The Tunnel Rats [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Stephen Leather (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004

Two gruesome murders have occurred, and both victims have an ace of spades impaled on their chests. It is detective Nick Wright who, hunting for a motive, must return to Vietnam to unearth the secrets of the past.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Leather's latest American release, British Transport Police Sergeant Nick Wright gets territorial when the mutilated body of an American news photographer turns up in an abandoned railroad tunnel. He's resentful toward the Metropolitan police for getting involved, and likes it even less when the FBI joins the manhunt, but he hangs tenaciously to the case, despite being saddled with an alcoholic partner and a hatful of personal problems. When another body with identical mutilations is discovered in Bangkok, he begs permission to investigate that murder as well. By the time he discovers the connection between them, Wright is in over his head and too far in to back out. His only choice is to move deeper into danger, courting the vengeance of a spook from his past. Leather has a gift for making pages fly by as bodies pile up, tension builds and clues drop parsimoniously; effective, economical characterizations give the plot just enough depth to captivate readers without hampering the rapid-fire narrative.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

Stephen Leather should be nestling in your bookshelves alongside Frederick Forsyth and Jack Higgins. -- Daily Mail --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 552 pages
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print; large type edition edition (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753170655
• ISBN-13: 978-0753170656
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,437,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for ICI, shovelled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue. He began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. You can find out more from his website, www.stephenleather.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stomach-churning, gripping, first-rate thriller!, September 25, 1998

By 

ch0pper "ch0pper" (SOUTHAMPTON, Hampshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tunnel Rats (Hardcover)

Leather's style and prose get better and better.Already in paperback in the UK, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this latest book by this author.

His description of tunnel warfare in Viet-Nam is "SO" realisitic that it made me, a former Royal Marine special forces operative fear for my life, and relive moments of terror that I have personally endured.

This, for me is the mark of a good book. Thoroughly researched, well-plotted, good prose, hot text that drives you from page to page.

This is one book by Stephen Leather that you should NOT miss!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underground with creepy-crawlies, March 26, 2008

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tunnel Rats (Paperback)

I thought that I was current in my reading of Stephen Leather thrillers until I ran across THE TUNNEL RATS originally published way back in 1997. Sorry, Stephen, I guess I just lost focus somewhere between then and now.

As the book opens in an unspecified "then", eight Americans emerge from a network of underground tunnels beneath the jungle shortly before B-52s start to carpet bomb. One man is dead, one seriously injured, and all seven of the living seriously spooked.

Fast forward to now. The body of a man viciously tortured to death, with an ace of spades impaled onto his chest with a knife, is discovered nailed to the wall of an abandoned railway tunnel in London. It's British Transport Police jurisdiction, and BTP officers Nick Wright and Tommy Reid are put on the case.

In Washington, D.C., Senator Dean Burrow, soon to be nominated to replace an ailing Vice-President, gets a UPS package containing a photograph of the London murder victim. Subsequently, Dean gets a second picture, this one of another man identically killed in Bangkok. The Senator, with a lot to lose if closeted skeletons are discovered, dispatches a trusted aide to tidy things up. The latter employs an ex-Special Forces killer who's scary-good at his skills.

The paths of Nick, the murderer, the hired killer, four-foot snakes, 6-inch centipedes, half-inch ants, and shiny black scorpions eventually cross in the abandoned Viet Cong tunnel network northwest of Saigon. Oh, and did I mention that Wright is severely claustrophobic?

I'm awarding four stars to an otherwise riveting read because the potential for a too-good-to-pass-up "gotcha" ending is completely ignored. By page 200 of this 500-page book, I suspected the identity of the murderer; a fact later confirmed with over 150 pages to go. Even the chance for a "double gotcha" via the role of the hired killer is waived by the author. The reader is left to see only how the underground action between known antagonists plays out. Mind you, however, this is much better than good enough since the description of the tunnels and their unusual nature as a stage set make for an edge-of-your-seat read. Especially if you're a claustrophobe with an active imagination.

As an aside, those Stephen Leather aficionados who've kept up with his current Dan Shepherd series will be interested to see the relationship between this hero and his young son, Liam, perhaps start to conceptually evolve in the relationship between Nick and his boy, Sean.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting...but the ending is a bit contrived, August 15, 2007

By 

H. S. Wedekind "Mr. Weekend" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tunnel Rats (Paperback)

I'm a diehard fan of Stephen Leather's "Dan 'Spider' Shepherd" novels, and am currently reading the fourth book in the series (HOT BLOOD). This particular novel is interesting in the pictures Mr. Leather paints of Bangkok and Saigon. The first, a gridlocked and exhaust choked city with an incompetent and corrupt police force. The second, a capitalist/communist city that thrives on western industry, yet maintains its cultural heritage. The hunt for a serial killer from London to the abndoned VC tunnels of the Vietnam War era is exciting and informative. Unfortunately, the ending is disappointing after the real reason behind the killings is revealed. As another reviewer has written, the last page would lead you to believe that there is a sequel waiting to be written. I hope not. Stick with Dan Shepherd, Mr. Leather, he's a hero to believe. I still like the author's writing style and give it 4 stars instead of 5.