Chris Allen

I blamed Chris Allen for a lot of things whilst I was reading this book. Dog's were left hoping for games and walks. Not my fault. Cat's balefully batted toys on sticks with nobody holding onto the other end. Nothing to do with me. Pet pigs resorted to throwing their food bowls around in the air because their giant tennis ball wouldn't throw itself. Who me? It was actually rather too easy to ignore all but the bare essentials around the place when deep in the second INTREPID book - HUNTER.

As in the first book, and as you'd expect of this format, the central character Alex Morgan is a minor superhero. His major superpower appears to be the ability to shrug off levels of physical damage that would have the normal person at least mutter OUCH quite a lot, if not demand a good long lie down in the closest Intensive Care facility. It's also a given that Morgan will be a bit of a loner, not necessarily looking for love but quite happy to take it if offered. So, you probably get the idea, we are talking high energy action, a fair amount of physical prowess and a hefty bit of romantic interest.

Whilst there are a lot of elements to the plot that aren't that unexpected, setting the action within the remit of the Hague Court and the Serbian conflict is an interesting twist, and it provided some options for insight into some of the brutality of that conflict. It also created a very realistic scenario for INTREPID to be operating in (the organisation that Alex Morgan works for).

In a slight difference from the first book, the romantic interest here is more prevalent at the end which might appeal to some readers a little more, and whilst the level of action was as strong, the punishment that Morgan endures did seem to be much more extreme. This time out, the plot seemed surprisingly feasible, even the slightly James Bondish gizmos and gadgets deployed at points. What works the most is undoubtedly the action scenes though. They are incredibly good, and even if you do, at times, think there is no way Morgan should be able survive this, you really don't doubt one little bit that he does. You don't mind when he prevails against everything, when he catches all the baddies, deploys whatever gizmo the INTREPID version of Q has magic'd out of the ether and somehow you don't even mind so much when it looks like he might even get the girl.

High-paced, high-octane, high-entertainment fun, the INTREPID series is now available from http://momentumbooks.com.au/books/hunter/ Momentum books. Which is very good news.

If, like me, you grew up on a diet of Len Deighton, Robert Ludlum and John Le Carre novels, there is a chance you're a bit of a fan of fast paced, military, espionage style novels.  DEFENDER OF THE FAITH is a recent entry in the what is rapidly becoming a large pool of choice for Australian readers.  

Set within our geographical and political sphere, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH introduces readers to Alex Morgan, special forces operative, good bloke, and all round bit of a hero.  The action in this book is really very realistic, and it's not difficult to believe highly informed by the author's own background.  There are some good, albeit somewhat expected characterisations, right down to the beautiful blonde love interest, the strong jawed, very Australian main character, and a series of nicely evil villains lead by a mysterious, excellent at disguises archetypal baddy type, all glowering evil genius and callous malevolence.

As this is a thriller there are some givens that readers must expect.  A bit of energiser bunniness in the main character, winged frequently but never downed.  There was a love story between the two main characters, and of course there was a level of physical attractiveness about them both, although I'm happy to report there were no signs of hair flicking and very little gratuitous comment on beautiful eyes and glorious legs...  

What makes a thriller work, or not work, is how these clichés are delivered.  In the case of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, mostly everything worked, the plot was believable without the need to park your disbelief around the back and hide the keys; the love story wasn't too thickly applied, and whilst there was a bit of inexplicable jeopardy for all players, it did all gel.  Maybe there are points where the plot got a little vague, but the action elements held up, and the pace certainly didn't let go.

Definitely something on the entertaining side, the only thing that was missing when I read DEFENDER OF THE FAITH was the box of chocolates and deck chair that you'd normally drag out at Christmas to sit down and be thoroughly and comprehensively entertained by a good espionage thriller.

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH is available in various formats - check out the website for details:  http://defenderofthefaith.com.au/