Washington. His mission is cut short, but before leaving, he decides to visit a friend's family. At this point, McNab plunges the reader into a rollercoaster ride of emotions as Stone finds the family savagely murdered. From there on, the action does not stop - Stone finds himself and 7-year-old Kelly, the family's only survivor, pursued by mysterious forces intent on capturing them both. An array of supporting characters add to the drama - 'Slack' Pat the ex-SAS drug addict, Al De Niro the ex-mobster, Euan the best friend, and more. Stone himself is a brilliant creation, a hero with a sizeable share of ruthlessness - you can't help but wonder how much of McNab is in Stone. Remote Control creates a world which is brutal, thrilling and shockingly realistic - quite simply one of the best books you'll find.

I absolutely could not put this book down! McNab has a gift for writing action. The tradecraft sure sounds believable to a civillian like me. The characters are a bit cardboard-like, and I wonder how much time McNab has spent with children, but who cares? I was completely sucked in from the first page. The fight in the PIRA office in DC is a stunner, and it's not even the best part of the book. I'm looking forward to McNab's next effort.

This is the first book I've read from McNab but I'm sure I'll read more. Similar to the Rogue Warrior series, I like McNab a bit better. McNab is not quite as arrogant, but nevertheless, special forces must grow an in-your-face attitude.

I particularly enjoyed the detailed observations and the reasoning behind the tradecraft actions. What's Nick Stone, the hero, doing looking inside a fire extinguisher? What's he going to make with the kitchen supplies? One always gets a bit more involved when the writing not only entertains but also educates.

The relationship with Kelly also moves the story. Surely a SAS operative would have problems with relating to a seven year old but by the end of the book, it's quite believable how they have grown attached.

I had only a couple of minor irritants. McNab's British background is evident as expected. However, some actions would get different reactions in the US. I can't believe a British citizen wouldn't draw more attention with an American child in tow. Particularly with the scratches and cuts gathered along the way during the characters romp through the seedy side of America. Who from England would want to stay in a hotel in the warehouse district?

Also, as some of the other reviewers pointed out, the story is somewhat predictable. Even I could tell early in the book who the ultimate villans had to be. Nevertheless, REMOTE CONTROL was an enjoyable way to spend the weekend.

From the first page all the way to the final one, Andy McNab's "Remote Control" was a gripping and fantastic read.

Readers will follow the main character of Nick Stone from Gilbraltar to London and then on to the United States. While on what is termed a "deniable assignment", Nick contacts a former SAS colleague, only to find upon his arrival at their home that Kev and his family have been brutally murdered. All but one.... their seven year old daughter Kelly.

This story never loses its pace. Nick and Kelly are on the run from people trying to kill them at every turn. But it's the growing relationship between Nick and Kelly that I find truly memorable.

At first Nick tries his best to protect the young girl from the forces closing in on them, only to slowly find himself growing to rely on Kelly with every turn of the page.

I totally agree that this is a "can't put down" novel. Your heart will race at the clever twists and turns McNab has crafted. The supporting cast of characters are highly developed. From the dangerous IRA hitmen, to Stone's British employers at The Firm, to fellow SAS members Pat and Euan, all the way to the federally relocated mobster Big Al DeNiro. Each is a living, breathing character adding to the tension and brilliant storyline!

This is a novel that begs a sequel so readers can see what further developments take place between Nick and Kelly. They are two unforgettable characters!

Very well done, Mr. McNab!

Andy McNab's " Remote Control " is the greatest compelling story of real-life action in the world of Espionage, Politics, Terrorism, and Corruption. So far, it is "The Best of the Best".

You know how some people, when they tell a story, have to give you every...single...detail and by the time they get to the point, you are past caring. That's how McNab is -- only to add to the misery,his main character is dragging a little girl around with him. And we have to hear about every street they go down, every hotel room they inhabit. And, on one hand, the author makes you think that capture could come at any minute. Yet, the character has time to buy clothes for the little girl, right in the heat of the chase. Spare me! The book just plods along with little excitement and little plot development. In fact, the plot seems to go nowhere. McNab is better writing non-fiction. I can't understand all the positive reviews here. It must be a British thing.

Recently, I acquired a copy of the Stephen Leather thriller, Hot Blood (A Dan Shepherd Mystery), which had on its front cover a sticker that screamed "Better than Andy McNab or your money back". Leather's ongoing fictional hero, Dan "Spider" Shepherd, is a former member of the SAS now working for an ultra-secret undercover unit of London's Metropolitan Police. Nick Stone, the protagonist making his initial appearance here in McNab's first novel, REMOTE CONTROL, is an ex-SAS trooper now working for MI6. What, do Leather and McNab have a mano-a-mano thing going? (I don't ever remember seeing a Dean Koontz release with the claim, "King writes dross; read my stuff.") When queried by me, Stephen said that his publisher suggested the ploy. But, since I did end up buying REMOTE CONTROL, perhaps the point is to sell more books from both.

Here, Stone is tasked by his SIS controller to follow two hard IRA boyos to Washington, DC, to see what mischief they're up to. Once comfortable in his hotel room, Nick is almost immediately recalled home. But, before catching the next plane back across The Pond, Stone decides to visit old SAS pal Kev, now working for the DEA. Arriving at Kev's suburban home, Nick discovers his buddy bludgeoned to death and his wife and one of two daughters with their throats cut. Stone find's the second daughter, 7-year old Kelly, cowering in a hidey-hole. Realizing that Kelly saw the killers and her life is now in peril, and that he himself may become a suspect in the bloodbath, Stone grabs the girl and runs. Over the remainder of the book, our hero must discover the identity of the murderers, protect Kelly, and get both of them to safety in England where his boss, Simmonds, will certainly sort things out.

For a first novel, REMOTE CONTROL is better than average. McNab's personal tour of duty with the SAS imparts a patina of realism to the actions of his Stone character. Indeed, Nick is a Tough Guy in somewhat the same vein as author Lee Child's ex-Army MP, Jack Reacher. At one point in a desperate, hand-to-hand struggle with a Bad Guy over control of a pistol, Stone must essentially chew the man's face apart. Somehow, I don't see Leather's hero doing anything so messy.

One of the criticism's I've made of the Dan Shepherd series is the fact that Spider's young son Liam is trotted out as a prop in every installment to re-emphasize that widower Shepherd is otherwise a warm, decent, family man whose day job takes him to the world's hard and grotty edges. In REMOTE CONTROL, Kelly also starts out as a prop. But, by the conclusion, she plays an integral, nail-biting, and very satisfying part. I see from plot summaries that Kelly also appears in follow-up volumes of the Nick Stone series, so I've gone ahead and ordered the second out of curiosity to see where McNab takes the character.

The drawbacks to REMOTE CONTROL are that we've seen the scenario before in books and films - adult and child flee a deadly conspiracy hand-in-hand - and, well before the end, the coming betrayal twist becomes all to obvious.

By profession, Stephen Leather is a journalist who's lived all over the world. McNab - a pseudonym ostensibly to protect his identity from vengeful terrorists left over from his bad old SAS days - continues to work with intelligence organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. I suspect, therefore, that Andy's books will be more realistic in the finer points, while Stephen's will show a wider scope of imagination. In any case, both are excellent British authors creating some very entertaining reads.

Hey, Stephen and Andy, why don't you both co-author a thriller in which both Dan and Nick appear? The potential for a friendly, or not so friendly, rivalry between the two heroes is almost too good to pass up.