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Mark E. Henshaw

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Omfatter også: Mark Henshaw (2)

Værker af Mark E. Henshaw

Red Cell (2012) 108 eksemplarer
The Fall of Moscow Station (2016) 57 eksemplarer
Cold Shot (2014) 53 eksemplarer
The Last Man in Tehran (2017) 25 eksemplarer
Red Cell 2 eksemplarer

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The 4th novel in the Red Cell grouping by Mark Henshaw, 'The Last Man in Tehran', is a decent thriller but uneven in its plot. Realistic action, good tradecraft, and taut dialogue is too often followed by sequences that just don't pass the smell test, at least to me.

Last Man.... starts off with a 'bang', as terrorists explode a 'dirty bomb' in an Israeli port city. It has all the hallmarks of an Iranian attack, so Israel's Mossad begins to run its playbook of assassinations and broader acts of retribution. Concurrently, a mole within the CIA begins to pass information to the Israelis about previously unknown players in Iran's nuclear program. Iran predictably denies responsibility for the dirty bomb and uncharacteristically tries to pass back-channel messages to the Israelis and its allies about its non-involvement. The Red Cell team begins to investigate the mole issue alongside a hard charging FBI agent and is also engaged in an attempt to stop a major war caused by escalating Mossad actions. The end result at a high level is fine, but getting there involved a few acts that I don't think are very realistic. I'll leave it at that.

Henshaw's writing is fine and his real strength in describing tradecraft and the inner workings of government intelligence and law enforcement agencies shines through. As with his previous novel in this series, though, he too often strays into activities and story lines that seem to be implausible. Last Man... is still a very readable and enjoyable novel, but some of the action is just a bit too far out there for me.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
gmmartz | Mar 3, 2018 |
'Cold Shot', the 2nd in Mark Henshaw's Stryker & Burke series, is easily the best of a very good group. In this installment, 2 bad actor states on the international stage conspire to bring a nuke into our neck of the woods. We're fortunate, though, to have Kara & Jon on our side.

The plot seems very believable, as unfortunately does the political machinations in the middle of an international crisis. The writing is again very crisp and propulsive, which is a good match for the overall breakneck pace of the novel. The dialogue is fine, and we're beginning to learn a bit more about the characters, especially Jonathan Burke. The conclusion is exciting and very believable. The action sequences leading to it are very well done- it's difficult for a writer to keep the tension and action at a high level when writing a multi-page sequence like the one that leads to the ending of 'Cold Shot' but Mr. Henshaw succeeds in doing so.

As with the other books in the series, I'm very impressed with the author's knowledge of the procedures and capabilities of our clandestine and military services. The Red Cell series is a fine entry to the spy/thriller genre and I look forward to future additions to it!
… (mere)
 
Markeret
gmmartz | 2 andre anmeldelser | Jul 26, 2016 |
I 'discovered' Mark Henshaw with his 'Fall of Moscow Station' novel, which was actually his third in the 'Red Cell' CIA series. That one was pretty good and I liked his approach and subject matter, so I thought I'd cycle back and begin at the beginning. Glad I did!

I loved 'Red Cell', his first in the series. The writing is decent, which was my only quibble with this book, but the plot was great, the pace was intense, and the characters on their way to being well-developed and very likable. The action sequences, particularly those in the conclusion, were exciting and extremely realistic. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of tradecraft as well as the reasoning used by the CIA personnel to interpret past events and predict future ones.

The plot was tricky and involved the triangular relationship between China, Taiwan, and the US. An incident occurs on Taiwan, China decides to use it to escalate tensions, and the US needs to figure out what's going on and make the right choices. Without going into detail, it's quite believable.

If you're into 'spy novels and thrillers', this is a good one..... highly recommended!
… (mere)
 
Markeret
gmmartz | 7 andre anmeldelser | Jun 21, 2016 |
The Fall of Moscow Station is the first of the Stryker/Burke series by Mark Henshaw I've read, so I'm out of sequence already. I plan to cycle through the earlier episodes, but I had a few fundamental problems with this novel. I'll get into those later.

Henshaw is a former CIA analyst. As usual with thrillers written by ex-spies, the best part for me is the almost chess-like thinking of several moves ahead, as well as the thought process that goes into interpreting the actions of counterparts on the opposing team. Henshaw does nicely in that regard, and there are numerous opportunities since the action in non-stop. The plot is pretty intricate: a disgruntled CIA spy decides to defect to the Russians at their embassy in Germany. An effort to grab him back before he burns all of the CIA's Russian assets is undertaken by the CIA, and it escalates from there.

The writing is fairly pedestrian. Henshaw is no John LeCarre, Robert Littell, or even Charles Cumming, but he gets the job done. The dialogue is decent and believable, and the plot is action-packed but, in the end, a bit unbelievable. Here are a examples why (SPOILER ALERT!!!!):
- CIA's Kara Stryker talks her way into the Russian embassy and is actually allowed to have a private conversation with the spy who defected. I doubt that would ever happen.
- During her conversation with the defector, she agrees to a plan to communicate his demands to the president of the US and also agrees to a method on how to signal the result of her conversation to the defector. Of course, the Russians electronically overheard the entire conversation. Why 2 experienced CIA employees thought they could have a private conversation in what is probably one of the most electronically engaged facilities in the world is just mind boggling.
- The conclusion is just not very realistic. The good guys win, of course, but how it happened just doesn't pass the smell test.

All in all, a decent read if you look past the obvious issues.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
gmmartz | 2 andre anmeldelser | Jun 21, 2016 |

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Værker
7
Also by
3
Medlemmer
256
Popularitet
#89,547
Vurdering
3.8
Anmeldelser
15
ISBN
43
Sprog
2

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