First published 2016. Bantam paperback, 2017, pp 553, c.175,000 words.
This is a workman-like, if unoriginal, thriller. Luke Carlton is the protagonist, a former special forces officer who is now working for British Intelligence. This is exactly the same premise as Gavin Lyall’s Harry Maxim (see The Secret Servant, 1980, for example) or Andy McNab’s Nick Stone (see Remote Control, 1997, for example).
It is contemporary and therefore a post-Le Carré world, where an agent sent into the field is accompanied by a lawyer. There are some slight references to that past given by an uncle of Carlton’s who had worked in MI6 in the ‘70s and ‘80s: ‘…some real characters there. A woman who knew every detail in every file, back in the Stone Age before it was all digitised and encrypted.’ [p33]. However, this book is much more McNab than Le Carré: it’s all action and not a lot of subtle game play.
The story starts with a dead British agent in Columbia, a country that Carlton happens to know well as he spent his early years there and has visited often since, so although he is a rooky spy, he is a tough chap and the ideal man to be sent out to investigate. The pacing is relentless – excellent in this type of work where the reader wants to hurry on to what happens next and not pause over subtle phrasing, polished prose or nuanced character development.
Carlton is equipped with a beautiful and sexy girlfriend, Elise, who works in a gallery in London. But what woman of that type calls her tough-guy boyfriend ‘babes’ all the time? She has other admirers who come swarming around when Carlton is called away, yet again, at a moment’s notice. The next best is a smoothy from Goldman Sachs – but what bankers of that sort can wine and dine a girlfriend with a leisurely lunch? People of that calibre are always in the office, day and night, Saturday’s too, and occasionally all weekend. Oh, and the girlfriend is not always wet – she is a marshal-art expert.
Gardner’s prose is stripped down and easy to read, but sometimes clunky: ‘But Luke wasn’t out of trouble yet.’ [p214], and ‘but Luke’s mind was still firing on all cylinders’ [p215]. At one point, Elise is described as being like ‘a predatory cat’ [p427] while she is firmly tied to a chair and gagged.
Columbia is an interesting setting for much of the action. I had not appreciated how much it rains there: 6-7m per year in the rainy parts (compared to 1.2m here in my part of supposedly rainy Britain.) Gardner evokes well the mud and the insects, the jungle and poverty, and the violence and scrabble for drug-fuelled riches. Some of his characters verge on caricature both in Columbia and in London: The dishonest and corrupt cop with his beer-belly and fondness for prostitutes, the tough special forces types, the smooth head of intelligence. Others are more nuanced and original, although perhaps undeveloped like Sayed Khan, a senior intelligence figure.
Gardner (presumably) knows his stuff as a former army officer and long-time security journalist, and the book rings with a certain authenticity, or at least plausibility. There is a fair sprinkling of spy and soldier jargon and brand-named weapons. There is something of an unresolved issue with the use of Spanish, thankfully always translated. A conversation may start with a Spanish phrase, but then switches to English. It gives a flavour, but avoids standing in the way of pace.
Mainly this is told from Carlton’s point of view. Just occasionally we get little switches to fill in the story: the girlfriend’s, some of the spy masters’, various bad-guys’. On the whole this was handled well and didn’t prove too distracting.
What Gardner does really well is the relentless pace: there is hardly a moment’s pause in the action, as it should be in this type of story. So put aside your critical faculties and enjoy a fast and fun ride.
Wikipedia biography of Gardner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gardner_(journalist)
Others’ reviews of the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/143429348-crisis-by-frank-gardner?ref=nav_sb_ss_2_21
Evening Standard review (with plot spoilers): https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/crisis-by-frank-gardner-review-a3285126.html
© William John Graham, May 2023