Stephen Leather strikes a bullseye in the department of most engaging and unputdownable thrillers of 2023 with Clean Kill. Not only was I incapable of drawing myself away from the book for even a few chores in the day, but I deliberately slowed my speed to take in every aspect of this grounded and unpredictable thriller with the right balance of cerebral and kinetic energy that had my jaw firmly set on the floor.
When terrorists in West Africa shoot down a British helicopter on a peacekeeping mission for the UN and take the crew hostage, the job falls to the finest of the SAS warriors. When the pilot turns out to be the son of the legendary MI5 operative Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd, Dan volunteers to be a part of the strike team, taking him away from an undercover investigation in a high security prison where the inmates are plotting something dastardly. Can Shepherd keep his family and his country safe at the same time?
Stephen Leather writes with a conviction of authenticity that you can’t help but surrender to the excellence of crisp and concise narrative that flows in a momentum that makes every chapter more exciting than the previous one. Whether it’s the intense pressure of undercover work or the adrenaline-boost of a smooth firefight, you feel the palpable dexterity of the protagonist who’s on top of the situations, until he’s not and that’s even more intense. When you’re not hooked onto the sharp dialogue, you’re captivated by the gritty and tactically authentic action sequences that thrill you to bits. It’s genuinely awe-striking how Leather tackles two major events in the narrative that run parallel but then tie together in a heartfelt and meaningful fashion down the line and not in the way someone would expect until much later into the story.
From the geopolitical concerns of African conflicts all the way to the sociological study of prisons in UK, there’s so much in this book to entice your curiosity and your enthusiasm for knowledge in addition to offering the excitement of reading a fast-paced thriller. You can’t afford to sit this one out. Clean Kill is brilliance personified.
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